Rainbow Swirl Cake
This rainbow swirl cake is easier to make than you may think! Dress up a boxed cake mix.
My baby boy turned 2 this week. He lives his life with such joy and you just can’t be near him without laughing. And he’s wild. He deserved a Rainbow Swirl Cake.
I love how he sings his ABCs at the top of his lungs.
I love how he says “Hi! How you doin’?” to every single person he makes eye contact with.
I love how he does somersaults when he is excited,
and tells people to clap whenever he completes a puzzle.
While I could do without him climbing on top of our kitchen table
I love when he gives me that ornery little grin when he’s been caught.
I love his wet, sticky kisses
and his ticklish little baby toes.
I love how he watches Yo Gabba Gabba even while staying in constant motion
and how he can fall asleep upright in his rocking chair reading a book.
I just love him to pieces. ♥
Making a rainbow swirl cake is very easy- I hope you’ll try it sometime. I snapped a few pictures with my phone along the way. Oh yes- he liked the cake 😉
Rainbow Swirl Cake
Ingredients
- Yellow, or white cake batter, divided
- Gel food dye, I use Americolor
- Buttercream frosting
Instructions
- Prepare your cake batter as you normally would and divide into however many sections that you would like.
- Use food dye to color your cake batter. If you use gel or paste then you will only need 1 drop per section for a brilliant, deep color.
- Drop your batter into the pan one color at a time and bake as normal.
- Frost and enjoy!
A Few Notes on Food Coloring
- I used Americolor GEL food coloring which can be purchased online or at Hobby Lobby (Amazon link provided at the end of this post).
- Food color gel is NOT decorating gel.
- Wilton also makes gel food coloring (available at Wal-Mart, Michaels, and JoAnne’s). I do not prefer it but it is more readily available and would produce better results than using liquid food color found in most grocery stores.
- You use one teeny tiny drop of Americolor gel food coloring to get these vibrant colors. To get a vibrant color with liquid food coloring you may have to add up to a teaspoon of coloring (which I do NOT recommend). The color may still not be as vibrant and adding that much liquid will change the consistency of the dough.
- I am including the links to the basic color pack and the “electric” colors. I use both sets in my kitchen. To see some more colors check out my Rainbow Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Items used in this recipe:
This post contains affiliate links
104 Comments on “Rainbow Swirl Cake”
One of the most beautiful rainbow cakes I’ve seen!
Thank you!
I just made this and it was a hit!!! The colors don’t mix all together like you might expect, they form pockets of color even when you pour colors on top of other colors. Just make sure you use the gel food coloring. The regular food coloring will water down the batter.
Hi, this cake is FAB! I want to make it for my God Daughter but i am worried about the colours mixing? Was there a way of them not combinning when you put them all in one tin?
Thanks
I will actually be making this cake this coming weekend for my neice’s b-day party on the 26th. I bought some gel food dye specially for this. Thanks for the advice. i have a feeling this will be a hit. I will try to get pictures 🙂
I am going to make this for my neice’s 10th birthday this weekend but I am wanting to make a single layer cake in a rectangular pan. Any tips on how I should pour in the different color batters with this type of pan? THANKS!
I was out of town this weekend! Did you end up making it? I would love to see how it turned out- pop me and email or post a pic on my Facebook page if you get a chance. My advice for anyone attempting this in any size pan is to just drop the batter by spoonfuls all over the pan. No need to stir. As the cake bakes and the batter spreads it will create the pockets of color.
Stopping by to ogle again and ask about permissions.
Would it be ok with you if I posted the cake slice photo (on clear glass plate) on my Facebook page, with due credit, of course. I think it’s a beautiful creation & photo and wanted to share. No intent to sell or profit from it. And, no problem if it’s not ok. Thank you!
Thank you for stopping by! I’m always happy for my readers to share the content here with a picture and a link back to the full recipe. I appreciate you asking- and thanks for sharing!
Wow this is truly special , what are peoples thoughts on making this for an adult?
What was used for the sprinkles?
Thanks!
Erica
Hi Erica! I have made this for adults too- still a fun surprise to cut into! I’ve updated the post with links to what products I used. Thanks for stopping by- K
Thanks for posting this, I’ll be making this cake this weekend to celebrate the 3rd birthday of my daughter and niece!
Absolutely amazing. Absolutely (bleeping) AMAZING. This made my day… my week…my day again. Thank you. And, I steer clear from the artificial dyes, but I can’t help but LOVE your cake slice. Wouldn’t have the same visual impact without the fake color. Seriously, the best photo/design/styling among all the “rainbow cake” images on google (at least the first 400+ photos). Just brilliant.
