My granddaughter and I saw this in a magazine, not knowing how “famous” it was and decided to make one. If you have a collection of sprinkles you might like to use, it is a great way to use them all, or at least most of them. It is a really fun cake to make, with all the different colors and layers. It looks like a regular cake (with lots of sprinkles) till you cut the first piece.
It is a very simple recipe and easy to make, but you do need six six-inch cake pans. I actually only had five but had a springform, the right size for the sixth. The only thing I did notice is that the springform, which was dark took about 2-3 minutes longer to cook, so that is something to aware of if you are using different colored pans. I may just buy a sixth six-inch pan today.
The basic recipe is a simple white cake and if you are not a “baker”, you could use a boxed white cake. I baked the cakes two at a time, so I did not crowd the cakes. Luckily I have two ovens, so it did not take long.
FROSTING
8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
16 ounces cream cheese, cold
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
32 ounces powdered sugar
CAKE
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1⅓ cups milk
Food coloring
Nonstick cooking spray
Preparation
Cake:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and put the oven rack in the middle of the oven (if you are using a convection oven, set it to 325°F).
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and whisk until they are really mixed together. You have to mix all the dry ingredients together first so that there are no clumps in your batter, which will create white spots. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to blend the butter and sugar together, until they become fluffy. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula so it’s all mixed in from the sides. Be sure all the butter is blended, so there are no lumps of butter.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter-sugar mixture, with the mixer on medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
5. Add the vanilla to the milk and set it aside.
6. Mix about 1/3 of your dry ingredients into the butter-sugar-egg mixture, then blend in half of the milk, always mixing on medium speed.
7. Mix in the second third of the dry ingredients, then the remaining milk mixture.
8. Stop the mixer for a few seconds and use a spatula to push down anything sticking to the sides of the bowl as you go, then mix in the last of the flour mixture. Make sure it’s all mixed in from the sides and everything is smooth. You don’t want any lumps, but don’t overmix it so stop the mixer as soon as the batter is smooth.
9. Divide the batter evenly into six portions. They don’t have to be exactly identical, but you want them to be close: You can use any small bowls that are all the same size: Just slowly pour the batter into each of the bowls a little at a time until they are all at the same height (it’s about 1 cup of batter per bowl).
10. Color the batter individually in rainbow colors: I used purple, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, and pink for our six-layer cakes. Start with a tiny drop of food coloring, stir it in completely, then add more until it is your desired color (the baked cake will come out pretty close to what you see the outside will be a little brown, but that gets covered with frosting).
11. Spray six 6-inch round baking pans with cooking spray, then pour the colored batter into the greased pans.
12. Bake the cakes two at a time for 8 minutes without opening the oven door. Then rotate each pan so the front faces the back. Bake for another 8 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when you insert it into the middle of the cake (cakes are very sensitive. The less you open your oven, the better your cake will come out! I don’t know exactly why, but I know it).
13. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes (when they’re warm, they’re really fragile, and that’s when they tend to break.) Then flip them over onto a baking sheet or cooling rack and let them cool completely before you frost them.
Frosting:
Use an electric mixer on medium speed to blend the butter until it is smooth. Add the cream cheese and blend it together until there are no lumps. Then add the vanilla. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to push down anything sticking to the sides of the bowl, making sure it’s all mixed in from the sides and everything is smooth.
Mix in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time on the lowest speed otherwise, it will fly everywhere! Use the spatula to push down anything sticking to the sides of the bowl, making sure it’s all mixed in from the sides and everything is smooth.
Be sure it is all perfectly blended or you may lumps when you go to frost the cake. It is a fun project. We used the cutouts in the middle to make what I called the “The Leaning Tower of Caka.”
Assembling:
This is the fun part: Cut a circle using a 2 inch or so biscuit cutter on five of the six layers. Put a little frosting on the plate, so the first layer will adhere. I use commercial cake cardboard available at Walmart, Joanns or Michaels. Add the first layer, then frost it with nothing in the middle. Continue to the top layer. I do a thin coat of frosting over the entire cake, then put in the refrigerator till it is hard. That makes it easier to put on the final layer of frosting. There are several YouTubes online that walk you through how to do it.
The outside is a little tricky. I put the entire cake in a big bowl in my kitchen sink and handful by handful, from the bottom up, added the sprinkles. It was amazingly easy this way and quick. Add a little touch-up and you are done. The fun part is cutting the first piece of this cake.
Be ready as it can make a mess! I think I am still cleaning up sprinkles! I put ours in a tray with higher edges, so it would not go all over the floor. We photographed and delivered it to our local Fire Department.