Rainbow Cake with Natural Dyes for the DailyBuzz Moms 9×9
Tue, Feb 21, 2012
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Brighten up your winter with the colors of the rainbow. Let the rainbow inspire your project this month. These were the submission guidelines for the DailyBuzz Moms February 9×9 Somewhere Over the Rainbow project. I didn’t have to think twice about entering the contest because I already had a rainbow cake on my baking list.
Rainbow cakes are everywhere these days. I made one last summer and my family and guests loved the bright, vibrant colors. But in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but think of the negative discussion and controversy surrounding chemical food coloring. My husband was actually the one to challenge me to make a rainbow cake with natural food dyes.
My first experiment with natural food dyes was when I was a child. While making blueberry muffins I inadvertently realized that the more I stirred the batter the more the berry juice bled, making blue muffins. Fast forward to two years ago and I completed my first intentional experiment, coloring Easter eggs with natural dyes. I was intrigued with the beautiful colors that resulted from using everyday fruits, veggies and spices. I have since dabbled in cooking experiments, including using spinach to make Green Eggs and Ham and coloring buttercream frosting with natural dyes.
I have to admit that coloring sweets with natural dyes can get kind of tricky. There are lots of ingredients that would make great dyes but many of them drastically alter the taste, often introducing an unwelcome flavor to the baked good or treat. I know what you’re thinking: dyeing eggs with spinach might work because it is not uncommon to combine spinach and eggs, but spinach juice in a cake?!
Well, now I can confidently say, yes, it’s ok! You end up using such a small amount of the vegetable juice that the flavor of the dye will probably go completely unnoticed for most people, especially when you add some frosting. My son, who is my toughest critic, ate it {while exclaiming, It’s beautiful, Mommy!} The rest of my family concurred that surprisingly it tasted just like cake and that it seemed much more palatable than the typical bright rainbow cake made with synthetic dyes. So, I considered the baking experiment a success. I would much rather serve my loved ones a beet or carrot-colored cake than an artificially-colored alternative.
As with the Easter eggs and other natural dye projects, a rainbow cake made with natural dyes can be an incredible and fun learning experience for your kids. They can brainstorm fruits, veggies and other colorful foods and then experiment with creating a beautiful and natural rainbow. Not only is it educational but it can also help your kids learn to appreciate the natural beauty of foods. And the process can be translated into many other cooking projects or non-edible projects such as homemade finger paints and homemade playdough.
I used a basic Cooking Light white cake that I have used for years and a vanilla buttercream frosting. I then coated the exterior of the layered cake with a whipped cream frosting. Combining the dense buttery buttercream frosting with the light and fluffy whipped cream is one of my new favorite frosting techniques and provided the perfect combo of richness and sweetness for this cake.
Initially, I did a batch of cupcakes to experiment with different natural dye options and then I selected the six rainbow finalists {indicated with an asterisk} based on a combination of color and flavor. For reference, I have included my notes on the other ingredients that I tried because depending on your project they could work well in other scenarios where flavor isn’t as important of a factor. When I made the cake I reduced the amount of milk so that the addition of the juices wouldn’t affect the consistency of the cake batter as much.
Red: *Beet juice; pomegranate, strawberry and raspberry juices were more muted in color
Orange: *Carrot juice; pumpkin puree also works but imparts more of a flavor
Yellow: *Egg yolk; saffron gave an unpleasant flavor; orange and yellow bell pepper juice produced a more vibrant yellow but had a strong peppery flavor; orange juice had a strong orange flavor; golden beets, despite their brilliant color, produced a juice/dye that was earthy brown in color
Green: *Spinach juice
Blue: *Blueberry juice {A note on blueberry juice: I have since tried using blueberry juice to make blue frosting and the result is more purple. The bluish-purple frosting is still beautiful, I just haven’t been able to make a true blue yet! I am not a scientist, but after doing some resesarch I think the cake is blue due to a chemical reaction with the juice and the baking soda. I am still working on the frosting part and will keep you updated.}
Purple: *Blackberry juice; grape juice concentrate gave a great color but a strong grape flavor. If you choose grape juice, be sure to use one that doesn’t have artificial coloring.
- 1-2 Tbsp beet juice* {I used the liquid in a can of beets.}
- 1 Tbsp carrot juice
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 Tbsp spinach juice
- 1+ Tbsp blueberry juice
- 1+ Tbsp blackberry juice
- 3½ cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1¾ cups sugar
- ¼ cup butter
- 1½ Tbsp oil
- 2 egg whites
- 1⅔ cups milk, divided
- ½ cup plain, fat-free yogurt
- 2½ tsp vanilla
- 3¾ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Use the liquid in canned beets or juice beets in a juicer.* {I had good luck with the liquid from canned beets. One reader who used fresh beet juice from the juice commented that the color turned more brown when it cooked. She is trying it again adding salt and will let us know how it turns out.}
- Juice carrots in a juicer or buy carrot juice.
- Juice spinach in a juicer.
- Microwave roughly ¼ cup frozen blueberries in 30 second intervals until they start to burst, straining out 1+ Tbsp of blueberry juice.
