About That Rainbow Saturn Cake

About a week before Leo's birthday, I asked him what kind of a cake he wanted.

And then I immediately regretted it. What was I thinking? When was I going to have time to bake some fancy birthday cake? Who could predict what complicated masterpiece Leo was going to request? Better to do what I did last year, which was to rely on our local grocery store bakery to provide a perfectly respectable (albeit slightly disgusting and a little terrifying) cake.

"Rainbow Saturn cake!" Leo announced, as if he'd been waiting his whole life to answer that question.

Because, of course!

Sigh.

Two years ago I somehow managed to pull off these little "beauties."


(Yes, I'm still basking in the glory of the Dora cupcakes I made for Leo's seventh birthday.) Stop laughing. It was all Leo asked for that birthday. Rocked with guilt at having just burdened him with not one but two newborn (often screaming!) infant siblings, I made it my mission to fulfill his birthday request.

And I'm not going to lie. I like a challenge (which, by the looks of my life these days, probably won't surprise you). So I figured, oh why not. What was the worst that could happen?

"You can do this. Game on!" my friend Amy said, when I told her about Leo's request.

I immediately began looking online, purposely avoiding Pinterest because, well, it totally freaks me out. Some friends sent me some recipes and ideas. Good old Martha had a recipe for the rainbow part which was of course gorgeous but also...kind of complicated looking (there was a video to accompany the recipe, so...you do the math). My idea of complicated might not be the same as others'--keep in mind you are dealing with someone whose baking and assembling window is approximately as long as the nap time of twin two year olds. I sometimes look at recipes or projects longingly and think Yes, but how could I possibly complete that? Surely I would be interrupted. That's just the way life is right now. Someday I will cook or bake grand, intricate recipes, someday I will organize drawers and shelves and bins. But that day is not today. (Believe me, I am not always this gracefully philosophical about my "limitations.")

Moving on. After Googling "Easy Rainbow Cake," this is the recipe I chose. I mean, Betty Crocker! How can you go wrong?



This is what a six layer cake looks like before it becomes a six layered cake (note the extra large ice coffee that fueled the making of this cake).

I have to say, this new gel food coloring (well, new to me, but remember, I don't get out much)? AWESOME. No more of those wimpy, pastely colors when you really want to make Red! and Orange! and Yellow! I think we've all been there--put a bright blue cake in the oven only to open the oven and find...pale, too light blue.



And I'm sure it's completely all natural, right?


Assembling. Frosting.

I made a few critical mistakes that are now embarrassing to admit, but I was rushed! By this point the twins were awake and tugging at my shorts and Lucy was probably rifling in the refrigerator for string cheese. I completely forgot to trim the layers down to make them sit flat. This caused the cakes to sliiiiiide. I also used to much frosting so the cake became too high (too much frosting? How is that even possible?!). At one point things were going, um, south (literally!) very quickly.



I basically went into full scale Are You Kidding Me Mode, but thankfully, Erin has the cool head in the family and she had the quick thinking to reshuffle the layers to make them sit more steadily. She was also the brains behind the "rings" of Saturn (trimmed from pieces of paper plate and colored with marker: genius!).



But this is also why the cake is not in "rainbow" order, which is very hard for me to be at peace with, being all Type A/OCD. But you know what?



Nobody seemed to notice or complain. In fact, I think the birthday boy was pretty pleased.

Now, for my next challenge?