Jellycat Rainbow Cake
A 4-layer rainbow cake inspired by the adorable Jellycat stuffed toy with whipped cream and chocolate details.
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 360 g cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 375 g granulated sugar
- 140 g oil
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 360 mL buttermilk, room temperature
- gel food colouring, blue, pink, green, yellow (optional)
Whipped Cream
- 300 g whipping cream, cold
- 30 g powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder
Details
- 20 g dark chocolate
- 1 candle
Instructions
Cake Layers
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line four 6" cake pans with a round of parchment paper on the bottom of the pans. Set aside.
- Flour mixture: In a medium bowl, stir together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the softened butter until very creamy. Add the sugar and beat together for about 5 minutes. It will seem like there's too much sugar but it will come together in the next step.
- Wet ingredients: Add the oil and beat together until the mixture becomes pale in colour and smooth. Beat in one egg at a time and add the vanilla extract in with the last egg.
- Alternate flour and buttermilk: Add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just barely combined. Add half of the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Repeat adding the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk and mix until just combined. Divide the cake batter into 4 separate bowls (3 new bowls plus the existing mixing bowl), approximately 375g of batter in each.
- Colour the batter: Add gel food colouring to each bowl of batter and mix with a spatula until evenly combined. For the yellow layer, you can choose to add yellow food colouring for a deeper colour or leave it as is because the natural cake batter is a light yellow.
- Fill pans: Pour each cake batter into a separate lined pan. Gently shake the pan to distribute the batter and tap the pan against the counter a few times to release any big air bubbles.
- Bake: Bake cakes for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
- Cool: Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 30 minutes. Run an offset spatula around the edges of the cakes and invert the pans to turn out the cakes onto a wire rack where they can cool completely. Once cooled, clean up the edges of the cake by gently rubbing the browned bits off with your fingers.
Whipped Cream
- Whip cream: In a large mixing bowl, add the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Use a whisk or hand mixer to whip until it becomes firm peaks.
- Cocoa whipped cream: Transfer a small amount of whipped cream to a small bowl. Add the cocoa powder and mix until the whipped cream is tinted brown. Transfer this to a small piping bag and snip the tip off. Set aside.
Assemble the cake
- Layer cakes: On a cake turntable, lay down the green cake layer. Add a dollop of whipped cream on top and use an offset spatula to smooth it into an even layer without going too far over the edges of the cake. Place the yellow cake layer on top and repeat with the pink and blue layers.
- Whipped cream topping: Once you've layered the cake, transfer the remaining whipped cream to a piping bag and snip the tip off. Pipe dollops of whipped cream on top of the cake starting from the outside and moving towards the middle. Transfer the cake onto a serving plate, if needed.
- Pipe the legs: With the cocoa whipped cream, pipe two legs on the serving plate protruding from the bottom cake layer.
- Draw face: In a small bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 10-second intervals. Transfer the melted chocolate to a small piping bag and snip the tip off. Let the chocolate cool down slightly so that it doesn't drip before piping eyes and a smile on the yellow cake layer.
- Chill: Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 1 hour to allow the whipped cream to firm up so that the cake layers don't slip around when you slice it. Top the cake with a lit candle before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 864kcal | Carbohydrates: 90g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 52g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 20g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 154mg | Sodium: 305mg | Potassium: 206mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 56g | Vitamin A: 1261IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 152mg | Iron: 1mg
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