Rainbow Cake: Part 1

We were awed by recent trip along the newest stretch of The Highline in NYC to see Rainbow City by FriendsWithYou, an interactive installation of air-filled sculptures. It inspired me to do an interactive rainbow cake project.

Above: a rainbow baked right into the cake, recipe and how-to courtesy: Omnomicon (*more about the cake to follow)

Amazing views and art works (both visual and audio) abound all along the Highline. "DIGITAL EMPATHY": Sound pieces greet visitors with messages of empathy and love in the park's bathrooms, water fountains, and elevators by JULIANNE SWARTZ.

O.K., back to the cake. Rainbows were very much on my mind when I came across Omnomicon's "How to Make a Rainbow cake" post. It's basically a modified white cake box-mix. The batter gets divided into six parts, (sorry, indigo), and gel food color is added to make individual vivid rainbow colors.

The photographs from their post are particularly beautiful, check it out for a step by step instructions to make and pour the batters to create a great rainbow cake:

✪ A funny thing about this cake is that it's a diet recipe, and calls for diet clear soda in the mix.
I enjoy baking from scratch, but I didn't have enough time to test out a variation of this recipe, so I cleared it with the moms involved, and decided to just go with it. I thought it was pretty yummy. The moms at the party seemed to really love it and asked for the recipe. I honestly think that the grown-ups liked it a little more than the kids did.

❤ PART 2: Rainbow Cake DECORATING project for kids coming soon...

❤ one more parting rainbow we made at the museum of the moving image
(kids can create their own stop-motion animations, which they can save and email):