Thursday, June 8, 2017

Color-Surprise Birthday Cake

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My two-year-old loves Trolls, so for his birthday, we did a Trolls theme (click here to read about the Trolls themed party). To go along with the theme, I decided to make a colorful birthday cake. After a late-night or two (hey, I do my best thinking at night when I should be sleeping), I decided to make the inside super colorful, but leave the outside white so that he would be surprised by all the colors when we cut into the cake. The plan worked because he loved it. He even talked about how he was going to “eat orange now” or “purple now.” I love a mom-win!


Want to make a Color-Surprise Birthday Cake too? Here’s how I did it:




Buy two boxes of white cake mix. I did consider making it from scratch (remember my late-night brainstorming) but I decided to make it a bit easier on myself by doing cake mix this time. #dontjudge 
You will also need a box of Wilton neon gel food coloring


Mix up the cake following the package directions. Then divide the batter into smaller bowls. I used five bowls because I wanted pink, orange, blue, purple and green (next time I think I’ll do yellow instead of green because the green was really close in color to the blue). The next step is up to you, but I did 3-6 drops of food coloring per bowl. I used 6 drops for the orange because I felt it wasn’t as vibrant as the other colors. I used 3 for everything else. I suggest you start with 3 drops, mix, then add more drops if you want it to be brighter. The blue was the brightest and I was worried it was too bright, but once it was baked up it was absolutely beautiful. 


After creating your individual bowls of colored batter you now need to place it in your pans. I used my two Rachel Ray 9” pans. I lined the bottoms with parchment and then sprayed them with Baker’s Joy. I cannot properly say how much I love Baker’s Joy! It has been my bundt cake secret ingredient many times!


To create the colorful cake pattern I just put the colors in randomly. Yes, you read that right… there is no rhyme or reason to the pattern. I just put two spoonfuls of the color into the pan, then two spoonfuls of the next color and so on. I kept doing that until all of the batter had been spooned into the two pans. Lastly, I gave the pans a few shakes and tapped them on the counter to spread out the batter evenly. I then baked the cakes according to the package directions, being careful to not over bake. 
Let the cakes cool completed on a wire rack (I took a nap during this time because I know how to use my time wisely LOL). 


When the cakes are cooled (and you’ve wakened up from your nap) you can whip up the frosting. I did a classic buttercream. Whip 1 1/2 cups of softened butter and 1 1/2 tbsp of vanilla. Then slowly mix in 6 cups of powdered sugar to the butter… I usually do this 1/2 cup at a time so I don’t get powdered sugar everywhere. Then finish by carefully mixing in 4-6 tbsp of milk. Use less milk for a thicker icing (thicker icing is perfect for piping designs). You can add color to the frosting, but I left it white for this cake. 



I leveled my cakes and made it a four layer cake with frosting between each layer. This frosting recipe was just enough for my version. I sprinkled it with edible glitter flakes and piped a basic design around the bottom and top. I was so excited for the cake cutting part of the party because I wanted to see what it looked like inside… and it did not disappoint! It was beautiful! Furthermore, and maybe more importantly, it tasted delicious! 


Do you plan to make this cake? Please share your pics with me when you’re done! I'd love to see them!


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