Friday, February 18, 2011

I'm back!

I haven't been writing but I've been baking!
 After a good six months  Ms Cupcake returns by popular demand! This means there is six months of baking and decorating to discuss.I'll start with rainbows! I've never been one to shy away from colour...even the time when perhaps I ought to have.
  I've observed that as a general rule people tend to back away slowly from foods with a brightened hue for fear that the excessive amounts of food colorings are going to make them ill (I suggest that perhaps they ought to be more concerned by the sugar content). So you can imagine my delight when I discovered a way to have your bright red cake and eat it too!

 before baking, bright but not intense


The answer is acid. A little acidity added to the colouring seems to stabilise the colour while it bakes and intensify the hue, so add some yogurt or vinegar to your batter (not too much unless you want the tanginess which I like) and watch your colours pop! You can also bask in your smugness as you assure your baking fans that a whole bottle of dye was not in fact required to achieve that peacock blue!

I can demonstrate my new discovery with a birthday cake I recently made. Without telling those eagerly awaiting it to be served of the rainbow that hid inside, I cut the cake and fanned it open. I then sat back to bask in the delighted gasps and awe. Once again proving that we are all 5 year-olds at heart.


Who doesn't love a kitsch little cake topper?
Voila! Rainbow!


Rainbow for one







18 comments:

  1. Wow! That's beautiful, I can't wait to try it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an awesome-looking cake! Definitely bookmarking this an revisiting it when I have some free time on my hands.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a beautiful cake! Okay, I'm not much of a baker - does adding yogurt to the batter substitute for some of the liquid?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Whoa! I'm totally a five year old, too! I LOVE these colors! Is there somewhere I can get your recipe for this (dye amounts/acid amounts, etc)?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm going to make this cake for St. Patrick's Day as a sort of "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" theme!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just found my 50th Birthday Party cake. Genius. LOVE IT. <3

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for your comments :)
    @ Rachel : This was a coconut cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes (great book) I used yoghurt with this one and as the recipe called for coconut milk; I used the powdered variety and used half water half yoghurt to substitute, so for a regular cake I would do the same ( substitute half milk for yoghurt) As for colouring I just used the cheap liquid dyes ,a teaspoon or so should do for each layer, you can get away with a little less for blue.

    @ Bridgitt_m: If using yoghurt as above, or else add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to your normal milk amount and don't panic if it curdles a little.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is eye catching. Can't wait to do this! Thank you for the tips.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am completely obsessed with these rainbow cakes I've been seeing around the interwebs. Yours is absolutely SPECTACULAR! Thank you so much for the tip about adding a bit of acid to make the colours pop!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This cake is AMAZING!!! I just found my daughter's 3rd birthday cake. Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wonderful cake! but...how do you manage to put all of the sprinkles around the sides?
    I've tried before, but manage to get more on the table than on the cake.
    Love your blog; keep them coming!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That is so exciting and an awesome tip! I just went and bought food colouring so I can try it out :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. great work... congrats... do you think i can use lemon juice...

    ReplyDelete
  14. I would never have thought to add yogurt or vinegar to make my colours pop. Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  15. check out here next page you could try here gucci replica bags discover this info here directory

    ReplyDelete