Gluten Free Rainbow Cake- A Pinterest Poser Challenge

I'm sure you've seen rainbow cakes all over Pinterest, I have to.  But I always thought rainbow cakes were for the real crafty people, the real bakers, the serious Pinterest people.  I really don't consider myself to fit into any of those categories.  My category would be Pinterest Perfect Wannabe or Crappy Crafter or Crafts You Tell People Your Kids Made Because They Didn't Turn Out Quite Right.  I am the furthest thing from perfect maybe ever.  But here's the what...I love crafting, baking, creating, pinning, painting, ModPodging and just giving it a go. So I attempted the rainbow cake.

This week's Pinterest Poser Challenge* is not just any Rainbow Layer Cake, it's a Gluten-Free Rainbow Layer Cake.  And guys, it didn't suck.  It looked good, tasted good and was a major hit.  No one was more surprised than me (well, maybe everyone else was too).

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week I  detail a new Pinterest challenge whether it be a new recipe or a craft.   

*My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.

Last Friday night, the kids and I started this baking adventure.  The Aretha Franklin Pandora channel was blasting and we were stirring ourselves up some happy.  How can rainbow colors not make you happy?   I mean, seriously, if they don't make you feel a little bit of joy than you might be dead inside.

I followed recipe that I pinned a couple months ago from Martha Stewart's site.  Yeah, that's right Martha Stewart.  And yeah, that's right I made it my own.  I made it gluten free. Woot. Woot.

Ingredients
Vegetable shortening
3 cups of gluten free flour (I used Betty Crocker Gluten Free Rice Flour Blend.)
4 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temp (I used very cheap sticks of margarine.)
2 1/3 cups of sugar
5 large egg whites, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple food coloring
White Frosting (I used about 3 1/2 jars of Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White.) 

Directions 
Step One
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-Prep your pans (I used the veg shortening on the bottom and cut parchment paper in circles for 9-inch round pans and then spread veg shortening on top of the parchment paper too.)

Step Two
-In a big bowl, whisk together flour, baking powered and salt and set aside.
-In a bigger bowl (or bowl of a fancy electric mixer if you have one, which I did not), cream together butter and sugar.  Slowly add egg whites and mix until combined.  Add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.  Add flour mixture and milk.  Mix well until combined.

Step Three
-Divide batter evenly in six bowls (this was hard because I'm not very good at dividing evenly, but I winged it and it worked out okay).  Add enough of each color of food coloring to each bowl until desired shade is reached (the kids loved this part).  Transfer each color to individual pans (I only had two 9-inch pans so it just took a little longer to bake my cakes).  Put your pans in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.

Step Four
Remove cakes from the oven and transfer to a wire rack (I don't own a wire rack, so I transferred them to a cutting board).  

****Do not be alarmed if your cakes look like pancakes.  I thought the whole recipe/process was doomed.  I told the kids we were going to have fancy rainbow pancakes for breakfast the next day.  But as you will see, it surprisingly worked out much better than I thought.****

Step Five
Frost your cakes and layer.  Martha's web site has a really fancy way of doing this and you can click here if you want to do the fancy way.  I chose to slap on some frosting and add cakes.  I let the cake held together with frosting between each layer set overnight in the refrigerator (mostly because I had given up).  The next morning I frosted the rest of the cake.

Step Six
I nervously cut the cake and had no idea what to expect....but it looked amazing and rainbow-y.  I was so excited I raced over and took a picture possibly knocking Wade in the head with an elbow or two.

Step Eight
Eat!!!! It is sugary and delicious.

I never said I was a very tidy baker.  Ha! And check out how flat those cake layers are on the cutting board. 

There were several moments during this process that it just wasn't looking very promising. A layer slid off in the middle of the night, but I just sort of shoved it back in place and frosted over the mess.

We added a few little shamrock details for Lucy's birthday celebration.

I'm not going to lie, part of the joy of this cake full of happy is the ability to brag about making a cake from scratch that looks so pretty.  So, I encourage all of you to make this and brag your little heart out.  We made it for Lucy's birthday, but you could make it any time for anything (St. Patrick's Day, happy spring) because you can never go wrong with rainbows.  


Have you made anything from Pinterest lately?  Any major successes or flops?  Share below in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

Here are some of the projects I've attempted--the good and the bad:

Fruit Roll-Up Fortune Cookies- click here

Make Your Own Magnets- click here

DIY Painted Clay Necklace- click here

Dixie Cup Lights- click here

DIY Ornaments-click here

Gluten Free Clay- click here

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here
Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here

Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

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