Cast Iron Rainbow Pound Cake
YouTube: Cast Iron Rainbow Pound Cake
June 3, 2023: I wanted to try my hand and making a rainbow cake in a cast-iron cake pan for Pride Month. Unfortunately, the cake stuck badly. I know exactly what went wrong, and this ment I had to make this rainbow cakes using the typical method for making cakes in a cake pan, by greasing and flouring the pan in advance.
I used pound cake batter for this cake. When the batter was ready, I separated it into seven separate bowls, and colored each bowl, a different color. My favorite method of making a cake in cast-iron is to preheat the pan, then coat the hot pan with Crisco, add the batter, and bacon in the oven. This method has usually been very successful. My mistake was the length of time it took to pour the batter into the pan. The batter needs to be poured into the hot pan very quickly. Because I had to keep the colors separate, it took nearly 10 minutes to get all of the batter into the pan. This gave everything a chance to cool and settle, and as a result, the cake stuck. That’s a shame, because the cake itself would have been terrific: a rainbow swirl cake.
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The second attempt at making this cake was far more successful. I was able to get this cake out of the pan by spraying the [CENSORED] out of the pan with Baker's Joy before adding the batter. Several persons on Facebook and YouTube suggested using Baker's Joy instead. I tried it, and it worked. Thank you, everyone!
Pans needed: One medium to large bowl for dry ingredients. A large mixing bowl for wet ingredients plus dry ingredients. A heavy metal bundt cake pan, such as cast iron or thick cast aluminum.
- 1 and 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened (If you don't have enough butter, substitute vegetable oil or shortening: use 2 sticks butter and 1/3 cup oil.)
- 3 cups white sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Nonstick baking spray, such as Baker's Joy or Pam
- 2 packages food coloring (red, yellow, blue; most packages also include green)
The hardest part of this cake is preparing the different colors! It's not especially difficult to put together a pound cake, but I had to do this in six parts, and mix a separate color for each one. It's a good idea to use disposable bowls and cups for preparing the colored cake batter. This will save an enormous amount of effort cleaning up after it's done. Be sure to use a separate plastic knife for each bowl of batter, to prevent the colors from mixing before it is added to the cake pan.
Before preparing the cake batter, set out six small cups and add food coloring to each cup. Each cup will have a different color added, of course. This should be set in order to match the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. The first time I made this cake, I included indigo as well as violet; but there was little to no difference in color between the two. For this reason I recommend leaving out indigo in this recipe.
A typical pack of food coloring capsules in the United states has four colors: red, yellow, blue and green. You can mix the food coloring together to make orange and violet. The formula for each color is:
- Red: 1 and 1/2 teaspoons
- Orange: 1 teaspoon Yellow, 1/2 teaspoon Red (75% yellow, 25% red)
- Yellow: 1 and 1/2 teaspoons
- Green: 3/4 teaspoon blue, 3/4 teaspoon yellow (if green food coloring isn't available). If green is available, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons green.
- Blue: 1 and 1/2 teaspoons
- Violet: 3/4 teaspoon red, 3/4 teaspoon blue (50% red, 50% blue)
For a bright neon-colored rainbow, double the amount of food coloring, for a total of 3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) in each cup.
Once the colors are ready, it's time to make a cake! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
As the oven is heating, prepare your ingredients. In a medium to large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt. It's important to whisk the dry ingredients together, because this incorporates air into the batter and helps it to rise. In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar: mix these two ingredients together until they are combined into a paste. Mix in the remaining wet ingredients: eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk. When it's all mixed, gently mix the dry ingredients in with the mixer on slow speed. Gently mix everything together into a batter.
Separate the batter into six bowls (preferably disposable), using an equal amount of batter in each bowl. Add a different cup of food coloring to each bowl. Use a separate knife (again, preferably disposable) to stir the batter in each bowl.
Now the cake pan can be prepared. I like using a cast iron cake pan, but this will work with a typical nonstick cake pan as well. Spray a generous amount of non-stick baking spray into the pan, coating every inch of the surface. Once this is done, simply pour each bowl of batter into the pan. Starting with the first bowl, use a spatula and spread the batter onto the bottom of the cake pan. Don't try to spread the batter out evenly, simply spread it in a circle across the bottom of the pan. Leave empty space around the sides of the pile of batter. After the batter has been added to the pan, rinse and wipe off the spatula, to be sure the colored batter doesn't mix into the next bowl of batter.
Next, use a clean spatula and spread the next bowl of batter on top of the previous pile of batter. Don't mix it together! The weight of the batter will cause it to sink, but the colors will remain separate. Simply spread the batter over the top of the previous batter. Again, don't spread it around the pan. Repeat this with all six bowls of batter. By the time it's done, the cake pan will be about 2/3 way full of the batter.
Place the cake into the oven, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour and five minutes, or 65 minutes. The cake is so moist that when 65 minutes have passed, it may not look as though it's done. Testing with a skewer should show the cake is indeed done.
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Let the cake rest and cool for twenty minutes before flipping it. After the cake cools, feel free to glaze the cake, and add rainbow sprinkles.
And when the cake is sliced, each slice will have a rainbow!
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