“Somewhere over the rainbow…” Rainbows are a sign of hope across the world, some even believe that if you find the end of the rainbow you will also find a pot of gold.
Rainbow cakes are wonderful celebration cakes packed full of colour and when done right full of flavour. They are made up of several different colour sponges, sandwiched together with buttercream to create a rainbow effect.
Many bakers make their own variation of the rainbow cake, creating one cake with several layers or creating several tiers with a different colour in each tier. Other bakers will put all of the colours into each sponge layer to create a marble rainbow effect or use plain sponge and colour the buttercream instead!
Decoration varies as well, some leave the inside of the rainbow cake as a surprise by covering the whole cake in a plain buttercream (all white or one colour), so that when you cut into the cake and pull out the first slice, you’ll find the rainbow inside. Other’s line up different colour buttercream one above the other to create a rainbow effect on the outside of the cake.
Rainbows are subjective as well, some choose to create bright vibrant coloured rainbow effects, while some will use softer more pastel colours to create their vision. Some even choose to create an extra effect by creating a surprise rainbow centre using ingredients like hundreds and thousands or multicoloured sweets like smarties, skittles or M&Ms.
These cakes are ideal for birthdays and many other celebrations, they’re great for children and adults alike. They are a feast for the eyes and the taste buds. Not a lot of gold but a delicious rainbow treat!
Sponge is developing a Rainbow Cake!
That’s right! At Sponge we are currently working on our own version of a rainbow cake, we’re all excited for you to see our rainbow creation. But you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to view it in all of its glory!
More about Rainbows
Rainbows are found in many different cultures and represent different things.
In Ireland rainbows are most commonly associated with the legend of Leprechauns, it is said that you can find Leprechauns treasured pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Rainbows symbolise peace and serenity, and most noticeably at the moment hope. This is well demonstrated by the very famous song from the film ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Dorothy is frustrated with her life and so starts dreaming about a different life. ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ represents her inner desire and a hope of finding something better in life, by the end of the film she realises she had everything she needed and wanted in life to begin with. Another great song about rainbows is ‘Rainbow connection’, another song about hope and dreams, famously sung by Kermit the Frog in the Muppets movie.
The LGBTQIA+ community use a rainbow flag as their symbol, each colour represents a different meaning:
- Red = Life
- Orange = Healing
- Yellow = Sunlight
- Green = Nature
- Blue = Serenity
- Purple = Spirit