A wild and crazy birthday cake!

A wild and crazy cake!

Birthday traditions...every family has them.  And even within a family, some kids develop their own unique traditions that they HAVE to have  :)  Such is the case with one of my daughters.  From the time she was 12, she has always requested a "colorful" cake.  So, every year I try to out-do myself with coming up with a wild and colorful cake  :)

A few months ago, I saw a fantastically beautiful cake on Pinterest.  (Found on tablespoon.com)  I immediately knew what I was doing for my daughter's next birthday!  Let's just say, as usual, my "creation" didn't turn out quite like the amazing picture I pinned but it was a big success anyway!

 For a three layer cake you'll need...
2 white cake mixes + the ingredients to make the cake as directed
Buttercream frosting...from a can, a mix or from scratch
Gel or paste food coloring in a variety of colors
Candy Melts in a variety of colors
Corn syrup
Heavy whipping cream

First, I used two traditional boxes of white cake mix and mixed it up as directed.  Then before pouring it into pans (Four  8" round cake pans), I divided the batter into 6 bowls.  Each bowl of batter got dyed a different color.  Then I randomly plopped blobs of colored batter into the pans.  A quick swirl with a knife through the colors and they were ready for the oven.

Colorful batter!

Plop the batter into the pans...

Swirl gently with a knife...

Fresh out of the oven.

After the cakes were cooled, I trimmed off the rounded tops.  I only needed three cakes so the fourth went into the freezer for another day.   Using a basic buttercream frosting, I stacked and frosted the cake, trying to get the top as smooth as possible.  I'm NO cake decorator so my results were less than perfect, but...oh well  :) 

A turntable would have been handy...

I put the frosted cake on top of a large can so I could turn it easily and put a piece of parchment paper underneath the can to catch drips.
I used six colors of candy melts (should have stuck with the lighter/brighter colors...purple was too dark).   Candy melts were divided into six bowls with 5 oz melts in each bowl.  Also, in each bowl went 2 T. corn syrup and 4 T. heavy cream.   Microwaved until everything was melted, stirring occasionally.  The consistency should be slightly thickened.

Purple was probably too dark but the rest were perfect!

Then the fun part...
Alternating colors, I dripped spoonfuls of melted candy melts over the cake, letting it drip over the sides and over the top.  (If the melts get too thick, add a little more corn syrup.  If too thin, let it cool slightly.)

And that's all there is to it!  A cacophony of colors for a girl who likes her cakes wild!

YUMMY!

But wait...there's more!
The melts that dripped onto the parchment make wonderful finger paints!

Have fun!