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Aaannnndddd, she’s back!

So I did mention something about health and/or diet food in my last post, and while this recipe is the latter, it is most certainly not to be confused with the former. I posted about my rainbow cake here, and it got a lot of traffic on over to my livejournal, and everyone wanted the “recipe.” The cool thing is that if you’re making something so distractingly colourful, people will think it’s delicious no matter what.

This presents me with the option to use an old Weight Watchers trick—the one-point cupcake. Except I’m making a cake and I created my own frosting. Kinda. I’ve seen it done before, but I swear I made it up first!

This cake is suitable for many occasions:

  • A child’s birthday
  • Your mom’s birthday
  • Coming out to your conservative parents
    • If you’re a lesbian, they’ll be thrilled that you won’t be forgoing your feminine kitchen duties.
    • If you’re the kind of gay dude who makes cakes for your parents, they were probably on to you anyway.
  • Coming out to your conservative parents on your mother’s birthday
  • Your friend’s jam band CD release party

. . . so I’m sure you’ll find a use for this recipe soon.

And of course, you can use any white cake recipe you’d like. This is just how I make it because I have delusions of wearing size 2 someday.

Oh yes, and do me a favour: DOUBLE THE RECIPE AS PHOTOGRAPHED HERE!! The recipe at the bottom is accurate, but this made for a really REALLY small cake, and there was not nearly enough frosting, especially considering its lightness.

Okay, on with the ingredients.

how to: rainbow cake!

That’s all. Notice the lack of fat in here? Mmmmmm . . . chemicals. Though I don’t need to defend my method thanks to the double-dub (WW) aspect, even when I make a “real” cake I usually use box mix because let’s face it: Betty’s been doing it way longer than I have, and has pretty much perfected the art.

Pour a can of soda (12 oz) 2-12 oz cans of soda into the cake mix two boxes of cake mix. No eggs, no oil, no water, no sweat.

how to: rainbow cake!

The action shots weren’t too thrilling. Now we measure it.

how to: rainbow cake!

I’m going to round to 30 oz 60 oz because I have six colours and isn’t that just too convenient? It worked out to 3/4 c 1.5 c per colour, measurementwise. So I divvied that up and used my gel colours.

how to: rainbow cake!

(the gel colours, while not as good as pigment dye, are much bolder than the very liquidy food colouring you probably grew up with)

how to: rainbow cake!

The first colour you drop into the pan, use about 2/3 of the mix for that colour. Otherwise, the top (last) colour will really dominate. I used a heaping 1/4 c 1 cup of each colour.

how to: rainbow cake!

Drop the colours, one by one, into the middle of the pan, in neat concentric-ish gobs. Remember the cake is going to be sliced in the side there, so mixing it around on top isn’t going to make your slices any more psychedelic (trust me, I did the three-dimensional thinking for you already).

When you’re three colours in, start doing the reverse with the other pan. Since I’m going in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, I got from red to yellow in the first pan, then purple, blue, green in the second. This is so that your two pans are equal if your measurements aren’t exact (and they’re not likely to be).

how to: rainbow cake!

Now finish up.

how to: rainbow cake!

Follow the box’s baking instructions and do your dishes.

how to: rainbow cake!

Such lovely dishes!

Now for the frosting: 1 box 2 boxes of fat free sugar free pudding mix, and 8 oz 16 oz (two of the 8 oz tubs pictured) of fat-free whipped topping. Or sugar-free. Or light. Or regular. They’re all pretty much the same. But that’s it.

how to: rainbow cake!

Holy shit, the cake’s done! Toothpick clean and everything! Get that shit out of the oven!!!

how to: rainbow cake!

The purple top kind of made a little turkey silhouette.

how to: rainbow cake!

The frosting will be a little tough to spread, so treat it like a buttercream (I guess, I’ve never frosted a cake with buttercream). Putting gobs all over, then smoothing in worked well for me.

how to: rainbow cake!

And look at that thing! It’s so pretty-lookin.

how to: rainbow cake!

Here’s what this particular cake looked like. See how it’s tiny and too rounded and it kind of isn’t all that great? That’s because I didn’t double the recipe. It’s a mistake I’ll only make once.

how to: rainbow cake!

