Rainbow Cake

If there’s one dessert that’s guaranteed to bring a smile to everyone’s face, it’s a Rainbow Cake. Vibrant, colorful, and utterly whimsical, this six-layer masterpiece is as fun to make as it is to eat. With layers of soft, vanilla sponge in every color of the rainbow and a cascade of sprinkles blanketing the exterior, this cake is the ultimate celebration centerpiece—perfect for birthdays, parties, or any occasion that calls for a little extra magic.

What makes this cake so special isn’t just its eye-catching appearance; it’s also incredibly delicious. Each layer is a tender, buttery vanilla sponge, made with care to ensure a light yet sturdy texture that holds up beautifully as you stack them high. The creamy frosting that binds it all together adds just the right touch of sweetness, balancing the colorful layers with smooth, luscious flavour. And those sprinkles? They’re the edible confetti that transforms this cake into pure joy on a plate.

While the cake looks impressive, the process is straightforward and can even be a fun project to do with friends or family. By dividing the batter into six portions and coloring each one to represent the rainbow, you’ll create layers that are as visually stunning as they are tasty. The best part? Slicing into the finished cake to reveal the colorful surprise hidden inside—it’s a moment that never fails to wow.

Whether you’re making it for kids or for the young at heart, this Rainbow Cake is sure to be a showstopper. Get ready to bring a splash of color to your next celebration!

I made this cake for my birthday and it went down really well as not only did it look fun and exciting, it also tasted great! If you are looking for more ideas for a birthday cake you could try my Mega Chocolate Birthday cake or Kinder Cake!

Rainbow Cake

Difficulty: Difficult

Servings

16

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

Cooking time

50

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

50

minutes

Ingredients

• 375g Unsalted Butter

• 375g Caster Sugar

• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 6 Eggs

• 375g Self Raising Flour

• 1 tsp Baking Powder

• Gel Food Colouring in Red, Orange,Yellow, Green, Purple and Blue

• Buttercream

• 250g Unsalted Butter

• 500g Icing Sugar

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

• Rainbow Sprinkles to cover the cake

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc/160 fan and grease 6 23cm cake tins (I only had two so baked the cakes in 3 lots).
• Whisk the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, adding a small amount of the weighed flour after each egg to prevent it from splitting. Fold in the remaining flour and the baking powder.
• Divide the mixture into 6 even portions (mine came out at 315g per portion). Use the food colouring to colour the portions. I made red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
• Pour each colour into separate tins and spread the mixture to the edges. Bake for around 10 minutes each but keep an eye on it because it’s very thin layers and can burn easily. Leave to cool.
• Buttercream
• Beat the butter and vanilla extract until smooth. Sieve in half the icing sugar, mix until combined and then mix in the rest of the icing sugar.
• Spread a tablespoon of the buttercream icing on the purple layer. Place the blue layer on top of this and do the same with the butter icing. Repeat this for the green, yellow and orange layers and finish by putting the red layer on top.
• Cover the whole cake in buttercream. Before the buttercream sets, cover the cake in rainbow sprinkles. You can do this by using your hand and pressing on the sprinkles bit by bit.