Rainbow Sprinkle Cake. New Music From Polar States.

There are plenty of excuses this time of year to make a festive cake. You definitely cannot go wrong with this Rainbow Sprinkle Cake. So cheerful and colorful! I brought it to a party at our local library and everyone absolutely loved it.

I really like the idea of piping rose-like swirls around the side of the cake. My icing was a bit runny (because it was warm in my kitchen), but I did not want to add any extra sugar which would have thickened it up but made it too sweet. Next time I will chill the icing briefly before piping it onto the cake.

Rainbow Sprinkle Cake

Ingredients:

½ cup/110 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups/190 grams all-purpose flour, plus extra for preparing cake pans
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine salt
⅔ cup/158 ml whole milk
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup/200 grams sugar
1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites
⅓ cup rainbow sprinkles
Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles, to decorate top of cake

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325℉.

2. Grease and line the bottoms of two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Grease the parchment. Flour the pans, coating the bottom and sides, then tap out any excess flour.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. In a small bowl, stir together milk and vanilla.

5. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

6. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, slowly add egg and whites. Beat until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

7. Add half of flour mixture, then the milk mixture, then the remaining flour mixture, beating to blend after each addition. Fold in sprinkles by hand.

8. Divide batter evenly between the pans (approximately 400g per pan), and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

9. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool completely before turning out.

10. Place one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand. Using an offset spatula, frost the top. Stack the other layer on top. Frost the sides of the cake. If you like, pipe a swirly border around the top of the cake (to keep the thick coating of sprinkles on top in place). You can also cover the sides of the cake in a rose-swirl design. A 1M tip works well.

11. Sprinkle the top of the cake with 1/2 cup of sprinkles.

Serves 10

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup/165 grams unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 1/2 cups/450 grams confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, butter and salt together at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, slowly add sugar. Beat until smooth. Beat in vanilla just until incorporated.

Recipes from The Brook Cook

Liverpool-based band Polar States have a new single out titled ‘Gold’. It’s from their new EP “Electric” released last month. Play it for all the people that mean a lot to you. Play it while you are making those loved ones some cake. :)