I did a rainbowlicious cake this last weekend, I used 3" pans (round) & did three colors in each pan. I carefully spread each color seperately so there were even layers. When I took the pans out of the oven though, the batter had settled in a very funky way, instead of horizontal layers of color it was like each batter color had sort of pooled/settled - I had one color in the center, another in a ring around that, and the third in a ring on the outside. There was some variation of course, but this was the overall pattern for both pans? Did I do something wrong? It was baked just right, & the firend I made it for loved it (& didn't know it was supposed to have been any different ), but for future reference, how can I make sure I get the nice vertical layers of color???

I can't offer advise, but hopefully this will give you a bump!

When I was a little girl, my mother made "all-color" cakes for our birthdays. At the time, I thought that "birthday cake" was a type of cake that had lots of colors in it! My grandmother had made them since the 1940's (when my mother and aunts were children). The process involved adding food coloring (mom used the cheap grocery store stuff that's liquid) to portions of white cake batter and painstakingly spooning it, alternating colors, into the pan.

My mother has since passed away, and I wanted to make an "all-color" cake for my niece's 1st birthday just like her grammy would have. I decorated it like the Wilton Course 1 cake and it looked awesome outside.

My batter was runnier than the batter that my mother had used, since I was using a different recipe. Instead of distinct areas of each color, it sort of swirled and blended together. My sister's in-laws were impressed, and my sis and my dad were touched by the gesture, but I knew that it wasn't what I intended. After the party, I tried the same technique with a different white cake recipe and got the same results that my mom used to get. And btw, the all-color cake I made for her second b-day came out wonderfully.

What I'm trying to say is that maybe your cake batter wsa too liquidy and you could achieve the desired results with a different recipe.

I also would love to learn how to do this!!! Ive seen some very nice, and bright cakes on here, and so uniformed in color....

I thought that was made with just 2 colors in each pan? (I haven't tried it yet, but it is on my list of things I WANT to try!) I would think a thicker batter would help too.....

Nadine, that is so sweet of you to carry on that tradition.

I hope some more people chime in here that have done this cake and let us know what kind of cake mix they used and what technique is best to achieve the layered look. This is something that I want to do and now I am having second thoughts. I also thought that you were only supposed to put two colors in a 2 inch pan.

Come on Rainbowlicious bakers help us out.

A thicker batter does seem to make sense. Have you thought of trying a pound cake? I have a pretty good pound cake recipe if you'd like it. Also, if you think that adding liquid colouring would contribute to a runny batter you could try using gel colours for icing. HTH

Macsmom's recipe calls for the addition of pudding mix in the WASC batter--it makes the batter much thicker and the layers stay separated. I used her recipe for my daughter's Brownie induction cake and it turned out really cool! It also got rave reviews!

HTH

Try a white or vanilla box mix (made according to directions) and add a half a box of instant pudding to the mix right before you color it and add it to the pans. This makes a very thick batter and you might have better results. HTH!

Great tips about the pudding.
Thanks!

I have made a rainbow cake and rainbow cupcakes a few times, and I use the WASC recipe for it. I don't know what method you used to spread the layers on, but I think even using a spoon to gently put one layer over the next may cause it to sink too much into the lower levels. I put the batter in Ziploc bags and cut the corner off (just a little) to gently layer one color over another, and I've never had a problem doing it with 2, 3, or 4 colors for a cake layer - or all 6 colors in cupcakes. Personally, I prefer 2 colors, and doing it in 3 layers (makes it easier to color the filling to match!)

Hope that helps.

Here is the Pound Cake recipe I use for anyone who might like it.

Lisabellemarie - thanks so much for your helpful hint using Ziploc bags! It looks so much easier and much less mess!!!

I really can't wait to try this. I've seen them but never tried them. I think the cupcake idea would be super cute.