Easy Rainbow Cake Recipe – Seven Layers

Rainbow Cake Recipe from scratch

Make a perfect rainbow cake recipe with all the seven colors of the rainbow. This easy rainbow cake recipe from scratch with step by step pictures and video shows you how to make a seven-layer rainbow cake simple, easy and effortlessly. Whether you chose to use gel food colors or natural food colors to make the colors this is a birthday cake recipe any kid would love to celebrate with.

Nothing beats having a rainbow cake to celebrate your kids birthday party. This was my son’s birthday cake (post updated – 2018). Well, having a mom as a cake decorator means my kids get more than one cake. So this was one of his three birthday cakes.

He has somehow not into chocolate cake recently. And he did not want any brown, white or black on his cake. Mama, can you make me a rainbow cake? I mean a rainbow drip cake? And I want colorful drip on top, no chocolate, or white or metallic. Now here the drip is, of course, white chocolate but he was ok with that since we were going to color it. Of course, if you wanted to make a drip with a different medium than you can, of course, use royal icing. I will share more details on how you can do that when I share how I made this Lolipop Rainbow Drip Cake – here.

About this rainbow cake recipe aka Rainbow Layer Cake (Save/Pin)

This is a simple, easy and quick recipe as you can see in the video below.  The batter is straightforward and very traditional, meaning you cream the butter/sugar add eggs, flour and buttermilk and you are done. The baking is quick because you bake thinner layers unlike regular two in layers.

This cake here is seven layers of rainbow cake. You can make six but when you have kids like my Aadi who argue that a rainbow has seven, not six layers the easiest is to make the seventh layer. Most people omit the indigo layers because you either don’t get that color easily available.

Another thing to notice is that I have seven layers of cake and no support in the middle. Yes, that’s because we wanted a tall rainbow cake that we cut in one slice. If you doing a single-tier like this with good Swiss meringue buttercream – this is possible. I will explain more in my post when I share how I made this Lolipop Rainbow Drip Cake soon.

Need to bake with the kids? Use my one-bowl vanilla recipe

One of the fun things about making a rainbow cake is having the kids join in the fun. Which means you need a recipe that can take a little kid abuse of overbeating or under mixing!  Know what I mean?

I have always had my kids bake a rainbow cake with me. I mean, they are the ones that get excited about the colors, so why not get them to mix! They love mixing and over mixing that color. My Rhea can beat the life out of the cake batter before she hands it over for baking, not to mention she also eats quite a bit of the butter/sugar mix as well as the cake batter.

So, when I bake with the kids I use my One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe. It has been used by my kids on many occasions and still turns out absolutely delicious.  Plus can you think of a cake recipe more easier than just adding all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing? Nah! It works perfectly every single time. No surprise the recipe has always been most popular with everyone on this blog.

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Who has so many baking pans for a rainbow cake recipe?

I often get people who say I don’t have so many baking pans of the same size. Is it ok to mix the batter and leave it out while I reuse the pan and bake in batches?

First, Yes, this recipe can wait while you bake in batches but waiting for seven layers may be a bit long to keep the batter. Why re-use baking pans when you can actually buy disposable baking trays. I don’t use these often but they make perfect sense for such cake recipes. I always use disposable baking trays when I ‘m baking a rainbow cake recipe. That way I do not have to wash my pans in between baking. And these are definitely affordable.

Let’s talk ingredients and substitutes (Save/Pin)

• All-purpose flour  – this recipe works great with just regular plain flour. You do not need to use any special cake flour or self-raising flour. If you do need to substitute with other flour I suggest you read about the types of flour and substitutes here.
• Butter – I prefer unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt. If salted butter is all you get go-ahead and use it – just omit the salt in the recipe.
• Sugar – White sugar means the colors of the rainbow will be bright and beautiful. I like the taste of brown sugar but that would not bring out the true colors in this cake.
• Buttermilk – This contributes to a nice soft crumb in this cake. You can use store-bought buttermilk but homemade buttermilk takes no more than five minutes and here is how you make it – Homemade Buttermilk in 5 minutes.
• Vanilla – Always use good quality vanilla. Ideally, it would be nice to use a clear vanilla extract or vanilla sugar to ensure the colors stay bright and beautiful. But I have often used my homemade vanilla extract with no issues.

Useful Tips and Tools

• A simple Bowl, whisk and Spatula with do the trick for this cake.
• Personally, I believe in weighing ingredients by weight, which makes my kitchen scaleone of the most valuable items when baking.
• The same goes for mymeasuring cups and measuring spoons. It’s always a good idea to have these handy and use them when baking rather than trying to guess measurements.
• I think one set of baking pans is a must for anyone a home baker. Personally, I like to bake three layers rather than torte my cakes and it bakes faster too. For most of my layer cake recipes on this blog I use 3 x 6-inch round pans or 2 x 8-inch round pans.
• Once baked always invert your cakes on a cooling rack. This encourages air circulation and prevents the steam from pooling at the bottom of the pan.
• Every oven works differently. So the baking times are just guidelines. In the case of cakes, a skewer inserted in the center is a great indication. If the cake bakes too quick or too slow compared to the time given it might be a good idea to check if your oven needs calibration. An oven thermometer is a great little gadget to help keep the oven temperature in check. All you need to do then is adjust the temperature accordingly

How to Make an Easy Rainbow Cake (Save/Pin)

Method

Prepare batter

• Preheat oven – 160 C / 320 F.
• Grease and line your baking pans/foils.
• Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature especially butter and eggs.
• In a mixing bowl or use a bowl and whisk/spatula.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time.
• Followed by the flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions.
• Once you have a smooth batter.

