I know I promised this weeks ago, but here (finally!) is the Rainbow Themed Party we threw for Bennett’s First Birthday!!!
I wanted to do something fun, but not super over the top because honestly, I don’t have the energy to throw the big theme parties I have in the past. With three boys, I just can’t keep up with it all, but I still wanted to make his first birthday special. I decided to really just focus on the desserts being rainbow-colored, but you can check out Pinterest for hundreds of ideas on ways to add to the Rainbow FUN!
I wanted to make a giant cupcake with my giant cupcake silicone mold. There is SO much you can do with this particular mold. Check out My Cupcake Addiction for endless possibilities on ways to use it! She is amazing and walks you through step by step how to make super fun cakes, cupcakes and other sweet treats. I am NOT a baker at all, but our tradition as a family is to make the cake or cupcakes (whatever the birthday boy chooses) together. SO it may not look the best, but it is always made with love :)
My Cupcake Addiction
actually has a Giant Cupcake Rainbow Tutorial that I followed. That is where I learned about the Giant Cupcake Case. This is life changing! O.k. well maybe not life changing, but a super cool way to have a nice clean look to any Giant Cupcake Cake. I have made them in the past and it is REALLY hard to ice the bottom of the Giant Cupcake and if you leave it un-iced, it ends up looking a little sad so the Cupcake Case is the perfect solution!
I just picked the color I wanted out of the Wiltons Chocolate Melts, but you can use any type of chocolate melts you prefer. You can watch the full tutorial on My Cupcake Addiction. I
made two layers of chocolate so I “painted on the first layer” and put it in the fridge to get hard and then applied a second coat and put it back in the fridge. This was very sturdy and I didn’t have ANY issues with it cracking when I adding the cake layers. I would highly recommend doing it this way.
So you can see that the inside doesn’t have to be smooth or look pretty because you will be filling it with your cake. The outside is what matters and how gorgeous it that?!!! If you have ever made a giant cupcake cake, you will know how amazing this case is as opposed to just seeing the cake as the bottom.
Next came the cake. That part was also pretty simple because you are just making your favorite whiter or vanilla cake mix and then picking the colors you want and adding those colors (food coloring). Then each color needs to be added to the cupcake top SEPARATELY. So you bake the first color in the cupcake top and remove, let cool. Bake the second color in the cupcake top, remove and cool and so on. You can see how we did it below.
Once you have all the layers cooked and completely cooled you can assemble. I typically make the Wilton Buttercream Frosting for all of our cakes and/or cupcakes. It is SO yummy, but I decided to make the recipe from My Cupcake Addiction. I did actually like the taste a little more, but it was much more time-consuming. I will probably end up just sticking with the Wilton recipe from here on out because it’s quick and easy and it tastes amazing.
I made one less layer than what was called for in the tutorial and even that made the Cupcake cake crazy tall so you could even omit one more layer and still get a beautiful rainbow effect, in my opinion. Don’t mind the child in his underwear… trust me, it is hard enough for me to even keep that on him!
On the tutorial she ices it first and then adds a layer of fondant to make it look smooth and beautiful. By that time I had spent hours in the kitchen and said forget it, I am just adding some rainbow sprinkles and called it a day :)
If you follow the tutorial you have to cut quite a bit of cake off because each layer has to get smaller as it goes up. Rather than throw away those cake pieces, or spend your calories for the day eating them all (!), you can turn them into rainbow cake pops!! This was a fun way to use up the cake pieces and another treat for the party. My Cupcake Addiction also has a tutorial for that as well.
Although in previous years I would have done a rainbow fruit tray and other fun finds on Pinterest this was about all I had the gumption for, but I thought it was good enough. Everyone just about died when I cut into the cake and saw all of the beautiful rainbow layers! I was actually impressed it turned out so well myself. One tip she gave on the tutorial is to have boiling water at the time you are ready to cut. Stick your knife into the hot water and then cut the cake. This will allow your knife to smoothly cut through the Giant Cupcake Case without cracking it or not being able to get through at all. This worked perfectly and I don’t think you would be able to do it without a hot knife so keep that in mind. You can check out some of the other Themed Birthday parties I have done here.
My last baby boy turned ONE and I still can’t believe it. We are all done having babies so it is bittersweet, but I had a blast celebrating with our friends and family.
{ 0 comments… add one now }