- Microwave roughly ¼ cup frozen blackberries in 30 second intervals until they start to burst, straining out 1+ Tbsp of blackberry juice.
- Cream the butter, oil and sugar.
- Add the egg whites and beat well.
- Add the vanilla, 1 cup milk and yogurt alternately with the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
- Pour six ½-cup portions of cake batter into separate bowls.
- Mix the natural dye into each bowl {2 Tbsp beet juice, 1½ Tbsp carrot juice, 1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp milk, 1 Tbsp spinach juice, 1 Tbsp blueberry juice and 1 Tbsp blackberry juice, adjusting the color by using more or less dye}.
- Reserve the remaining batter for a different use. {You will either need to add roughly 4½ Tbsp milk to the remaining batter or the equivalent in natural dye.}
- Pour each ½ cup colored batter into a greased and floured 5½-inch cake pan.
- Bake the cakes for 10-15 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for five minutes in the pan and then gently slide a knife around the edges and invert the cakes on a wire rack to cool completely.
- {You could also make cupcakes by layering the colored batter into each lined cupcake tin.}
- Mix the ingredients and beat for several minutes until a smooth, creamy frosting forms.
- Adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar or milk.
- Beat the cream, sugar and salt at medium speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in the vanilla extract.
- Assemble the cake once the layers have completely cooled.
- Place the purple layer on the serving cake platter.
- Spread a couple of spoonfuls of buttercream frosting over the top of the layer, smoothing it until it is even.
- Place the blue layer on top and repeat the process until the red layer is on top.
- Place the layered cake in the freezer for five minutes to let the icing set so that when you ice the exterior of the cake the layers won't slide around.
- Using a knife, generously coat the top and sides of the cake with buttercream frosting, smoothing it with a spatula or a table knife, making sure that it is completely covered but getting rid of excess frosting.
- Then spread the whipped cream frosting on top for a finishing coat, either spreading it smooth with a knife or spatula or pulling it into soft peaks using a knife or the back of a spoon.
- Serve the cake immediately.
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Tags: DailyBuzz Moms, homemade food coloring, natural dyes, natural food dyes, rainbow cake, rainbows, Somewhere Over the Rainbow
SO impressed. I love that you tried and tested so many different natural dyes, this post is a wonderful resource! your directions are fabulous. and the pictures are lovely. great job!!! 🙂
I LOVE This. I’m the other one in the Daily Buzz Moms 9×9 with a colored cake- only- mine has the disclaimer at the end about the colored dyes. ha! Good job. Very pretty cake. 🙂
oooo i love your natural dyes!! how cool! pretty!
Thanks, Jenna!
Thanks, Jane. It was actually a lot of fun to make this cake and experiment with all of the different dye choices!!
I love the natural colors! THANK YOU so much.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this Kelsey! So beautiful and I love the idea of using foods naturally occurring colors. Genius
Beautifully done! I am always looking for natural ways of dying things. This is brilliant!
~Michelle
Beautiful cake! I have only tried this with artificial food dye, so you’ve inspired me to try it naturally!
Thanks, Tricia. Your bright rainbow cupcakes are so fun, though. And I LOVE the idea of using the batter as paint!!
This is an AWESOME post!! Thanks for sharing.
You never cease to amaze me!
AH!!!!! I’m in AWE of how gorgeous your cake looks with natural dyes, literally my brain is exploding! i SOOO want to try this!!!!
Hi. I love how this cake has a milk look to it! Reminds me of those colored pens I used to eagerly buy during my younger days…
Amazing!!!! Chemical food coloring weirds me out, so I’m stoked to see this cake that is impressive in looks, and I know it doesn’t have crazy chemicals in it. Nice work!
Thank you for this! I have a daughter who can’t have food coloring (and I’m pretty okay with avoiding chemical additives anyway). I’ve been looking for ways to not make all her cakes chocolate with vanilla frosting. Fabulous!
Oh Lord, I love it! Divine photos, awesome colours and just simple and nice to follow. Gorgeous!
I just found you through Tastespotting! Would it be ridiculous to say that I think you just did the world a huge favor? Because that’s what I’m thinking. I love looking at rainbow cakes, but I don’t think I’d want to eat so much dye. But this is a wonderful pastel version, perfect for spring. 🙂
Thanks for experimenting so the rest of us can make rainbow cakes!
This is incredible! I am so impressed with the natural colors!! I can only imagine that that took a lot of work! And the entire cake looks amazing, I actually really like the not-so-vibrant colors.
This is so cute! What a great idea – yum! 🙂
such an interesting post! i’ve dabbled in natural dye easter eggs, but the colors were very muted. i’m very impressed with how bright your cake turned out! thanks for sharing this, especially the tidbits on spinach juice!
I’ve always wanted to do this with natural dyes. Great post! I made a red velvet cake with beets and it was moist and delicious and naturally dyed. Great post!
Ahh so cool! Having a stockpile of ways to come up with natural dyes is so valuable!
Purple cabbage juice is a great way to get blue in mostly alkaline things like eggs and cake (we did green eggs by dying the egg whites with the juice.)