Here’s what that really should look like: same process, twice the batter.

DSC_0598

Mmmmm.

Sunny Day Rainbow Cake

2 boxes white cake mix
24 oz of clear diet soda (2 cans, ginger ale and sprite work well)
gel food colouring
16 oz whipped topping
2 oz instant fat-free sugar-free pudding mix (2 smallish boxes)

The Dieting
Mix the cake mix with the soda according to regular instructions on box. It will be lumpy afterward. Again, you can use any white cake recipe you want, this is just how I do it.

The Rainbowing
Measure the total volume (by my estimate, 64 oz), then divide by 6 and measure into separate bowls. There are 8 oz in a cup, so 64/6 = 10 to 11 oz, or 1 cup + 2 tbsp.

Stir colour into each bowl with its own spoon. For the first colour into the pan, measure out 2/3 to 3/4 of your mix (in this case about 1 c) as close to the middle as you can. Drop in your first three colours, then work on the other pan with the last three colours. So if you’re doing rainbow order, the first pan should have red, then orange, then yellow, and now the purple, blue and green go into the second pan. As a recap, this is so both layers are roughly the same size.

Bake the cake for however long the box tells you to bake it. Check it when the box says to, but usually it’ll need an extra 5 or 10 minutes or maybe more because of the density of the soda method. Just keep baking, checking back every 5 minutes or so until a toothpick to the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before moving to a wire rack.

The Frostinging
Meanwhile, make your frosting. Just mix the pudding mix in with the whipped topping for a few minutes. Dye if you’re into that.

Frost your fat-free cake with your fat-free whipped frosting. Eat.

Edit 1 (one week later)


No children were harmed in the making nor consumption of this cake.

People seemed to miss the point that I am a 25-year-old woman on a diet with no kids. Since kids don’t really need fat-free anything, there’s no need to use the soda recipe if you don’t like the idea, and if you don’t like dye, don’t make this for dinner for them every night for a month. Okay, folks, thanks for the allowance to disclaim.

Edit 2 (two weeks later)


A note to Weight Watchers (the people on the diet, not the company):
WW has long advertised 1/12 of a cake mix with diet soda to be a “one point cupcake.” I have no idea why they insist this is the case when according to the “as packaged” nutrition information, this much cupcake has 170 calories, 3g fat and no fiber . . . by my calculation, that’s 4 points. That said, 1/12 of this recipe, (2 box mixes + 16 oz whipped topping + 2 oz or so pudding mix) works out to 10 points a slice. Not bad considering that a comparable cake would be 14 points.

Edit 3 (two months later)


FAQ
Here are questions I get over and over again about this cake. I just don’t want to answer any more emails about it. These questions apply to any cake, so please don’t blame your epic fail on me.

Omg my cake burnt!
Next time don’t bake it for as long.

My cake stuck to the pan!
Grease your pan better next time.

My cake burnt/stuck to the pan/was underdone/crumbled. Is this because of the food colouring I used?
No, the food colouring has nothing to do with the failure of your cake. You baked it too long/didn’t grease enough/didn’t bake long enough/moved it before it was cool.

I’m making this for my kids, can I use non-diet soda for this cake?
I don’t know why you would, you certainly wouldn’t be saving much in the way of calories, and I don’t really think your kids need more sugar. Just make a regular cake and then put food colouring in it, it will look the same, promise.

If I don’t make it with soda, will the colours run?
No. In fact, like I keep saying, please just use whatever the hell cake recipe you like. Please. The rainbow part has nothing to do with Weight Watchers.

The frosting, it’s so thick!
Yes, buy a tub of Duncan Hines frosting as a backup plan.

The cake, it fell apart!
Let it cool before you move it, and more importantly, don’t jostle the thing about.

I don’t like the cake this made, blech!
You probably aren’t on a diet, so I don’t know why you bothered to make diet cake.

I don’t get it, you make two cakes and then you put them on top of each other?!
Yes, it’s called a layer cake, and pretty much any cake you buy at a grocery store is constructed in the same manner.

But I don’t *like* food colouring.
Well, you’re wasting your time reading this, aren’t you?

I totally saw this on Something Awful’s Goons with Spoons Rainbow Cake thread, way to steal the idea, asshole.
Me too, fellow goon, me too. And in fact, I posted my original rainbow cake there. If you have no idea what I’m talking about and would like to see about a hojillion rainbow cakes, and a rainbow cheesecake, please check out the thread that put this on my radar.

DSC_0603

9/26/2014
closing comments because way more spam bots are hanging around than humans, and after at least 2000 actual people comments, there probably isn’t much left to say. however, my email address remains active, so if you wanna be social, send it that way.

thanks, internet, this was fun.

  1. Rainboet~ Said,

    Oh~ This is awesome! I’m gonna make this cake with my mom and if she whines about calories I’ll remind her it’s a diet cake. =D

  2. Rainboet~ Said,

    Anabella: A ton of diet things are unhealthy(diet soda). I think she just said it was diet cake, not healthy cake?

  3. Chocolte lover Said,

    Can I use different types of chocolate to make this rainbow cake composed of different shades of brown?

  4. amygreever Said,

    marry me

  5. Jules Said,

    Oooohhh! This will be so fun to make with my girlfriend ASAP!

  6. Emerald Said,

    This is now my wedding cake

  7. Jen Said,

    In honor of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, my son wants to have a “hippy” themed party for his 16th birthday. This cake is PERFECT!!!!! I can’t wait to make it. Thanks for posting the recipe!!!!!

  8. Rainbow cake « Marissa Marie Said,

    […] piece and delicious too! It looks complicated but is actually very easy. Find the recipe here at The Omnomicon Blog site. Make sure you top it off with your favorite frosting. I suggest this […]

  9. Trishelle Said,

    Thank you for this AWESOME idea! I’m making it for my 2 year-old’s birthday cake tonight!!

  10. Lois Said,

    The amount of chemicals probably doesn’t even amount to the amount you breathe in every day. Or in your deodorant, or makeup, etc.

    Soda cake is delicious, colored or not!

  11. Nikki Said,

    Wow, thanks. I am going to use 4″ pot pie pans to bake cakes for the kids at my sons birthday party to decorate and this will be a huge bonus. I have a feeling that all the munchkins will love this.

  12. Lindsay Said,

    Never heard of soda cake, but will give it a try.

    Am definitely going to rainbow up my next regular cake though. And the “diet” frosting sounds good to me… I’m not the biggest fan of the in-the-can stuff, but I’m rather fond of pudding mix.

  13. Jordan Said,

    This looks amazing!!! I am going to try this very very soon!

  14. kat Said,

    I made this for my friends birthday… try spooning the colors a spoonful at a time to create beautiful rainbow zebra stripes!

    check it here:
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34066204&l=6b542f7a7e&id=19500089

  15. Lana Said,

    the first time i tried this it worked great! but the frosting was kinda bad…i making another cake right now! great idea of yours! its awsome!

  16. Jessica Said,

    I had a great time making this thanks for the recipe! I put some pics on my blog of the results. http://findfields.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-made-rainbow-cake.html

    I made two layers, but the top layer broke, so we only used the bottom one and put broken top layer in clear wine glasses instead, which ended up being pretty.

  17. Amy I. Said,

    Yipee! I finally, finally made this. LOVE. Your method/tutorial was so helpful. Thanks, Aleta!

  18. Command+D: Recipe Whore » Said,

    […] Can a person make a cake with nothing but other processed foods?  Just add Sprite Zero!  But should a person do […]

  19. Heide Said,

    I need to try this rainbow trick. Very fancy-schmancy! And your FAQ addition kicks ass, too friggin’ funny!

  20. Dreddie Mamma Said,

    Wow! I’ve been searching for the perfect cake for my little girl’s birthday – and that’s it! Beautiful!

  21. sandra Said,

    finally tried this. i told my mom i was coming out to her again and she said it probably would’ve helped the first time hahaha.

  22. Linkage. « Said,

    […] really wish the Hub liked cake!  I’m going to make this one day, even if I have to eat the whole thing […]

  23. Just Me Said,

    Love this cake idea…my aunt’s bday is coming up, she’s a lesbian and I really wanted a great Pride/Rainbow cake to make for her…Thanks!! Hope mine turns out!

