RAINBOW CAKE

Ingredients:

Main ingredients:
227g butter, softened at room temperature
370g sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp water
313g plain flour
1½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mint food colouring
Pink food colouring
Peach food colouring
Blue food colouring
Yellow food colouring
Purple food colouring
Other food colours of your choice (optional)

For the frosting:
500g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
230g butter, softened at room temperature
1¼ cups icing sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp sour cream or light sour cream

Special equipment:
2 x 9-inch cake tins
Standing mixer or electric hand-held mixer

Method:

1. To make cake, preheat oven to 180°C. Cut out 6 pieces of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 9-inch cake tin. Grease and line two cake tins with parchment paper.

2. Using a standing mixer, beat butter and sugar till pale and fluffy on high speed, about 3 minutes, then add the eggs. Beat for a minute, scraping down the sides as necessary.

3. Add vinegar and water and beat on low speed for another minute (the mixture might curdle, don’t panic. It’ll fix itself when you add the flour).

4. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a dry bowl. Set aside.

5. Mix the buttermilk and vanilla extract in another bowl and set aside.

6. Add one-third of the flour mixture into the batter. At this point, it’s best to start mixing with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula as the electric mixer tends to overbeat the batter and yield a tough cake. Beat in the flour lightly, until it is just incorporated into the batter.

7. Pour half of the buttermilk mixture into the batter and mix again till just incorporated.

Add half of the remaining flour, mix lightly and the rest of the buttermilk mixture, mixing lightly again.

8. Finally, add the remaining flour mixture and stir lightly till just combined — don’t worry if the batter looks lumpy.

9. Weigh the cake batter and divide them into six equal parts in individual bowls.

10. Tint each bowl with a few drops of food colouring and stir to mix evenly.

11. Scrape a portion of batter into the cake tins and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes. To check if the cakes are ready, prod the centre of the cake with your finger — the cake should spring back to the touch and your finger shouldn’t leave a distinct dent.

12. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in its tin for about 5 minutes, on a cooling rack. Remove the cakes from the tins and cool completely on the cooling rack.

13. Wash the tins and line them with paper again. Scrape another portion of cake batter into the tins and repeat steps 11 and 12. Repeat again with the last remaining portions of cake batter.

14. To make frosting, place all the ingredients into a clean mixing bowl or food processor and blitz till smooth. Taste and add more sugar if necessary or more sour cream if you want it runnier.

15. Once frosted, the cake can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

Recipe By Annette Tan