St. Patrick’s Day is coming. The kids and I decided to have some fun baking. We intended to make a St. Patrick’s Day Peek-a-Boo cake as seen on the site Mom Loves Baking. We were going to make it into cupcakes, but SURPRISE things didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t a problem with the recipe; it was a mistake I made.
So what to do?
I decided this was a valuable lesson for my kids. I could to teach them about Plan B. When things don’t go your way, find a way to make it work.
Here is where our St. Patrick’s Day Surprise Cake came about. It was a surprise for us, but our cake has a surprise when you cut into it, too.
St. Patrick’s Day Surprise Cake
As I mentioned before, I was using a recipe from Mom Loves Baking. We were going to modify it into cupcakes, but we ended up doing a
Instructions for Making the Rainbow Cake
Step 1:
Make a vanilla cake batter. You can use your favorite recipe or use a boxed cake. Prepare according to the instructions.
I made a mistake here that threw off our plans. I used our favorite vanilla recipe which is a VERY watery recipe. It is delicious and makes a wonderfully moist cake. It wasn’t the best recipe
Lesson: Don’t use a thin cake batter for this project.
Step 2:
Divide the cake batter into separate bowls. My kids wanted six different colors, so we had six bowls.
Next, you will color each bowl of batter a different color. We used regular food coloring. We used all the colors of the rainbow. (Well, not indigo.)
Step 3:
Prepare a cookie sheet. I greased and floured the cookie sheet so the cake would not stick. You could also line it with parchment paper. Whatever works best for you.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 4:
Place each colored batter into a separate plastic sandwich bag or cake decorating bag. We used a Ziploc bag and snipped the corner off the bag, and it worked well.
Step 5:
Now is the fun part. You will take your first color and make a thin strip of it across the cookie sheet. Here is where the thin batter did not work so well. It ran, and we couldn’t control the width of each color well.
You will repeat the lines of color until the cookie sheet is filled.
Step 6:
Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes. Start checking after 8 minutes. It will be done once a toothpick comes clean from the cake. The thickness of your batter will vary the cooking time.
Step 7:
Once the cake is done, let it cool for 8-10 minutes and remove to a cooling rack.
Instructions for Making the Chocolate Cake
While your rainbow colored cake is cooling, you can make the chocolate cake.
Step 1:
Prepare the chocolate cake per favorite cake recipe or boxed cake.
Step 2:
Prepare another cookie sheet. Grease it or use parchment paper so the cake will not stick.
Step 3:
Pour the chocolate cake batter into the cookie sheet. Make sure not to overfill it.
Step 4:
Place the cookie sheet in the 350-degree oven and bake. It took my cake around 20 minutes to cook because it was thicker than my rainbow cake. Keep an eye on it.
Step 5:
Let the cake cool for 8-10 minutes in the pan and then move it to a cooling rack.
Making the Frosting
While the cakes are cooling, it is time to make the frosting. I made Wilton’s Buttercream Frosting. I doubled this recipe. You’ll want somewhere between 4-6 cups of frosting.
After we made the frosting, we added in the green food coloring. Mix it until you get the desired green color.
Putting the St. Patrick’s Day Surprise Cake Together
Step 1:
Cut both cakes in half. Now you have two rectangles of each cake.
Step 2:
Place the first chocolate cake rectangle on the bottom. Put a thin layer of frosting.
Step 3:
Place one section of the rainbow cake on top of the chocolate cake. I carefully picked it up and placed it on the cake.
You can put another thin layer of frosting or skip it.
Step 4:
Place the last section of chocolate cake on top. Place a thin layer of frosting.
Step 5:
Put the last rainbow cake on the chocolate cake. Frost the whole cake.
You are done!
Now when you cut into your cake, you have layers of chocolate and rainbow-colored cake peeking through the layers. It is a fun activity and a yummy treat.
It truly is a St. Patrick’s Day Surprise Cake. It is a surprise of rainbow colors and a surprise with the two cake flavors.
After the Cake was Finished
Because our vanilla cake batter was thin, we ended up with leftovers. We are not ones to waste so we used it. I poured different colored batter into cupcake liners. The final product was some beautiful multicolored cupcakes.
My kids enjoyed the cupcakes the most. We will definitely make rainbow cupcakes and cakes again.
A Valuable Lesson in Baking
The St. Patrick’s Day cake taught us all some valuable lessons. We learned that sometimes things don’t go as planned in cooking, but it doesn’t mean you give up. We ended up creating a new cake to enjoy, AND we had some beautiful cupcakes.
We all learned some great baking techniques we had never tried before. We learned how to make rainbow cakes. It was something we had never tried.
Finally, we learned to take risks. It is good to try new things and if things don’t work out make the best of the situation.
Baking the St. Patrick’s Day Surprise Cake was a lesson in creativity. We tried new things and experimented with some new ideas. It took us a long time, but the kids persevered and were happy with the results.
What fun baking projects have you done with your kids?
