Name: Chocolate rainbow cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 100 min
Total time: 115 min
Yield: 20
Ingredients: 4 cup flour; 2 teaspoon baking powder; 4 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup cocoa; 1 teaspoon salt; 3 cup sugar; 4 eggs; 2 cup milk, plus 2 tablespoons cider vinegar; 2 teaspoon vanilla essence; 1 cup canola oil; 1 cup hot water; Buttercream; 500 gram butter, softened; 12 cup icing sugar, sifted; 2 teaspoon vanilla essence; 1/2 cup milk; gel food colours; 6 piping bags and petal-tip nozzle

Chocolate rainbow cake

The trick is to get the icing colours just right (try gel colours from cake shops). Finish with marshmallows and chocolate coins.

Serves 20

Prep

15M

Cook

1H 40M

Total

1H 55M

Ingredients

4 cup flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

3 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 cup milk, plus 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup canola oil

1 cup hot water

Buttercream

500 gram butter, softened

12 cup icing sugar, sifted

2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup milk

gel food colours

6 piping bags and petal-tip nozzle

Method

Chocolate rainbow cake

1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Fully line a 24 x 30cm high-sided cake tin with baking paper. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer and stir in sugar.

2.Whisk together eggs, milk mixture, vanilla and oil, then pour into mixer bowl along with hot water. Beat on medium for 1-2 minutes until well combined.

3.Pour into tin and bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes (test with a skewer). If it is getting too brown on top, cover loosely with tin foil. Leave to cool in tin.

Buttercream

4.Cream butter for 2-3 minutes until very pale. With beaters on a low speed, add icing sugar and vanilla, alternating with milk – aim for a creamy but firm icing.

5.Put cake on a large board and use a serrated knife to shape into a rainbow (use a large pan lid as a guide for the outer edge, a small bowl for the inner).

6.Cover top and sides with a thin layer of buttercream, then refrigerate for 15 minutes. Add a second smooth coat and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

7.Divide remaining buttercream into six bowls and tint red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Cover with plastic wrap.

8.Fill a piping bag with red icing and pipe two rows of ruffles from one end of rainbow to the other. Repeat with other colours, refrigerating cake in between colours to keep it firm. Pipe inside edge with violet.

Hosting a children’s party at home can be really special – all you need is a few handy recipes. Do as much as you can in advance, then simply enjoy making the food look fantastic and fun on the day. – Jo Wilcox
Note

Women's Weekly Food

Trusted by home cooks for 90 years, The Australian Women’s Weekly’s Test Kitchen and cookbooks hold a singular place in shaping home cooking within the Australian culinary landscape. Today, the AWW Test Kitchen in Sydney is a thriving hub for food content, connected to two bustling photographic studios where a talented team of Australia’s best recipe developers, art directors, editors and photographers create our world class food content. Our recipes are thoroughly tested and tasted and given the Test Kitchen tick of approval, guaranteeing you’ll get great results in your home kitchen.

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