Rainbow Cake.. my way!

I saw this cake on the internet and knew I wanted to attempt it for my best friend, who luckily has a rather large family! I love how people think its just a lovely looking white cake, then they slice into it and their faces light up!
However, the blog I found it didn't have a recipe, just the instructions to use 'White cake mix' and 'grape soda'. So I decided to use a plain and simple victoria sponge mix, and treble it...
My thinking was; one lot of the recipe makes two sponges, so i need three lots to get six sponges- no thought was there for A) the height of the cake and B) how was it not going to slide!
If you are making this cake , following my recipe, it will hopefully turn out smaller than mine and look a little more professional.. that said, my cake was huge and got mistaken for a wedding cake!


Utensil-wise, obviously a 6 layer cake seems daunting! I went out and brought 3 sets of Sainsburys Basics Cake Tins (cost around £2.50 for 2). They are slightly smaller than the average cake tin, which is a good thing for this cake! And ensured that they are all the same size. I also brought a set of 6 pint glasses (also very cheap) to ensure the cakes are the same size and to save on washing up!


Cake Ingredients (x3 for rainbow cake)
225g caster sugar
225g softened butter
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour
1-2 tbs milk
Your 6 gel food colourings (I couldn't find purple or orange, so mixed the other colours)


Method
(preheat the oven to 190 degree's Celsius, grease your 6 tins)

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth
2. Beat in the eggs
3. Sift the flour in whilst mixing
4. Add the milk as needed to make a good consistency
5. Divide the mixture into the 6 pint glasses, add the colours 1tsp at a time to achieve a nice bright colour
6. Put in the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. If, like me, you have a smallish oven, you may only be able to fit 2 or 4 cakes in at a time. If this is the case, put the bottom colours of the cake in first, so that they can begin to cool as the others cook!
7. The cakes may well be slightly brown on the top and sides but when the cake is iced, you will only see the colours in the middle, anyway!
8. When the cakes are cooled, brush off the crumbs, trim the edges with scissors and begin to ice! I found it easiest to hold the sponge underneath with one hand, whilst icing the sides with the other hand, then placing it down and doing the top (repeat!)
9. Try and give a thick layer of buttercream, but both the buttercream and cakes need to be completely cooled, or else they will melt and slide (speaking from experience!)

tip: put a blob of buttercream on your cake board so the first layer sticks

Enjoy! x