My step son, Kaden, turns 5 on Friday and we had a party for him on Sunday. This cake was a huge hit and perfect for a child's birthday party. The cake is rich, moist, and perfect. The buttercream icing was smooth, light, creamy, and delicious, just as buttercream should be. This is a 6 layer masterpiece that looks difficult, but is really so easy! Don't let it intimidate you!
As I was browsing online for some dinner ideas a couple of months ago I ran across Rina's blog, Gotta Little Space and this spectacular cake. It immediately went in the "to make" pile. Kaden's birthday seemed to be the perfect excuse to pull out the recipe. So here you have it.
After putting the layers together and adding my crumb layer of icing I thought I wouldn't have enough buttercream to finish, but I really did not want to make another batch at 11:30, so I made do, and it worked out just fine. The outside layer is very thin, but with the decorating icing, sprinkles, and layers of buttercream inside, it balanced out the cake well. I put the cake in the fridge to set the buttercream, and ended up leaving it there overnight. If you do this, make sure you pull it out of the fridge several hours in advance so the buttercream has a chance to come to room temperature.
As expected the cake got great reviews. It looks impressive and tastes awesome.
Super Epic Rainbow Cake from Whisk Kid
Makes one (huge!) 9 inch, six layered cake
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/3 cups sugar
5 egg whites, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk, warmed to room temperature
red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple food coloring
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease your 9 inch cake pans (I have 2 commercial pans, I just kept washing, re greasing and re lining) and line with parchment on the bottoms.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs whites a little at a time. Add vanilla and mix till blended. Alternating between wet and dry, add the milk and flour mixture.
Divide the batter amongst 6 bowls - Kaitlin suggested doing this by weight, but I just used a 1 cup measuring cup to start and as the batter decreased, I used a 1/4 cup measure till all the batter was gone. Whisk a fair amount of each food color into each bowl, pour into your prepared pans and bake for approximately 15 minutes each.
Let the baked cakes cool in the pan for a few minutes, then finish cooling on a rack.
5 large egg whites
1 2/3 cups sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup water
1 pound unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
Note - it is indescribably important to have each and every one of your ingredients at room temperature or your buttercream will fail. That's pretty much guaranteed. Trust me.
Combine egg whites and 1/3 cup of sugar in a large bowl using a mixer. Add vanilla.
Combine remaining 1 1/3 cups sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan; stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and syrup is bubbling.
Meanwhile, beat egg white mixture on medium speed until very soft peaks form.
Increase mixer speed to high and slowly pour hot syrup down the side of the bowl into egg white mixture in a slow, steady stream. Beat until this meringue forms stiff peaks. Allow meringue to cool in the bowl until lukewarm. Do not beat to cool.
Once lukewarm, start beating meringue on medium speed. Gradually add butter, a few tablespoons at a time, beating constantly till each addition is absorbed before adding next. Continue beating until buttercream is smooth.
If buttercream looks 'broken' or curdled, you can try placing the bowl of buttercream over medium heat on a stove burner and whisk for 5-10 seconds to warm slightly, then remove from heat and whisk vigorously or beat again on medium speed. Repeat this process until buttercream becomes smooth. Keep in mind, this may not work and it might not be salvageable.
You will be able to tell when the buttercream is starting to come together by listening to your mixer - all of a sudden it will start to sound as though it is working harder, and then the buttercream will come together quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment