Scrumpdidliumptious

     Yesterday we had Andrew's birthday party.  The weather was perfect.  All of our family and close friends were able to attend.  And the party was a lot of fun!  Even though there was a HUGE nacho bar and an ENORMOUS candy table, tons of the talk was about Andrew's cakes!

     I decided to do the rainbow round cake using a recipe that I found on line.  Plus we decided to make a Texas sheet cake.  My husband and Andrew looooove chocolate, so the sheet cake was perfect.  If you're interested in seeing the details about the rainbow cake, I found them on this awesome blog all about cakes! 
     Bird On A Cake is a blog about a regular mom, who makes AMAZING cakes.  You'd swear that she owned her own bakery and was on one of the TLC baking shows!  Nope, Robin is a stay at home mom to three kiddos, who makes cakes on the side and sells them locally.  What's great about her blog, is that not only does she show the photos of the cakes, but she tells you exactly how to make them!  And when she makes a mistake, she tells you what not to do!  Now that's my kind of baking website.  We all know that I need a lot of guidance in the kitchen.
     I followed her directions and my cake turned out AWESOME.  My three year old nephew, Rylan, even helped me decorate the icing.  You'd never know except for a few tooth pick stab marks!  He was having a blast and telling me what colors he liked the best.  I did have to keep making sure he didn't lick the toothpick!
     Here's some photos of my experience and the final outcome.  Please check out Robin's blog for even more cake recipes, that are super easy and delicious.
     First you make a box of yellow cake mix.  That's right, you just use a box.  Then you separate the batter into different containers, depending on how many colors you are doing.  Add the food coloring to each container to get your rainbow batter!

     I forgot to take a picture of this step, so I borrowed a pic from Robin's blog.  You take the batter and layer it around the perimeter of the cake pan.  Robin shows how to make a two layered cake, but I just made a single layer cake.  I ended up taking the extra batter and laying it right on top of the original layer.  I used the batter in a different color order and it had a similar effect as Robin's.

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     I then baked the cake according to the box directions and waited for it to cool.  I used store bought frosting (told you this was an easy cake to make) and covered the cake.  Then I used decorative gels and made circles around the cake, alternating colors.

   
 Rylan and I then took toothpicks and made lines.  I gently dragged the toothpick across the gels starting from the center and working out.  Then I did the same thing starting from the outside and working in.  Robin did a similar thing using a paintbrush, to get a more tie dyed effect.

Final Product!