I LOVE to bake! Baking with my children is one of my favorite ways to spend a rainy afternoon. (And here in the Pacific NW, we get a lot of rainy afternoons…so, I like finding new ways to make baking fun!) I also love traditions and creating memories for my children. Holiday baking is a phenomenal (and yummy) way to create fun and lasting memories for your children. Make a big deal. Go the extra mile. Have FUN! Doing something a bit out of the ordinary, especially on holidays builds traditions and experiences your children WILL remember. I hope that when my kids are my age, during the week of St. Patrick’s day, they will think to themselves, “Remember how mom used to make rainbow cake with us? And green pancakes and milk? Remember how we chased the leprechaun? Let’s do that with our kids!” Memories…=)

Last year, I spotted these rainbow cupcakes in Family Fun Magazine. Hannah and I made them and brought them over to her sweet friend’s house to share. The girls LOVED the little rainbow cakes, and they were actually very easy to make! (Follow the recipe below!) Seriously, how adorable are these?!

It was fun to do something special for my daughter and her friend.

THIS year, I wanted to do something a little bit different. I took the same concept, and decided to make a rainbow bundt cake! It was really easy and lent itself to a lot of teachable moments! The kids and I had a blast preparing this cute St. Patty’s day treat!

Rainbow Cake

First, select a box of your favorite white cake mix. We chose French Vanilla. You can see just how excited my silly girl is to make this cake!

Prepare the cake mix as directed on the box.

Divide your batter (as evenly as you can) into 6 bowls. (I was not anal, and didn’t measure. I just eyeballed it, and my cake turned out just fine!) As I was getting the bowls, I said things like, “Okay, I have 3 bowls out. I need 6 bowls altogether. How many more bowls do I need?” Creating number sentences is an easy way to get your child thinking and doing addition and subtraction (without even knowing it!) And I must say, I love my son’s little knees in this picture…up on the counter and wanting to help..just where he should be!

Next, you’re going to want to color your bowls with food coloring. This was a great opportunity to talk about the colors of the rainbow (I even taught them a little song), and to talk about color mixing. SO much learning to be had while making cake! Talk about what colors you need to mix to get purple…orange…and let your kids do the mixing! They will love seeing the two separate colors blend into one new color. Getting a true red is difficult (It takes nearly a full bottle of food coloring to achieve the red in red velvet, so opt for a nice vibrant pink.) The rainbow honestly looks more pink than red most of the time anyways. =)

I cannot stress enough how important it is to spray your bundt pan generously! Then, tip it upside down and let the excess drain off in the sink. (I saw that on Martha Stewart.) =) Start with red or purple (You can go backwards or forwards for your cake…just go in order or reverse order..) I started with the red. I emptied the whole bowl of red into the pan. Then, I topped that with the orange bowl. I gently smeared the orange on top of the red, so as not to blend it. Keep going in this fashion. Don’t worry about it if you can get one color to completely cover the color underneath. Remember you are baking with your kids (and FOR your kids) not for the judges on the Food Network Cake Challenge…it does NOT have to be perfect! Here is what mine looked like at two different stages.

It’s already so pretty! I love the vibrant colors we made! Pop your cake into a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. LET YOUR CAKE COOL COMPLETELY before you try to turn it over and get it out! It WILL fall apart if it is not cooled all the way!  (And if it does, don’t sweat it. Just top it with more whipped cream!)

Look how adorable this is! The cupcakes (shown earlier) were made the same way. I divided my batter into 6 bowls, and filled each cupcake with 6 different layers. They turned out a bit more uniformly and nicely layered, as it was easier to cover the color underneath. Follow the baking instructions on the cake mix box for the cupcakes.

Here is what our cake looked like cut. So colorful and tasty!

If you want to get even more creative…..Cut a few slices, and serve it up with some whipped cream clouds! Your kids will think you are the coolest thing since sliced rainbows!

I hope you will try to bake up a rainbow cake of your own! Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!