It takes a bit of time to make the rainbow cake, but luckily it’s easy! It is one of our favorite cake recipes and super fun as a birthday cake.
This beautiful rainbow cake will steal the show on any occasion!
In this vegan rainbow cake recipe we will tell you exactly how you can make such a beautiful rainbow cake!
With our rainbow recipes we try to make the world a little more colorful and accepting from the kitchen! Will you help? Share your creations via #rainbowrecipes.
We have already made many rainbow recipes such as rainbow cookies, rainbow pizza, rainbow smoothie and even rainbow mini pancakes! And of course a (vegan) rainbow cake cannot be missed.
Vegan Rainbow Cake
This recipe is completely vegan if you use vegetable milk and butter (also in the frosting).
NOTE! Make sure you also use vegan food coloring and sprinkles. For example, “normal” food coloring often contains carmine (= not vegan), for the red color. And many cake decorations contain glazing agents such as beeswax (E901).
How cool is it to make a vegan cake in the colors of the rainbow ?!
How to Make a Rainbow Cake
Making a rainbow cake is not difficult, it only takes a while, because you have to bake several layers of cakes. If you have multiple cake pans, it goes a lot faster. We definitely recommend this.
If you have three cake pans, you can bake three layers at once in the oven. Under the heading ‘converting contents’ we will tell you more about different cake pans.
What do you need for this rainbow cake recipe? To make the cakes you need (vegan) butter, sugar, (vegetable) milk, self-raising flour, vanilla extract and food coloring. First you make the batter and then you color the batter in the colors of the rainbow!
Unicorn Cake
Do you want to make the rainbow cake extra special? Make a rainbow unicorn cake!
Put a nice unicorn cake topper + eyelashes on it and the cake will look even cooler.
You can add food coloring to the frosting to make the unicorn a fun color!
How to Make Frosting
Between the layers of cake, and on the sides + top, we spread buttercream frosting.
You can make this buttercream with only powdered sugar and butter.
But to add extra flavor to the buttercream, to make it fluffier, and to make it look more beautiful white, we add some extra ingredients.
What do we add to the buttercream? Aquafaba (= chickpea liquid), vanilla extract, salt and optional: a pinch of white and purple food coloring.
Of course, you can add another fun food color to the frosting if you want your cake a certain color!
More baking ?! Making rainbow cupcakes is also super fun!
Cake Pan Conversion
In this recipe we use 3 cake pans of Ø15 cm / 6 inch. So we can bake 6 layers in two times and 8 layers in three times.
Do you have a different size cake pan? Then use this handy calculation tool:
Our recipe is for a round baking tin of Ø15 cm / 6 inch (see left column). If you have a round baking tin of Ø20 cm / 8 inch (see top row), multiply all ingredients by 1.78.
Rainbow Recipes
Check out more rainbow recipes on our website! We create 30 recipes, a recipe for every day of Pride Month.
Together, we can make the world more colorful and accepting, from the kitchen. Help and share your creations through #rainbowrecipes!
Vegan Rainbow Cake Recipe
This beautiful vegan rainbow cake will steal the show on any occasion!
Ingredients
Cakes (6 cakes, cake pan Ø 6 inch / Ø 15 cm)
- ⅞ cup soft (vegan) butter (200 gram)
- 2 cups sugar (400 gram)
- 2 ½ cups vegetable milk (600 ml)
- 6 ⅜ cups self-raising flour (800 gram)
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- food coloring
Frosting
- ⅞ cup egg whites or aquafaba (= chickpea liquid) at room temperature (200 gram)
- 3 ½ cups soft vegan butter (800 gram)
- 4 cups powdered sugar (800 gram)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- pinch of white and purple food coloring (optional)
Decoration
- sprinkles
Instructions
Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 340 °F / 170 °C.
- Mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the other cake ingredients (flour, milk, vanilla extract).
- Divide the batter between 6 bowls.
- Color each container a color of the rainbow.
- With red, yellow and blue you can make orange, green and purple.
- Grease your cake pan(s) (Ø 6 inch / Ø 15 cm) and pour one color batter into the baking tin. Bake the cakes in about 20-30 minutes. Stick a skewer in the cake, does it come out clean? Then your cake is ready.
Frosting
- Time to make the frosting. Whisk the egg whites / aquafaba in a bowl until stiff.
- In another bowl, mix the butter until creamy. Add the powdered sugar in parts.
- Add vanilla extract, salt, food coloring and egg whites / aquafaba to the buttercream and mix until fluffy frosting.
Stack the rainbow layer cake
- Time to stack! Cut off the convex top of the cakes (easiest using a cake saw), so that we can make a stable pile. If necessary, also cut the harder, brown edges of the cake.
- Grab your frosting. Place the bottom layer (purple) on a flat plate and spread a generous layer of frosting on it. Place the next layer (blue) on the frosting layer. Press this briefly, so that the cake is straight. Spread the blue cake with frosting. Repeat this with all layers.
- If your last layer (red) is on the stack, press the cake well again. The frosting will come out a little on the sides, but that's good! Spread this on the sides. Spread an extra layer (not too thick) over the sides and top.
- Put the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, so the buttercream hardens and your cake becomes firmer.
- Spread another layer of frosting on the side and top, so that you do not see any of the cakes anymore. You get the best result with thin layers (with a cooling period in between). Smooth the sides with a (glazing) knife.
- Fill a piping bag with the rest of the frosting and decorate the top of the cake with pretty swirls.
- Decorate the cake with sprinkles. We sprinkled the top and spooned sprinkled onto the bottom of the cake.
- Keep the cake in the refrigerator until you eat it. Enjoy!
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Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 1018Total Fat 55gSaturated Fat 34gTrans Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 17gCholesterol 144mgSodium 1357mgCarbohydrates 123gFiber 3gSugar 71gProtein 10g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix
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ronie
Hi,
We’re new to the Netherlands – I’d love for your recommendation where to buy all the vegan products for this cake (preferably the unicorn cake but I’m not sure how to do the toppings).
So mainly where to buy the sprinkles, butter, aquafaba and food coloring?
Thanks!
Maartje
Hi Ronie! Welcome to the Netherlands! You can find most ingredients (except vegan food coloring) at the Jumbo or Albert Heijn. Look for “plantenmargarine” as vegan butter, any vegetable milk (we used soy) and you can simply buy chickpeas and use the water from the pot (= aquafaba), you can make hummus or something with the chickpeas! For the sprinkles, you can use Anijspret. Ekoplaza has vegan food coloring, but we ordered ours online. We hope this helps! Enjoy your cake.