  24. Rainbow cake, un gateau pour temps gris Said,

    […] ne sait pas si c’est bon, mais c’est plutôt beau. Pour se faire une idée, voir la recette par ici. A lire égalementDes chips zéro calorie ? Et quoi encore […]

  25. cool cake! « Sugalove's Blog Said,

    […] cool cake! July 28, 2009 Filed under: sugalove creates — sugalove @ 15:34 saw this online. got to do this- how funky /* ♥ […]

  26. The Coco MÃ¥lé blog – your daily dose of interior design inspiration! » Blog Archive » Rainbow cake Said,

    […] Hostess with the Mostess. Click here to learn how to make […]

  27. Kelsey Said,

    Thank you for this recipe with such a great explanation to go along with it!

    I actually made this rainbow cake for my mom’s birthday and she absolutely loved it, so I’ll definitely be making more of them whenever I get the chance. Hell, I’ll even make one for my own birthday.

  28. CaseyDeuce Said,

    I can’t wait to go buy the supplies to make this!! What a fun cake!!

  29. Patty Said,

    My husband’s 50th surprise party is Saturday & I’m going to make this cake and top it with a crumbled cookie graveyard scene.

    As far as the nuts who disparage this beautiful cake because of it’s health hazards:
    I’m sure there is some kind healthy, natural selection that will remove them from the mean/gene pool.

  30. Tiffany Said,

    I made a rainbow cake similar to this for my fiance’s 24th birthday. We will be cutting into it tomorrow! I didn’t have a round pan but I used the food coloring idea and then just spread out each layer of color into the pan I did use. That way everyone who gets a slice of cake will have an entire rainbow on their plate. I frosted the cake with a vanilla and confetti sprinkle icing. It looks very awesome, I’ll try to get pics of it tomorrow to post a link on here! Thanks for sharing this!

  31. Pixie Said,

    I bookmarked this page when someone on a forum showed it. I’ve just made it for my son’s 6th birthday. Bugger all the nay-sayers – it’s a special treat and it’s not gonna do any harm as a one-off. Love your directions, and your photos. And thanks for the inspiration, I’m not much of a baker, but as soon as I saw this I knew I had to do it.

  32. Ginger Snap Said,

    This is soooo gorgeous! I love it! I’m baking one like it now. It’s cooling now, but it was soooo much fun to make and it was actually surprisingly easy. I made the cake batter and icing by scratch though and the colors and batter blended beautifully!
    But I was confused with the purple, it did not seem to turn the right color. It had this gray-ish tint to it.
    All in all though its beautiful and thank you so much for posting this!

  33. Nicole Said,

    Okay. 3 friends and I made this cake and WOW, THIS IS DISGUSTING. Even for someone on a diet. The cake tasted like dense grossness with Elmers glue on top with added sugar. Do the rainbow-ing on a REGULAR recipe and make normal things. YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED. This is the WORST cake I have EVER HAD. TERRIBLE! Don’t do it! YOu WILL regret it! EVEN if you are on a diet and have not had sugar in MONTHS, THIS IS NOT WORTH IT! But it’s very, very pretty.

  34. Allen Said,

    It is perfect to give to someone whom you do not like but who will be required to pretend they like it and ingest it in front of you. Perfect for Boss Appreciation day! It is like a bashful gay pride cake.

  35. rica Said,

    This cake looks wonderfully to-die-for!!! =) Visually, i’m full. I hope I can make this soon or have someone make it for me! =)

  36. Katy Said,

    I made an orange and teal striped sheet cake using this recipe today for my friend’s birthday, can’t wait to cut into it tomorrow! It looks great, and the batter was really tasty, so I’m hoping the cake baked up all awesome-like!

    Can’t wait to surprise my boyfriend in a week with a bright orange cake!

  37. Bethanie Said,

    i made these into cupcakes (not the diet, im only 15 😀 yay for being young and invincible!! jk XD) and they turned out PERFECT. when i was mixing the dye, i was worried because i could not find the gel coloring and it looked nothing like yours D: but when they baked they turned out beautifully! they are for my boyfriend’s sister’s birthday and i think she will love them 😀 THANK YOU!!!!!

