hatching smiles: Rainbow Cake

I've been doing a lot of "research" in planning Billy's first birthday party. Pinterest definitely comes in handy for "research". I came across this on Whisk Kid and it definitely is a super and epic cake! In fact, it is solely responsible for the following few months of preparation for the RAINBOW PARTY! Yep, you heard right. Months. A labour of love. And to tell the truth, I loved every minute of it! Despite the imploring looks I'd often receive from my husband that said "Seriously? You just did that?" My one year old is not even going to know the difference, but; Yes I Did!

So, back to super epic rainbow cake. It seems I'm not the first to try my hand at this amazing treat. Thank goodness too, because I picked up a few handy tips from fellow cakers. And, also for that reason, I'm not going to bore you with the finer "how-to" details. I'll just tell you what I found helped and worked:

Betty Crocker vanilla/white cake mix and ready made icing. Betty has been doing it longer than me so I put my trust in her and it paid off in taste and time. Thank you Betty.
More than one cake pan. This is not a must, as each layer only takes about 12 minutes to cook anyway, but it would definitely help to speed up the process if you are in more of a rush and I was.
Good rainbow colours. Like I said, I initially did my "research" and so invested in a set of Americolour food colouring gels. I got some from Spotlight and then Googled them to get a few more on-line. Sorry I forget where, but if you just do the same you'll find somewhere close to you for postage. They make for bright vibrant coloured food. I tested them on Easter Cookies and was ~~happy~~ super excited with the result. Then my family got to eat rainbow coloured food for a week till I got over the excitement.
An under-layer of royal icing to coat the cake before the real icing works wonders to eliminate those pesky cake crumbles showing through. Unless you are particularly fond of speckled cake of course. I wanted the inside to be a surprise so I needed it well hidden.

Then I just had fun. The cake kind of evolved as I worked on it. It was a bit slow, as mentioned above I only had one cake pan. But that's OK, it was all part of the excitement and anticipation for each layer. I was in love with the rainbow look, but have since seen some pretty impressive alternatives, oh my the possibilities are endless! My family's birthday cakes will be coloured layer cakes from now on!