Rainbow cake

Legend has it that at the end of every rainbow sits a leprechaun, hammering on a shoe, who will reveal the whereabouts of a crock of gold. No need for a leprechaun here because you will have struck gold with this delightful rainbow cake. This is easy to make looks great and doesn’t take that long. Here’s a tip if you get the kids to help buy extra smarties!

  • Prep Time

    35 Minutes

  • Cook Time

    25 Minutes

  • Serves

    8-10 People

Ingredients

for the sponge

  • 200g unsalted butter
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 small pinch of salt

for the filling

  • raspberry jam or any red jam you prefer

for the butter icing

  • 100g unsalted butter softened
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 cups icing sugar sieved

decoration

  • 1 large party pack of smarties sorted into individual colours

You'll Need

  • Multix Bake

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Line the base of 2 x 20cm round cake tins with Multix bake and grease the side of the tins. In an electric mixer, beat butter for about 2 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each one. Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined. Sift flour and add half to butter mixture. Beat until well combined. Repeat with remaining flour until you have a smooth batter, scrape down the sides of the bowl give the mix one last whiz.
  2. Divide the cake mix evenly between the 2 cake tins and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling make the icing.
  3. Cream butter until pale and smooth. Slowly add the milk, vanilla extract and half the sifted icing sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture should be easily spreadable, if too dry, add a little more milk, if too wet add more icing sugar. When the cakes are totally cool. Place one of the cakes top down on a plate or cake stand. Spread it with thick raspberry jam. Place the second cake on top, topside up and the use a spatula to spread the butter icing smoothly over the top and sides of the cake. Place 1 Smartie in the exact middle of the cake then using that as a guide arrange the smarties in coloured rainbow stripes around it. Finish the edge of the cake with whatever colours you have left over.
Posted in Cakes, Party Food