  38. Get Your Umbrellas Out, It’s Baby Shower Time. « This Little Light of Mine… Said,

    […] last but never least, I will be baking a tie-dye cake!  (Kayla, I promise you, you are TOTALLY going to dig it).  Since my flight arrives at 11:55pm […]

  39. Nilgün Komar Said,

    wonderful wonderful wonderful
    I’ve enjoyed
    I hope I can do
    bye

  40. want more soda in your cake?? « tea@elevensies Said,

    […] spectacular-spectacular cake recipe comes courtesy of Omnomicon here! Sprite is used in the mix (hence the root beer stream of conscious flow) and…you won’t […]

  41. amy Said,

    i made this cake. but i made a four layered cake. for pics go here. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/photo.php?pid=3210840&id=796753573

  42. Danielle Said,

    I am going to use this recipe for my son’s Willy Wonka Birthday cake! Its going to be total surprise when we cut into the cake and the kids see all the colors! Yay!!! I’m so excited. I”l post pictures when its done!

  43. Swistle Said,

    I found this via someone via someone via someone, but finding it on a blog I read and then following the link THEY followed, and the link THAT person followed, and here I am finally at the source! Totally gorgeous, and also I read about 100 comments and had to stop because I was laughing so hard. Oooooooo, SCARY FOOD COLORINGS!!!! OOoooooo, SCARY DIET SODA!!!! This should perhaps be a Halloween cake? I’m totally making it, and I’m FEEDING IT TO MY FIVE CHILDREN AND ALL THEIR FRIENDS!!! The next generation will be mutants, MUTANTSSSSSSSSS!!!

  44. Swistle Said,

    Okay, I can’t stop, I just read another 50 comments or so. People are so HORRIFIED! and SHOCKED! and DISMAYED! that OMG, the horror, they DID NOT LIKE THE TASTE OF SOMETHING SOMEONE ELSE RECOMMENDS!!! and/or they did not APPROVE OF AN INGREDIENT!!! I mean, holy crap, this post has more negative comments than posts about war and/or genocide. And it is a post about a CAKE. An OPTIONAL cake. That NO ONE need make OR eat if they’d rather not. Oh, man. This is my first visit to your blog (well, second, since I came back to read more comments), but you have my full sympathy and support for the craptacular and unwarranted feedback you got.

  45. New Judi Said,

    Thank you so much for this recipe I haven’t tried it yet but, I’ve decided that even if it tastes bad. The FUN I had reading the comments will be worth the money and the effort!.
    I could not be more entertained by the comments from people who posted negative remarks. And I would like to take the time to respond with a challenge. I would suggest that each of you who feels negatively about any aspect of this recipe should take the time to develop an alternative to whatever you find objectionable about this cake.
    You could probably become rich and a lot happier! And perhaps, help the world become a lot healthier! Remember the artificial ingredients you find here were originally the result of the need to develop cheap food products to feed the masses. Remember, your alternatives must be affordable, able to travel long distances and tasty. SO… Please save the world from both bad food and your non-constructive criticisms and provide some real solutions!

  46. Melanie Said,

    OMG I seriously bow before you! You just made for one of the best weekend activities with my kid EVAR!!! 😀 Thank you so much 🙂 Your the best!

  47. Rainbow Cake « World Dy Said,

    […] http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake; […]

  48. Krystal Said,

    So, trying this for the first time tonight. This best part by far has been mixing the colors! It did take a long time to bake … now I am just waiting for it to cool. Reading through the comments I see it will take awhile. Guess I shouldn’t have started this at midnight!!! Thanks for the recipe!! My mother and I started WW about two months ago and I was so excited to find a cake in a decent point range! Thanks! 🙂 Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!!

  49. Sara Said,

    Regardless of the ingredients used, I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to post a thorough and visually detailed post. You did a nice job.

  50. O'Dell Ford Said,

    I Love this cake!! I already use the box cake soda idea, As I’m allergic to eggs. But this beautiful cake is one to make with the kids that i can enjoy as well. Already talked momma into making this for our soon to be 3 yr old son. Great idea. Two Thumbs Up!! and this coming from a 29 yr old mail