Party DIY :: Rainbow Cake

Rainbow themed parties seem to be all the rage at the moment.  I love how colorful and bright they are. It would be perfect for a spring party. My favorite part has got to be the rainbow cakes that go with them. On the outside it looks like a normal white cake, but the inside is bursting with color.

It turns out it's not really that difficult to make. Cleanup is a bit more than usual since you will need six different bowls of cake batter, but putting it together is simple. You just need your favorite sponge cake recipe, food coloring, and frosting and you are ready to start!  My friend Sharon made one for us to try out. We had a lovely afternoon having tea and eating cake. It turned out great and so yummy! I even had it for breakfast this morning :-). Keep reading for the recipe and instructions.

You can use whatever sponge cake recipe you like or even a box mix.  Here is the recipe that Sharon used:

Ingredients:

8 eggs
8 ounces of self-raising flour
8 ounces of sugar
8 ounces of butter
Food coloring

For the frosting:

2 packages (500 g each) of powdered sugar
2 packages (400 g each) of cream cheese
125 g of butter

Preparation Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius on the fan setting.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

3. Beat in one egg and one teaspoon of flour. Mix well. Repeat until all of the eggs are mixed and you have used eight teaspoons of flour.

4. Mix in the remaining flour.  If the mixture is too thick, add milk one teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

5. Separate the batter evenly into six bowls.

6. Add in the food coloring to each of the bowls to create your desired color.

7. Once you are satisfied with the colors, add the batter to a greased pan.  Cut a piece of baking paper the same size as your baking tin and place it on top of the uncooked mixture.  This helps to prevent the cake from forming a crust, which helps when you have a layered cake such as this.

8. Bake in the preheated oven on the fan setting for approximately 12 minutes or until the cake is cooked through.

9. Allow the cake to cool for five minutes before removing the baking paper. Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool completely.

10. While the cake is cooling, you can begin the preparation of the frosting.  Mix together the powdered sugar, butter and the cream cheese until it is the desired consistency.  If you feel that the mix is too dry, you can add a teaspoon or two of milk.


Cake assembly:

1. Place one layer of your cooled cake on a cake stand or plate.

2. Frost the top of the layer. You do not need to frost the sides of the cake yet.

3. Place another layer of cake on top of your frosted layer.

4. Frost the top of the layer.

5. Repeat steps 3-4 until all of the layers are stacked and frosted.

6. At this point, you can crumb coat the cake if desired.

7. Frost the sides and the top of the cake.

8. Enjoy your cake!

Forest Party Invitation

A friend of mine had her son's birthday party at the animal park in Langenberg, which is just outside of Zurich. It's a great location in the forest where you can take hikes and observe animals in their natural environment. I volunteered to make the invitations for her. I used cute animals and trees to go with the forest theme. And if the party was being held in the summer, then I would have drawn in some leaves, but since it was in February, I thought the bare trees were appropriate. The envelopes were white with a brown gingham pattern that I made as the lining. Each envelope was then closed with a sticker that had one of the animals on the invitation. I also made favor tags that were hung on brown paper bags (perfect for a forest party!).They had the same animals on them that the children received on their invitation and they could identify which bag was theirs by the animal. 

I thought it was a great idea to bring the kids to the animal park. They got to be outside in the fresh air and learn about the animals that they saw from the guide that took them around the park. I think the highlight for my daughter was seeing the wild boars, since she had been learning about them in school! 

DIY Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Hello again blog world! It's been a while since I last posted, but it's been pretty busy around here.  Hopefully I'll have more new things to share with you this week.

In the meantime, lets talk about tissue paper pom poms :-). They can really add a nice pop of color to your party. I've also seen some used not just for parties, but in kids rooms too. They are fun and festive and can be used anywhere.

Martha Stewart's website has a step-by-step tutorial that I used to make mine. You can also purchase them almost ready made (I say almost since they come flat and you just have to pouf them up). But, you can easily make them yourself and they don't take a lot of time.  All you'll need are a few sheets of tissue paper in your color of choice, floral wire, scissors, and some string or ribbon to hang them. The tutorial has pictures and step-by-step instructions, but basically, you fold the paper like you are making a fan, tie the floral wire around the middle, and pull up (gently) on your sheets of tissue paper to form the flowers.  You can make them any size you want.  The picture on Martha's website even shows them as napkin holders.  So cute.

 Happy pom pom making!