Check. it. out. That is one brightly colored cake! And today, I am going to share how to make it…

This post is long overdue.  I first started thinking about birthday plans at the end of February when I completed my birthday wreath (which remains one of my most popular posts). But with four birthdays in five weeks, the launch of SNAP! and everyday life, it just didn’t get done…

Anyway, this year one of the birthday requests was to have a tie dye birthday. It’s one of those odd birthday themes/Halloween costumes that every kid selects at one point or another, right?

image via One Charming Party

I pulled a lot of inspiration from One Charming Party’s amazing Art Party, particularly the rainbow cake, but it just wasn’t quite tie dye. I happened upon a slightly different version at Omnomicon and decided to run with it!

This cake starts out with a nice basic white cake.

Basic (yet delicious) White Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix butter and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add sugar and beat well. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well. Add vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour and milk. Bake for 30 min.

For this particular recipe, I omitted the egg yolks so my cake stayed a more pure white…I don’t really know if that’s cool, but hey, the cake still tasted fantastic! I also doubled the recipe, but I think I would have been fine without.

Divide the cake batter into equal portions and color with bright colors – I love Wilton’s Icing Gel. It colors things so nicely and doesn’t leave a nasty taste.

I would love to have more step-by-step photos of this portion of the process, but I was baking in an empty house *sigh* and didn’t have a third hand to take the photos!

Pour the colors one by one into the center of your pan. One on top of the other in rainbow order…Initially, you will use more of the batter (about two-thirds) and gradually use less as you get to the top. Fill one pan and then fill the other in reverse color order.

I frosted the cake with a simple white butter cream.

Loved the cake…the colors were so vivid. The kids really enjoyed it too!

Here is the part of my post where I channel my inner Char, though I am still not sure about posting…There is a lot of coloring in this cake. There is a chance that it may lead to some vividly colored poop, that may or may not terrify your kids the next day. Ha! That is all!

And, on that fun note, happy baking! Hahahahaha!

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