Rainbow Cake with Swiss Lemon Meringue Buttercream

This has been something I've been itching to bake.

Finally, my sister has decided to bake this Rainbow Cake with  Swiss Lemon Meringue Buttercream and so I helped her with it. This cake was pretty much fun as the colours made me very merry! This cake was about 4.5 inches wide but about 15cm tall! (: It took us a total of 4 hours to put this together. 

This recipe was taken and adapted from Whisk Kid.

Do check out this version of Rainbow Cake that I've revisited. This one tastes better (:

http://thebakingbiatch.blogspot.sg/2013/06/rainbow-cake-ii.html

Rainbow Cake with Swiss Lemon Meringue Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:

CAKE

150 g butter, unsalted at room temperature

284g castor sugar

4 egg whites (I used small eggs)

2 tsp vanilla paste

285g plain flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

235ml of milk, room temperature

Wilton Gel colouring (6 colours: purple, blue, green, orange, yellow and red)

FROSTING

6 egg whites, room temperature

234 g castor sugar

300g butter, room temperature

1 1/3 tsp lemon extract

10g of dark coverture chocolate

Hundreds and thousands

This post is IMAGE INTENSIVE! (:

Steps:

The ingredients! I'm using 2 2 bucks silicon cake 'pans' from Daiso.

The butter.

The flour.

Add the baking powder.

Add the salt. 

The milk. 

I left mine to 'warm' to room temperature after taking it out from the fridge.

Sift the flour mixture.

Butter and sugar.

Whisk the butter and sugar till creamy.

Add in one egg white at a time, ensuring that each each egg white gets well incorporated before adding the next.

Whisk it!

Add the vanilla paste.

Add 1/3 of the flour into the mixture and mix well.

Add 1/3 of the milk and mix well.

Add the other 1/3 of flour and mix well.

1/3 more milk.

Repeat till milk and flour are all incorporated.

The cake batter!

Divide batter into 6 portions. You may weigh them to get accurate measurements but I went by visual judgement (: Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Add a little gel food colouring into each bowl and mix well. It's better to add a lil' at a time so that you can adjust accordingly if needed. Do note that the colour of the batter will be the colour of your cake layer! (: I LOVE pop colours so the cake batter were very bright and vibrant!

Line the bottom of the pans with greaseproof paper. This ensures that the cake can be easily removed after it has been baked. You can 'drop' the pan lightly on the table to 'release' any trapped air bubbles in the batter before baking it. These are the blue and purple layers!

Bake the cake for 15 minutes each or till a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Let it cool for about 5 minutes before removing cake. I let my cake layers cool under the ceiling fan. Allow all layers of cake to cool before assembling the cake.

Line the pan again and bake the remaining colours individually.

It took 3 batches to bake all 6 colours. (:

Separate 6 egg whites from the yolks.

Separated. Keep the yolks for other 'projects'.

The sugar.

The butter.

My sister decided to be artistic.

A lil' more. XD

Place the egg whites and sugar in a pot suitable for double boiling. 

Double boil the mixture and whisk the mixture lightly. Heat it up till' all the sugar has dissolved. Use your fingers to 'rub' the mixture to feel for sugar grains.. if you can still feel it, whisk more.. Else, if it's smooth, the mixture is ready. Don't worry, it's warm and not hot enough to burn your fingers (:

Done and ready!

Bring sugar mixture into a mixing bowl and whisk till mixture reaches room temperature. I used high speed for this.

Whisking..

When it's cool, it'll be slightly stiff.

On medium-low speed, add the butter in, one tablespoon at a time and allow it to be fully incorporated before adding another tablespoon.

Mix it for about 5 minutes on high speed.

Add the vanilla paste and lemon extract. Mix till' well incorporated. Mixture will be 'soupy' at this point of time. Fret not, pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes or so.

Whip on low speed for 2 - 3 minutes till' buttercream is thick and workable.

Set the first layer on a cake base. I used a 6 inch cake base. I LOVE my new turntable! ((:

REMEMBER to remove/peel the greaseproof paper from the bottom of the cake!

Spread a layer of buttercream on the first layer. Should the buttercream be too soft to work with during assembly, pop the cake and the buttercream into the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up the buttercream. However, do whisk the buttercream on medium-low speed for 2 - 3 minutes till' it becomes 'workable' before using it.

Add the second layer of cake.

Add more buttercream and spread well!

Third layer!

This is how I cooled my cake. (:

Forth layer.

Fifth layer.

6th layer. Then, spread a thin layer of buttercream on the cake also known as the crumb coating to 'set' the cake. Allow the crumb coating to 'set' in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Spread the final coating of buttercream for the cake. 

I played with my 'tools' to create the lines on the side of the cake.

Set cake in fridge for an hour to allow it to firm up before decorating.

I let the cake 'rest' in the fridge overnight.

Place the dark coverture chocolate in a microwavable bowl! (:

Melt the chocolate in the microwave oven on medium speed at 20s intervals till chocolate buttons become 30% melted. Mix the chocolate. The warmth will melt the rest of the chocolate buttons.

Mix well.

Place chocolate in a piping bag and cut a small tip.

DRAW!!! My sister drew a 9gag meme on the cake!

I sprinkled some hundreds and thousands for the meme's tee. 

Pop the cake back into the fridge for 15 mins to allow the chocolate to 'set'. 

The layers! (:

The colours are just so beautiful!

I like this cake very much cos' it makes me happy! Hope it lifts up your spirits like it did for me! (:

Check out this version of the recipe that Joey baked! She used cream cheese instead of buttercream and a 7" pan instead of the one I used from Daiso (: Still, it's very pretty! 

Do check out this version of Rainbow Cake that I've revisited. This one tastes better (:

http://thebakingbiatch.blogspot.sg/2013/06/rainbow-cake-ii.html

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: