I started out with my new favorite white cake recipe, which is from Cooks Illustrated. I used it back in June to make the clever girl's rainbow birthday cake and it worked out well so I figured it would serve me well as a tie die cake, too. If you recall that cake, it was a rainbow in layers, so I split the batter into 6 thin layers of cake and stacked them up. For this cake, I wanted all of the colors to be within the same two layers, so I had to use a different method.
I still split the batter into 6 relatively equal amounts. This was fairly easy because the batter (I made 1 1/2 recipes of batter, for a 10-inch cake) ended up weighing around 60 ounces, so I measured 10 ounces into each bowl. Then I added food coloring gel to each until they got to be the color I liked. Don't use liquid food coloring for this - it will add too much liquid to the cake and change the texture. The gels work nicely, and with Ateco brand you really don't need much to get a nice vibrant color. I then layered the colors into the pans, using the most of the bottom color, and then a bit less of each color on top of that. The reverse was done to the second pan. This is easier to understand with the photo below:
I started with red in the right bowl and gently smoothed it across the bottom of the pan, then used a bit less orange, then yellow and so on. Gently smooth each color on the top of the one below, being careful not to actually mix them up. When you get to the top color, the batter sort of looks like a dome, so I just jiggled it and tapped it on the counter a few times to sort of even it out, and hoped for the best. I forgot to take a photo of the cakes when I got the out of the oven, but they miraculously ended up nicely cake-shaped!
I made up a double batch of buttercream frosting (recipe below) and pulled out a bit to use for between the layers. I colored that icing red, as I thought white would look too glaring and divide the layers visually too much. In order to get a good RED color in the icing, I made it as red as I could with the red coloring gel, then added a couple drops of brown. The brown seems to take the pinkish hint out of the frosting and deepen the red color! Yes! The rest of the cake was frosted in white.
As you can see, when I stacked my cake, I stacked the top layer upside-down, so the BOTTOM of the cake is now the top. This is the layer that started with red batter. You could stack them however you want, I just thought this way would look cool.
After frosting the entire cake white, I had to make the tie-die effect for the top! I got my idea from the blog Bird on a Cake. However, she had better luck finding decorating gel in rainbow colors than I did. I found red, green and blue, but not the rest. So I made some myself!! I found a couple of different recipes online and went with the one for which I had the ingredients on hand, hoping for the best. It turned out great! This recipe uses lemon juice which I think is probably for spoiling purposes but since I didn't actually store it maybe you don't need the lemon? To me it was fine and added a nice little zip to the cake but if you don't want lemon flavor you could try it without! I actually found that the homemade decorating gel worked and spread easier than the store bought one, so I will definitely be using this in the future. I used to have some Wilton Piping Gel in a big tub but I find it kinda nasty and even though it doesn't have an expiration date it sort of scares me at this point. Oh, and I just put the gel in ziplock bags and snipped a tiny bit of the corner away for piping. This is not an exact method and a bit messy but worked fine for this application! I digress. You will find the decorating gel recipe below as well!
orange
red
purple
blue
*wipe brush*
green
*wipe brush*
yellow
orange
red
*wipe brush*
If you look at the Bird on a Cake blog, I think her tie-dye effect turned out better than mine, and besides her being more skilled at this than I, I think she also used a wider paintbrush than I did. Mine was pretty narrow so if I did this again I'd probably use a brush that is closer to 1/2 inch. And maybe I should put the color lines closer together or thicker in general. However, I still think it turned out pretty cool! Our friends really enjoyed the cake and it was an overall hit!
Here are the recipes:
White Layer Cake
adapted from Cooks Illustrated
alterations for tie-die in italics
makes 1 double-layer 9-inch cake (I made 1 1/2 recipes for a 10-inch double layer cake)
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food color. (Liquid color will not be vibrant enough and could change the structure of the batter - too much added liquid)
Instructions:
Set oven rack in the center, and heat to 350F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans (10-inch round cake pans), line bottoms with parchment, butter parchment, and dust with flour. (Weigh your empty mixing bowl).
Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into a 2-cup glass measure and whisk until blended. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt at low speed. Add the butter and continue to beat until the mixture resembles moist crumbs. There should be no powdery streaks.
Add all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture to the crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and beat for 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape the bowl. Return the mixer to medium speed and mix for 20 seconds.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. (Weigh the full mixing bowl and subtract the weight of the empty bowl. This is the weight of the batter. Divide that number by 6 and this is the amount of batter you will put into 6 separate bowls. Gently whisk several drops of gel color into each bowl. The color of the cake will be the same as the color of the unbaked batter, so mix in enough color to get the vibrancy that you want. Pour about 3/4 of your red into the first pan, and then pour in a tad less of each color on top, gently smoothing each color but NOT stirring. Do the second pan in the opposite order.) Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter to the pan walls and smooth the top. (Jiggle the pans a little and tap on the counter a few times.) Place the pans into the oven, at least 3 inches apart and 3 inches from the oven walls. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes (35-40 minutes).
Let the cakes rest in the pans for 3 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, remove the parchment, and then re-invert onto a different wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
adapted from Cooks Illustrated
alterations for tie-die in italics
makes 1 double-layer 9-inch cake (I made 1 1/2 recipes for a 10-inch double layer cake)
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food color. (Liquid color will not be vibrant enough and could change the structure of the batter - too much added liquid)
Instructions:
Set oven rack in the center, and heat to 350F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans (10-inch round cake pans), line bottoms with parchment, butter parchment, and dust with flour. (Weigh your empty mixing bowl).
Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into a 2-cup glass measure and whisk until blended. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt at low speed. Add the butter and continue to beat until the mixture resembles moist crumbs. There should be no powdery streaks.
Add all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture to the crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and beat for 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape the bowl. Return the mixer to medium speed and mix for 20 seconds.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. (Weigh the full mixing bowl and subtract the weight of the empty bowl. This is the weight of the batter. Divide that number by 6 and this is the amount of batter you will put into 6 separate bowls. Gently whisk several drops of gel color into each bowl. The color of the cake will be the same as the color of the unbaked batter, so mix in enough color to get the vibrancy that you want. Pour about 3/4 of your red into the first pan, and then pour in a tad less of each color on top, gently smoothing each color but NOT stirring. Do the second pan in the opposite order.) Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter to the pan walls and smooth the top. (Jiggle the pans a little and tap on the counter a few times.) Place the pans into the oven, at least 3 inches apart and 3 inches from the oven walls. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes (35-40 minutes).
Let the cakes rest in the pans for 3 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, remove the parchment, and then re-invert onto a different wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
adapted from SavorySweetLife
makes about 2 1/2 cups frosting
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened but not melted
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 TB+ vanilla extract
3-4 TB milk or heavy cream
Instructions
Beat the butter on medium speed in the bowl of a heavy mixer, using the paddle attachment. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn the mixer to your lowest setting until the sugar and butter have incorporated. When the sugar and butter are incorporated enough that you can safely turn up the mixer speed without coating your kitchen in sugar, increase the speed to medium and add the salt, vanilla and 2 TB of milk/cream. Beat for 3 minutes. Add additional milk/cream if you need the frosting to be softer, or add additional if you need the frosting to be stiffer.
Homemade Cake Piping/Decorating Gel
Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1 TB cornstarch
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
Instructions
Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Gradually stir in the lemon juice. Add in the water and stir to combine.
Stir over high heat until the mixture boils and thickens, then color as desired (or divide into smaller bowls and color as desired). Store the mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
If the mixture becomes too thick, add a tiny amount of water at a time until the gel reaches a better consistency.
In case you are wondering, yes, Mr. Clever Mom and I got our groovy duds on for the party.
One of my girlfriends who is a true born-in-Texas girl came over to give me a nice bouffant hair-do! I had no idea how to make my hair big so I had to call in an expert! Sorry, no tutorials on that one! Just use lots of hairspray and a teasing brush!
Let's disco, baby!
Beautiful, colorful cake! Couple looks fabulous!
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