March didn't exactly roar in like a lion, but if it was a lamb, it was a soggy, wet, gray-skied lamb. We decided to celebrate (optimistically) anyway, with our usual, beginning of spring, slice of rainbow cake.
This year, I decided to try something different, and used fruit to flavor, and color the cake.
Strawberry = Red
Orange (juice + zest) = Orange
Lemon (juice + zest) = Yellow
Kiwi = Green
Grape juice = Grayish Blue
Blueberries = Purple
I mixed up a Betty Crocker, Golden Vanilla Cake Mix, with the eggs, and oil called for on the box, but leaving out the water, giving me a thick batter, to divide into six bowls.
I mashed the fruit...
...and added just under 1/4 of fruit, and juice to each bowl, in place of the water.
If you really wanted a clear, rainbow look to your cake, you could add a drop, or two of food coloring to each bowl, too.
I wanted to see how it would bake up without food coloring, so went ahead and blopped the batter, one bowl's worth on top of the next, from red to purple, into the center of a 9'' spring-form pan.
Then, I baked the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, according to the direction on the cake mix box...
...and frosted it with a well whipped, cloud of butter frosting (1/3 cup softened butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons of milk).
The colors weren't super distinct, but each bite held a separate, fruity surprise, perfect for spring, even if the weather was not.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
This year, I decided to try something different, and used fruit to flavor, and color the cake.Strawberry = Red
Orange (juice + zest) = Orange
Lemon (juice + zest) = Yellow
Kiwi = Green
Grape juice = Grayish Blue
Blueberries = Purple
I mixed up a Betty Crocker, Golden Vanilla Cake Mix, with the eggs, and oil called for on the box, but leaving out the water, giving me a thick batter, to divide into six bowls.
I mashed the fruit...
...and added just under 1/4 of fruit, and juice to each bowl, in place of the water.
If you really wanted a clear, rainbow look to your cake, you could add a drop, or two of food coloring to each bowl, too.
I wanted to see how it would bake up without food coloring, so went ahead and blopped the batter, one bowl's worth on top of the next, from red to purple, into the center of a 9'' spring-form pan.
Then, I baked the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, according to the direction on the cake mix box...
...and frosted it with a well whipped, cloud of butter frosting (1/3 cup softened butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons of milk).
The colors weren't super distinct, but each bite held a separate, fruity surprise, perfect for spring, even if the weather was not.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I love the rainbow theme lately :0)
ReplyDeleteYum!! Wish we lived next door. :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd sounds like it tasted yummy.
Sounds like it would taste divine!
ReplyDeleteYou just made me hungry for Kiwi.
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy! How did your spring cleaning go?
ReplyDeleteMarcee - I got completely caught up on laundry, even the extra socks are gone - cleaned out two drawers, half a closet, and that space under the oven drawer - yuck! Then the clouds rolled in, and I decided to go back to baking :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you made this with natural coloring!!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very yummy! I was considering a rainbow salad instead with very similar ingredients.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! Karen
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious! I made a rainbow cake last year with food coloring. It looked pretty but I bet yours tasted WAY better!
ReplyDeleteI recently made a rainbow cake with fruit purees and it did actually come out brighter than this. I wondered about the difference and noticed that in my recipe the fruit substitutes cup-for-cup for most of the butter (or oil, in your case) so there would be more fruit in mine.
ReplyDeleteBecky - Good to know! Next time I'll try replacing both the water, and oil with the fruit.
ReplyDeletePS some of my fruits were different: strawberry with a tiny bit of beetroot, apricot, peas (with lime zest), blueberry, cherry. Only had 5 layers.
ReplyDeleteI made it and it was great, even if I could only see a few of the colors. I will definitely add fruit from now on!
ReplyDeletehttp://skeesblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/rainbow-cake.html