Adding color to the batter

• Divide batter between six or seven bowls approximately. I use similar bowls and a measuring cup.
• To make a Rainbow Cake we need six or seven colors if you choose to make the last color.

• Add the seven edible food colors straight out of the bottle – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and violet.

• Once all the colors are ready.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pans.

Bake, cool, decorate

• Bake in a preheated oven on the center rack – the layers take no more than 8 to 10 minutes.
• Insert a skewer in the center at about 8-minute mark.

• You can bake them in batches of two or three.
• When baked cool them completely on a wire rack.
• Decorate layered with frosting as required.

How to decorate a rainbow cake?

You can simply frost it with buttercream. This cake works well with fondant as well. I used this cake to create a lollipop inspired rainbow drip cake for my sons’ birthday. Needless to say, it was a big hit. Here’s how I decorated it.

Rainbow Drip Cake Tutorial – Lollipop Rainbow Drip Cake

Learn to make a rainbow drip cake with this step by step video tutorial and detailed instructions whether you make a simple drip cake or a loaded lollipop rainbow drip cake like I have here today. A rainbow cake on the inside and lots of colorful lollipops on the outside this cake is sure to make any kids birthday celebration a big hit.

Tips for making the perfect Rainbow Cake Recipe

• Always make sure the ingredients are at room temperature when you start mixing the batter.
• For the color indigo, you will need to play with blue and red until you find the shade you are looking for. I find a ratio of 1 drop blue and two drops of red is a good ratio.
• The colors will darken during baking so do not overdo the colors.
• You don’t have to bake the batter all at once, you can bake them two at a time in batches.
• These layers are thinner than regular cake layers so they bake real quick. It is very important to pay close attention to the baking time or these will dry out.
• Always store the cake layers well wrapped in cling wrap to prevent them from drying out.

Frequently asked questions

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You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.

Easy Rainbow Cake Recipe from scratch aka Seven Layer Rainbow Cake

Author: Veena Azmanov

5 from 17 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Resting time: 3 hrs

Total Time: 3 hrs 50 mins

Calories: 356kcal

$20

Adjust Servings Here: 15 servings

Description

Make a perfect rainbow cake recipe with all the seven colors of the rainbow. This step by step tutorial with pictures and video shows you how to make a seven layer rainbow cake simple, easy and effortlessly. Whether you chose to use gel food colors or natural food colors to make the colors this is a birthday cake recipe any kid would love to celebrate with.

Equipment /Tools

• Stand Mixer
• Stainless steel mixing bowl
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons
• Kitchen Scale
• Baking Tray
• Oven

Ingredients

• 360 grams (2.88 cups) All-purpose flour
• 226 grams (1 cups) Unsalted butter
• 300 grams (1.5 cups) White fine grain sugar
• 5 (5 ) Eggs large
• 250 ml (1.04 cups) Buttermilk
• 2 tsp (2 tsp) Vanilla
• 2 tsp (2 tsp) Baking powder
• 1 tsp (1 tsp) Baking soda
• 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) Salt
• Food colors red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo, violet – a few drops

ADJUST SERVINGS HERE – 15 servings

Instructions

Prepare batter

• Preheat oven – 160 C / 320 F.
• Grease and line your baking pans/foils.
• Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature especially butter and eggs.
• In a mixing bowl or use a bowl and whisk/spatula.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time.
• Followed by the flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions.
• Once you have a smooth batter.

Adding color to the batter

• Divide batter between six or seven bowls approximately. I use similar bowls and a measuring cup.
• To make a Rainbow Cake we need six or seven colors if you choose to make the last color.
• Add the seven edible food colors straight out of the bottle – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.
• Once all the colors are ready.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pans.

Bake, cool, decorate

• Bake in a preheated oven on the center rack.
• You can bake them in batches of two or three.
• When baked cool them completely on a wire rack.
• Decorate layered with frosting as required.

Recipe Notes

Baking Pans

If you want to make a 9-inch tall cake like this use  seven – 5 1/2 inch round pans 

If you want to make a 6-inch tall cake use six – 7 inch round cake pans

Recipe Video

About Videos – most recipes has two videos – a quick version in the post & longer detailed version on this recipe card. Sometimes a similar recipe video may be used. Please do subscribe to my channel if you like my videos

Nutrition Information

Nutrition Facts

Easy Rainbow Cake Recipe from scratch aka Seven Layer Rainbow Cake

Amount Per Serving (100 g)

Calories 356 Calories from Fat 135

% Daily Value*

Fat 15g23%

Saturated Fat 8.9g45%

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 6.1g

Monounsaturated Fat 0g

Cholesterol 73mg24%

Sodium 93mg4%

Potassium 0mg0%

Carbohydrates 51.9g17%

Fiber 0.5g2%

Sugar 37.6g42%

Protein 4.3g9%

Vitamin A 0IU0%

Vitamin C 0mg0%

Calcium 0mg0%

Iron 0mg0%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you

Keywords – 7 layer cake, baking, baking from scratch, cake, Layer cake, rainbow, rainbow cake, vanilla

Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear about itMention @veenaazmanov or #tag on Instagram #veenaazmanov

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