A few weeks ago our little Felix turned four and requested a rainbow birthday cake. The end result was really pretty easy and incredibly delicious! This isn't a really a recipe (I used a box mix!) but here's how we got the effect.

We used one box of white cake mix and divided it into six bowls (a heaping 1/2 C). I've seen them done with traditional thick layers, but that ends up being like 3 full cakes and this normal sized guy was enough sugar for this family over the course of a weekend!

Next we added food coloring (nothing fancy - just the standard kind you get in the baking aisle) and dolloped each batch out into a very thin layer in a 9" cake pan. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. I did three at a time.

Once cool (that happens pretty quickly!), layer them up! I frosted this cake with my favorite icing - approximately two packages of cream cheese and 5 C of powdered sugar and a little squeeze of almond flavoring.

As you can see, the cakes aren't the exact same size, but I don't think that takes away from the effect once the cake is cut into! In fact, I almost always do my cakes "naked' and only use frosting between layers (here's Beatrix's first birthday cake, and Felix's first birthday cake - OMG look at how tiny he was! Time flies (and drags on. The days are long and the years are short)

To top it off we did a generous topping of rainbow sprinkles and a few decorative stars with the remaining icing.

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Happy Birthday to my darling daughter Beatrix! To celebrate, Felix and I baked her this beautiful cake and guys, it was a) easy AF and b) the most delicious cake I've ever had - tart, tangy and sweet all in one bite - no exaggeration! And the best part - it was from a box! Just a little doctoring up and the results were incredible (of course I had to taste test when we baked it yesterday... Bea will have the chance to smash it tonight! Cupcakes for everyone else!)

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Here's what I used:

Lemon Cake

One box of Lemon cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Super Moist or something like that)
Sub butter for oil
Add an extra egg

The butter adds extra richness while the bonus egg makes the cake super fluffy! Bake per instructions on box.

Frosting

1 package cream cheese
1 stick of butter
2 1/2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
2 T freeze dried strawberries

I use my go to cream cheese icing recipe because it's tangy and not too sweet. After mixing everything together (add the sugar in stages, adjust sweetness to your liking!) I divided the contents in half and set the plain icing aside. Now for the strawberries! I make a powder using my coffee grinder (cleaned thoroughly first!) because it gives such rich true strawberry flavor without any extra moisture. And the pretty pink color is more subtle and natural.

To get the swirled effect, you'll need three pastry bags. Use the decorating tip of your choice in the first bag and set aside. In the second, fill with plain icing and the third with the strawberry. Now you need to fill your tip bag halfway with each flavor. It sounds a little complicated, but it's not - I promise!

For the display of our little mini smash cake, I used a small cake stand I received as a gift (this is a cute option and large base). To ice the cake I first did the layer between cake sections and let it be rather messy. Next I made stars and rosettes on top. Using a flat spatula, I smoothed out the middle section and pressed on cute star shaped sprinkles. No need to be perfect! I like the homemade appeal of this beauty (fun fact - I always made and decorated all of the family birthday cakes as a kid!) Lastly, dust the top of your cake with more sprinkles, take a million photos and enjoy as it's smashed to pieces by your one year old baby!