Surprise Rainbow Cake
Surprise! It’s a cake - it’s a rainbow - it’s surprise candies in the middle! A fun but deliciously, tender cake for special occasions!
White Vanilla Cake Recipe
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp - 2 sticks
1 3/4 cups sugar
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups of milk, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups M&Ms or other small unwrapped candies
-Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray or oil dusted well with flour.
-Combine milk, oil and extracts and set aside. Combine your flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
-Place butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and cream until smooth. Sprinkle in sugar and then whip on high until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes.
-Add the egg whites one at a time to the butter mixture while mixing on low and let fully combine after each addition before adding the next. If your egg whites aren't at room temperature you can place them in a bowl of hot water for about 5 minutes or microwave them 4-5 seconds.
-Add in 1/3 of your dry ingredients to the egg/butter mixture and mix on low until just combined. Then add in 1/2 of your liquids, then dry, then liquids and the rest of your dry ingredients. Let mix until just combined.
-Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans then smooth it out and bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center.
-Let cakes cool ten minutes then turn out cakes onto a cooling rack. (If desired, wrap warm and place into the freezer to flash chill. This locks in the moisture.) Once cakes are cool, but not frozen you can then trim off the brown edges of your cakes and flatten cake layers by slightly trimming off rounded tops.
-Place each cake layer on a flat surface then with a 4-inch round cutter, cut a round clear through, out of the center. Cut one of the round cutouts in half horizontally, and set aside. Slice each cake layer in half horizontally. Carefully place a bottom layer on a cake platter. Frost cake as described below.
For Frosting:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
3 pounds (11 - 12 cups) powdered sugar
7 - 8 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
gel food coloring: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple
dash of salt
-In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add powdered sugar; beat on low speed until crumbly. Gradually add milk, salt, then vanilla, beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
-Measure 1 cup frosting into each of 6 small bowls. Mix a bit of food coloring into each of the bowls and stir until well mixed.
-Place cooled cake on serving platter and then on a shortening can or Lazy Susan that you can turn while frosting the cake. With remaining white frosting, frost thinly between layers of cake, then frost the top and thinly frost a crumb coat on the sides of the cake.
-Fill the hole created in the center of the cakes with M & Ms or other small unwrapped candies. Place the small portion of the circle cut-out as a plug into the hole at the top of the cake and smooth over the top of it with a bit more white frosting.
-Spoon each color, one at a time into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Starting at the bottom of the cake pipe a thick ring of frosting around the cake in this order, starting at the bottom and moving in even spaces, to the top; red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple.
-With a long cake spatula, or a bench (food) scraper, wet in hot water, run it around the edges of the cake, in a continuous motion, as you turn it on the rotating platform. Push gently so that the frosting colors are flattened and seam into each color, completely covering the white crumb coat of frosting.
-Sprinkle gold or sparkly sugar around the top edges of the cake and sprinkle a few reserved M&Ms on center of cake top, over the plug of cake. Chill until ready to serve. Remove from refrigerator 45 minutes to an hour before serving. Cut when ready to serve so that guests can see the surprise candies tumble out as you remove each slice.
A surprise tumbles out of the middle - but even more surprises await with great cake flavors and textures!
PERSNICKETY NOTES:
*Bring all your ingredients to room temperature or even a little warmer (eggs, buttermilk, butter, etc) to ensure your batter does not break or curdle.
*Chill cake layers for about 30 minutes to make them easier to frost and less likely to have crumbs pull away from the cake as you frost it.
. *For an even creamier frosting, use heavy cream in place of the milk in this recipe.
*Remove the cake from the fridge and evenly pipe lines of frosting around the cake starting at the base and working your way up. Try to hold the piping bag at a 90° angle to the cake, and move in as continuous a motion as possible (moving side-to-side or up and down will cause the lines to blur together). The general coloring of a rainbow would go from ROYGBIV, but feel free to mix it up if you like!
*With a large flat spatula or icing smoother, work your way around the cake, smoothing out the sides as you go. Remove any excess frosting to a bowl. Keep the tools at a 90° angle and the bottom at the base of the cake. Don’t move up and down or the colors will start to blend together. Once the sides are smooth, work on smoothing out the top of the cake. Keep the icing smoother at a 45° angle and scrape towards the center of the cake, removing any excess frosting.
*Other candies create a great surprise in the middle of the cake, i.e Cadbury Mini Eggs for Easter, Jelly Beans, Reeces Pieces, blue or pink candies for gender reveal cakes.