My 6-year old and 3-year old saw this and were gobsmacked.
İ love rainbow cake.
That’s so lovely and beautiful cake.
İ’m going to try it as soon as possible for my spring tea table.
Thank you for sharing this.
Love this idea! Any suggestions on how to do this with cupcakes?
I haven’t tried it with cupcakes yet but I would just start with small amounts of each batter color and use the same method.
OMG I love this…my daughter wants a rainbow cake for her party tomorrow…I was going to make the usual rainbow stack but wasn’t too keen on it…seemed to blah and over done but it’s what she wants…then I saw this and I’m SO excited about it…and I know she is going to LOVE it and is going to be so thrilled when she cuts into it 🙂
Omg!! I love the cake!! I want to bake one like this for my friend. But I have a question, the colors don’t get mixed in together once you put them all together in the pan?
Nope! I used gel food coloring (it doesn’t thin out the cake batter like liquid food coloring would). Just drop the batter in and try not to shake it around before baking. Have fun!
Oh my goodness! I just made this with my soon to be 9 year old. He had a blast doing it and so did I! I took lots of pictures. He's so excited to cut into it tomorrow!
Let me say that I am old so there are very few things that surprise me these days. This is one of the most creative things I have ever seen! I can't wait to make one for my great niece, Cali. It is truly a work of art. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Wow! so pretty!!! 🙂
Gorgeous cake, and also, a really cute post. 🙂 Made me smile – I have a 17-month-old climber so I know that little grin! Thanks for posting!
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I've been blessed with boys too…happiness abounded in our house because of their carefree antics. Mmm! times ten, which is like a bazillion to boys, to your rainbow swirl cake idea and recipe. My Nick at five woulda said, "I wuv you mom", as he had cake smeared all over his lips, fingers and face. 🙂
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I just love that picture of him enjoying his cake!!!
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Happy Birthday to your son! This cake looks so much easier than the layered rainbow cake. I love all of the bright colors.
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Wow, what a cake!! I'm sure he was one very happy little boy when he saw that. 🙂
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Beautiful, colorful cake and happy birthday to your son!!
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I love this rainbow cake! And, it sounds like it fits your happy man's personality perfectly 🙂
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Happy Birthday to your little man and I laughed when I read the "How you doin" part because all I can hear is Joey Tribiani (sp?) from Friends and his famous line 😉
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That is so much fun! And I am amused that you used chobani cups for the different colors because when I painted my most recent painting I had tons of those cups with different colors of pain lying around. Definitely not edible though.
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The cake looks amazing. Perfect for a 2 year old birthday. Great picture of him!
Wow! So simple, but looks so amazing!
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Is it weird that when I use food coloring I always think of you? lol
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Oh my word I LOVE this cake!!!! I can see why your son wanted to put his face in this cake because I want to do the same thing, haha. 🙂
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My love for sprinkles and bright colors has no limits, these cake looks amazing!
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What a colorful cake!! Beautiful!
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Awww, love it!!! What a lucky Son you have:-) Hugs, Terra
Love the bright colored cake… but you already knew that. I wish it tasted like skittles though 😉
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Awww what a happy cake. Happy Birthday to the little man.
Love this cake and the colors!!! Americolor is great!
It looks beautiful! Great photos!
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That's gorgeous and looks fantastic on the clear cake stand. And I totally hear you on watching YGG while not sitting still, how do they do that?
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Gorgeous cake! I love the different sized sprinkles! So cute!
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Love it! You should have included the picture with his face in the cake! That just made me smile 🙂 Love the bright colors!
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Gorgeous! Great job!
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So simple and yet so beautiful! Happy birthday to your little one!!!
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I love how vibrant the cake is even after it is baked!
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OMG that looks totally delicious and cool! I know my boy friend wanted me to make a cake like this for his birthday, so I will! Can't wait!
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You have the prettiest rainbox food! Last month you made something so pretty with rainbow colors, too, if I recall correctly!
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Happy Birthday to your little boy!!! My daughter is two too, and aren't they a joy at that age? Mine sings her ABCs at the top of her lungs too, and asks everyone "are you okay today?" don't know where she picked up that line… The cake is just gorgeous Katrina! Perfect vibrant cake for a vibrant little one! Blessings…
I could not wait to see this after I saw the IG post. Amazing work here Katrina. I love this and your creativity!
You have a great testimonial from your son for his amazing rainbow cake. I would probably stick my face in it, too,f I had one:)
So cool! I love the look of this!!
Love it!! The colours are amazingly bright. Such a fun cake for a birthday!
This is so pretty! Amazing job!