Great alternative to food coloring ! I love all the natural ingredients
ratedkb.blogspot.com
Thanks so much! Works for other things besides making cakes!
Thanks again for all your hard work and detail.
Thank you!!! My 2 boys have been begging for colored play dough (homemade but no color!), but this post inspired me to make a beautiful cake, too!! Excellent directions, very well written, and gorgeous pictures
!!
This is just great! I have been seeing all those rainbow cakes and with our homeschool’s end of year program focusing on rainbows, I wanted to add some cake fun, but not caring for the choice of using artificial food dyes. So, this will be super and great for the children to get more learning in too. I’m thinking of trying it with cake pops. Thank you for sharing and for your time in figuring it out to save the rest of us time! 🙂
Absolutely GORGEOUS! The artificially colored rainbow cakes gross me out, but this is beautiful. 🙂 xo
Made this today with my girls. They loved making the juices for the dyes and mixing everything up. The colors turned out great. I just didn’t love the cake part. It definitely tasted like a “lite” cake. But thanks for all the info on the dyes!
I’m hoping I can talk Mallory into this cake for her birthday! Awesome job with the dyes Kelsey. I’m now starting to think twice too. Thanks!!!
Courtney, I’m so happy that you made the natural dyes with your girls and that you liked the colors!! Fortuntately, they can be used with many different things if you weren’t wild about the cake. I’ve made the Cooking Light white cake for years and have always received positive feedback and it’s just been a bonus that it’s lighter. But if you have a favorite white cake recipe I would love to try it. If you’d like to share one, please e-mail me at kelsey@itsybitsyfoodies.com and I will test it out 🙂 Thanks for your feedback!
Hi, I am planning to use your idea to make a baby shower cake – We were thinking of egg subs for the yellow coloring which would lend a fab flavor – mango! I am trying this out – will let you know how it turns out 🙂 cheers, Priya – I have made a rainbow cheese cake with artificial food coloring but thought i would try this more natural way this time with a cake. Wish me luck 🙂
Priya, I’ve tried mango puree once before and it didn’t work as well as I would have hoped but I’m curious how it turns out for you! Let me know 🙂
Hi Kelsey,
I can’t express how delighted I am to find your post, the cake is beautiful! I just found out how bad the icing colors are(chemical dyes); and then came across your blog. I will make this cake for my kid’s birthday. She loves coloring rainbows and bet she would be thrilled when she sees this rainbow cake.
Thank you for your research, hard work and the valuable information you provided.
– Lalita
Yay, thank you! Now I can make this beautiful cake:-)!
T
Wow, now that’s a pretty cake! I was going to make a green cake for my daughter’s birthday (She loves The Wiggles’ Dorothy the Dinosaur) but maybe I’ll try a layer cake with red, blue, purple and yellow for the Wiggle’s colors!
this is awesome. i thought i’d never make one of these because of the dye thing. but yay!, now i can. and i love how the colors turned out. muted and way classy looking! thanks for this!!
I LOVE THIS! The cake looks beautiful & the comments about what did/didn’t work are so helpful! I’ve been promising my daughter a Spring Tea Party, so this will be perfect! We’ve recently eliminated artificial dyes (Feingold diet) and seen definite improvements in behavioral & attention problems. Thank you for posting!!
So great! Congratualtions!!! and many thanks from all the mums & their kids!
I’m sooo pleased you succeeded and thank you so much for posting.
I’ve shared your article on my FB page (www.facebook.com/sweetandthatsit) hoping to reach as many persons as possible!
WE ALL WANT NATURAL!!!!!!
Bravo!
I forgot to rate, sorry!
Here I am again!
As many others have said, thank you so much for this recipe. I have been wanting to make a rainbow cake for several years, but have a severe red food dye allergy (Red 40, probably, but I avoid all just in case) that causes migraines if I even have a tiny bit of it. That plus all the research I’ve read since being diagnosed has led me to mostly ban all dyes from our house. When my soon-to-be husband and I have children, there will definitely be no dyes in the house.
On that note, have you found a successful red velvet cake recipe without artificial dyes? I’ve been trying for years to find one and using beet juice just produces a reddish brown with an unpleasant beet taste.
Sarah, a naturally-dyed red velvet cake is high on my list. I’m not sure how soon I will be able to experiment with that one but I will let you know how it turns out as soon as I try it.
I was wondering in making the beet juice is it raw or do you cook it first?
Are there any other alternatives for blueberry n blackberry, as it is a pricey fruit in my tropical country? Would purple carrot work I wonder.
Angela, I juice raw beets. Or you can even use the juice from canned beets. I’m sure the juice from cooked beets would work, also. I’d be curious to know if purple carrot works. Purple yam might be another option. If you try them please let me know 🙂
Hello there! I’d like to make this into a 9″ round cake, would I double this recipe?
Florencia, I would double the cake batter recipe to ensure that you have enough. In theory I would double the natural dye quantities, too, but I suggest adding them a little at a time until you reach your desired color. I’d love to know how it turns out for you!