The Gayest Thing I Have Ever Made...

So I've seen this cake on a couple of other food blogs and I thought "why not?" I have to admit, this is by far the gayest thing I have ever created (and don't forget, I did musical theater for 6 years. Ponder that for a few seconds) So on with the cake. Since it's still early (enough) in the year, most people are sticking with their resolutions. Well good on ya! But, less we forget, the temptation of cake? It's out there, lurking, waiting for us to slip up. Well, here's a way to have your cake and actually eat it too (with minimal guilt later!). I present to you a fat free rainbow (yes, gay I know) cake:
It's excellent for...
- birthdays (both young and old, you're never too old to have a whimsical birthday cake)
- LGBTA get togethers, we've been having a lot of Prop. 8 (or rather Prop. H8) rallies here lately
- Or a friend's 21st birthday party (after they've been bar hopping for a bit, ask them to cut into the cake and watch the total mind blow: "Mmm...I love me some chocolate caaaaaaaa-holy shit! It's rainbows!"

Now on to the actual cake making bit. Firstly you'll need the ingredients. Now usually it pains me to use box cake mix, but I compromised myself because I really didn't have time to find a from scratch mix that would bake the same way this cake does.

Ingredients:
- 2 boxes of white cake mix (Brand is not an issue here)
- 24 oz. clear diet soda (Again, no brand preference, 7-up just happened to be on sale)
- Gel food coloring (the color is a lot brighter with gel as opposed to liquid food coloring)
- 16 oz. whipped topping (preferably in a plastic container because it's easier to make the frosting later, but my grocery store is lame and doesn't carry the plastic container kinds.)
- 2 small boxes (2 oz.) fat-free pudding mix (can be any flavor, I went with vanilla)

Yay! Ingredients!

Cake Mixin Process:

In a large bowl, mix together the 2 packages of white cake mix and the 24 oz. of soda, breaking up clumps until the mixture is smooth.

Stirring with your left hand is no easy feat.

Now, divide the batter into 6 equal portions. I measured off about 1 cup and 2 Tbsp. 6 times and that looked pretty even. Then add desired amount of food coloring to each portion. (Note if you are color mixing challenged: red + yellow = orange, blue + red = purple, and yellow + blue = green)

And mix...

Kinda looks like the goop they used as the pretend food in "Hook"... Bangerang! (sorry, couldn't help it)

So now that you have your rainbow colors, it's time to assemble the rainbow. Take 2 9-inch greased cake pans and in the first, drop about 3/4 cup of the red batter into the bottom of the pan, top with about 2/3 cup of the orange and about 1/2 cup of yellow and pause. (Note DO NOT SPREAD THE BATTER! LET GRAVITY DO IT'S THING! The weight of the layered batter will make the bottom layer spread to the edges.) In the second pan, repeat process except start with the purple, then blue, then green.

Yeah...I screwed up and put yellow before orange. :(

Finish the rainbow in each pan until all the batter is gone. It should look a little something like this:
Kinda looks like some care bears got drunk and threw up.

Now bake the cake according to the directions on the box. Remove from oven when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

In the meantime, avoid doing the mountain of dishes that have now accumulated in your sink by anally stacking the mixing bowls in color order and taking artistic photos of them...

Pretty!

Let the cake cool in the pans for about 10 - 15 minutes then transfer to wire cooling racks. Now with your arsenal of baking gadgets, assemble the cake!

Cake decorating arsenal: cake round, icing knife, cake leveler, and layer lifter (also handy for pizza)

For the frosting, combine the whipped cream and the pudding mixture, you can add food coloring if you like. Place one layer of of the cake on the cake round, level off the top with your leveler. Spread about 1/3 of the whipped cream on the top of the first layer, then top with the second layer (this is where the layer lifter comes in handy!). Frost the cake with the remaining frosting. Add more decorations if you think you can handle it. Cut and serve!

Psychedelic man.

After completing the cake and consuming a piece, I have to say I'm not a huge fan. While the cake itself was moist and delicious, the frosting really weirded me out. The pudding mixture really didn't dissolve very well in the whipped cream so when eating it, you kinda got little powdery pockets of pudding mix. Not so nice. Plus the cake didn't keep for more than a day or two, the frosting sorta dried up and the cake began to fall apart. It's safe to say that I will not be keeping this recipe in my stockpile of desserts. I will however keep the idea of the rainbow layering. Pretty cool and really fun to see people's expressions when they cut the first piece.