Rainbow Cake

My little Baby D turned three yesterday. Three. T-H-R-E-E. Three! How did this happen? She was just born 1095 days ago.
After the party, all the presents were played with and it was bed time, I happily sat with her to read several stories and watch her drift peacefully off to sleep, drinking in every moment I could. This has affected me so deeply that I may need to be institutionalized when she hits 18.
Such a monumental milestone deserves a monumental cake. I wasn't feeling any love for fondant because I haven't been spending enough time tackling the tricky topping, so I opted for a popular option, the rainbow cake. It is hard to beat for wow-factor, especially piled six tiers high.

Notice how the balloons make a color wheel? Yeah, that's not an accident.

She's utterly perfect in my eyes.

Now here's the humbling part. As impressive as this cake looks, it is crazy easy to make, just a little time consuming.

Rainbow cake:
(2) boxes white cake mix
(3) 9" round cake pans
(3) batches butter cream frosting (Recipe follows)

For the cake, mix one box at a time according to package directions. (note- I always use applesauce in the place of vegetable oil. It's my preference) Divide batter into 3 bowls. If you have a kitchen scale, it is 12 oz per bowl, otherwise eyeball it. Using standard food coloring create your color layers. I made red, orange and yellow for the first batch. Grease and flour the cake pans and pour in the batter. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for about ten minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack. Repeat process for blue, green and purple.
(Note: I mixed red and yellow food coloring to make the orange layer, but I used the purple in the McCormick Neon food coloring for the purple layer. You could mix red and blue to make your own purple, but because I already had it on hand, it saved me a step.)
Assemble carefully. I spead a thin layer of frosting over each layer and then slathered a very thick layer on top to cover the imperfections. The bottom layers got a little compressed and the top layer was a little domed and had cracked from the doming. More frosting!
It should go without saying that you need to keep your ROYGBV sequence in your head when assembling. One mixed up layer would kill the presentation.


Butter Cream Frosting:
1/3 cup softened butter
4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter in mixer until smooth. Add half the sugar, scraping down the sides and mixing for one minute. Add the milk and vanilla. Gradually add the remaining sugar.

Viola!

An impressive dessert for an impressive young lady. Now to go watch my girls sleep and freeze time.