Happy Pride Month! There’s nothing like a mini rainbow cake to brighten your day. # 177: Rainbow Petit Fours

I know most Pride parades and events have been postponed or moved to the virtual world, but even a pandemic can’t cancel the joy! It goes without saying, life is better when everyone can express their love and identities freely. And what better way to celebrate virtually than with cake? Especially bright, colorful, sprinkle-covered mini cakes!

I have to say, these were waayy easier than my attempt at a fully-iced version a few years ago. Those raspberry almond petit fours were decadent and delicious, but so much freaking effort. They simply did not want to get dipped, no matter how nicely I asked. These rainbow towers look better un-glazed anyway – gotta show off the colors!

The pound cake recipe called for a full loaf pan, but that’s never stopped me before! I cut the recipe in half and unearthed this adorable mini loaf pan from the depths of my pan cupboard. Quarantine reorganizing has yet to hit that cupboard…

Why the red food coloring is double the size of the rest is honestly a mystery, but I was thrilled that I had enough colors to make a rainbow! The only real blue I had was a baby blue, which wasn’t bright enough, so I swapped in a teal. (Any excuse to get teal into my life, really.)

I considered trying to make all-natural dyes, but only had the supplies for a orangey-yellow (turmeric) and deep pink (beet powder). Both have super strong savory flavors and I wanted this to be a light and sweet vanilla cake. C’est la vie.

How recipe instructions are translated in my head: step 1 – whip up a fluffy butter cloud.

As per usual, my butter and eggs weren’t same temperature (the struggles of baking on a whim!) so the mix looked split before the flour was added in. If you have more patience than I do, you can float the eggs in a bowl of warm water til they reach room temp. Or you can just rely on the magic of flour to stitch your batter back together! Pound cakes are pretty forgiving.

Can you hear Nate in the background whimpering as he watches me use every ramekin in the apartment? (Don’t worry, I did my own dishes this time!)

Like dyeing Easter eggs, but better!

When anyone asks me if I have enough spatulas, the answer is always NO. You can NEVER have enough spatulas.

Sweet dreams, little cakes.

They poofed up like madeleines in the middle! Super cute. Another difference from the recipe was the length of time in the sauna. I didn’t alter the temperature of the oven, just reduced the baking time from an hour to 15 minutes.

Frosting time! Here’s the basic outline of the recipe (from Thida Bevington’s instagram story) –

• 200 g butter, softened
• 237 g powdered sugar, sifted
• 1.5 tsp liquid (coffee, extract, etc)
• 60 g heavy cream

(I cut it in half for this project!)

Since it was such a little amount, I used my hand mixer to fluff the butter. I don’t think my stand mixer would have even noticed anything was in it!

I only ended up using part of the cream. Just add it until the texture is where you want it! I was going for velvety, but can still hold a shape.

Had to give it a little haircut to get to the pretty colors inside.

I got three even layer slices out of each one (and a cake top for munching!)

Layer one, finito.

Ta-daaa! I would have made a terrible brick-layer.

Top with a lil more buttercream and some sprinkles, and she’s ready for her close-up.

Happy munching!

Cake recipe from: https://alwayseatdessert.com/2017/04/09/mini-naked-cakes-sweet-orange-marmalade/