This Gluten Free Rainbow Cake with fluffy marshmallow frosting will brighten anyone’s day! It’s hard not to smile when you see what’s in store with a slice into this colorful treat!
And knowing it’s not nearly as hard to make as it looks, you’ll be smiling, too!
Once you’ve tried your hand at this layered rainbow technique, I’m sure you’ll find all sorts of fun new things to bake up. It’s not hard at all! Read on for the easy steps you’ll need.
I’ve had readers tell me they have made this rainbow cake into rainbow cupcakes with great success, so don’t be deterred if you don’t have a bundt pan.
Gluten Free Rainbow Cake
It's hard to make a more cheerful cake than a gluten free Rainbow Cake! And when it's also this delicious, topped with marshmallow "Cloud" frosting, it'll make you smile from the inside out!
Ingredients
Rainbow Cake
- 1 recipe gfJules' Birthday Cake (yellow cake)
- OR
- gfJules Best Gluten Free Cake Mix
- 4-6 colors of food coloring (for natural food dye use India Tree, Color Garden, Color Kitchen, McCormick Nature's Inspiration, or Watkins Natural Food Coloring)
Fluffy As Clouds Frosting
- 1 cup granulated cane sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the cake:
Pre-heat oven to 350º F (static) or 325º F (convection). Spray bundt or tube pan with non-stick cooking spray and dust entire surface lightly with my gfJules™ Flour.
Combine the butter and your granulated sweetener of choice and beat well with your mixer’s paddle attachment, until the mixture is very light and fluffy (approximately 3-4 minutes). Add the eggs (or see egg substitute instructions in recipe) next, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly add the milk, alternating with the dry ingredients, beating in between the additions. Beat just until smooth.
Divide batter into as many bowls as colors you are using. Return batter one at a time to mixer bowl and add food coloring, blending until desired color is achieved. Pour the batter into prepared (oiled and floured with gfJules Gluten Free Flour - recommended) pan, layering each color on top of the other. (Remember ROY G. BIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet = the colors of the rainbow, in that order!).
Bake bundt cake for 45 minutes, or cupcakes for approximately 25 minutes; test for doneness by inserting a cake tester or toothpick in the middle of the cake to be sure it comes out clean, with very few crumbs attached. Add time if necessary to fully bake the cake.
When done, turn off the oven and leave the oven door open to let the cake cool slowly there for 5 minutes or so, then remove the cake to a cooling rack.
After 15-20 minutes of total cooling time, gently invert the cake to remove prom the pan, then flip gently back onto the cooling rack.
Frost the cake only when fully cooled, or in the alternative, wrap the cake with wax paper or plastic wrap and seal inside freezer bags to freeze or refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the frosting:
Over medium heat, stir to combine sugar, water and cream of tartar in a small saucepan. Continue whisking together until the mixture bubbles and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat immediately (the mixture may start to brown, but do not allow it to cook to dark brown or to burn).
Combine egg whites and vanilla in a mixer bowl. Slowly stir in the cooked sugar mixture with beaters on low. Increase mixer speed to high for 6 minutes, or until the frosting has whipped to stiff peaks when tested with a rubber spatula.
Frost cakes with a thick layer of Fluffy as Clouds Frosting, swirling designs using an off-set spatula for added dimension.
Notes
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Such a fun and festive cake!
Thanks, Sharon! It’s definitely a smile winner! 🙂
~jules
Hello Jules,
Thank you for your wonderful recipes, I would like to bake the rainbow cake as cupcakes. How much of each color would you put in each cupcake liner?
Thank you
Hi Mary, cupcakes would be so fun with this recipe! I’m just guessing here, as I haven’t made them yet, but I would think 1/4 cup of each layer would be about the right amount for a total cupcake. It would be interested to experiment, too, and take good notes! Let me know how they turn out – I’m so curious!!
~jules
Wow, those colors and layers! What a fun treat.
Thanks, Steph!! It’s super fun, that’s for sure!
~jules
What a fun cake, and the rainbow layers turned out perfectly! I’ve always wanted to try a layered cake like that, your photos make it look very easy.
What a fun cake! I can’t wait to try the frosting, too.
Thanks, Celeste! I hope you do get to try it – let me know how it turns out for you!
~jules
What a fun cake! I am so amazed the layers arch like that from the bundt pan. This clears up so much for me! Amazing! I feel so enlightened! Thank you!
Isn’t it fun, Elle?! It’s amazing that the bundt does that, but it makes sense when you think about heat distribution. Baking magic!
~jules
Rainbows and fun colors are always the only way to celebrate anything! 😉
I agree 100% Rebecca!
~jules
I am wondering if I can use Palm Oil instead of the Earth Balance – it contains Soy and I am VERY allergic. I don’t understand why more companies are not on board with Soy free products! It is so frustrating! I did buy the Earth Balance Spread and it had such an awful and bad smell that I threw it away.
Thanks for your recipes and hard work.
Gayle
Hi Gayle, palm oil shortening should work for you. Earth Balance has a soy-free Coconut Spread that is very tasty and works well for a lot of baking – you might like that better. Enjoy the cake!
This looks fantastic! We had a gluten free rainbow cake at our wedding and it was the best cake I’ve ever tasted! I need to try this
Well, I gave it my best try, but the layers did not happen. I made 5 different colors. Somehow, the red managed its way to the middle and the rest of the colors seemed to be random. The kids still liked it and ate it right up. What did I do wrong?
Janalyn – what kind of pan did you use? Glad your kids looked beyond the “literal” rainbow and still loved the cake!
WOW It will really do that by itself!
Yep! It’s that easy, Joan!
Jules, I am definitely trying this. I have a question. Can I use Stevia in place of the sugar? You are awesome and thank you for your care and interest to help gluten sensitive people find ways to eat normally. I love it when friends do not even realize it is gluten free until they ask!
Blessings, Evie
Thanks Evie! You’re right – that’s the best feeling to be able to serve non-GF friends the same foods and they never even know they’re GF! About stevia in this cake, I haven’t tried it yet, but I imagine that the baking stevia would work. Give it a try and let me know!!!
Wow! Beautiful cake! And it looks so fun to eat! What kind of food coloring did you use? I’ve been nervous to use the regular stuff at the store because I didn’t know if it was GF.
Margo – you can use McCormick brand or the India Tree natural food dyes I linked to in the post. Enjoy!
Oops! I meant to say “unicorn cookies”!!
Hm! It’s beautiful! But I want to know – chs, WHAT on earth is a “unicorn poop” cake?!! You really got me on that one!!
Planning on making it this afternoon! My 4 year old son is super excited! Never thought I’d be able to make anything like this gluten free! Thank you!!!
Jenny – so glad you’ll be putting this recipe to use so quickly!!! Enjoy!
Really? You mean you poured the layers in horizontally, and then they baked into that arc-ed rainbow shape? I assumed you somehow tipped the pan to spread the batter around to get that shape. It’s beautiful, but it looks like almost as much work as “unicorn poop” cookies.
Chs – really! That’s all I did – it’s the mechanics of the heat distribution in a bundt pan. The most work is just dying 4 or 5 different bowls’ worth of batter!
Beautiful cake!! How did you make the “rainbow” shape with the batter?? If you layered the batter in the pan wouldn’t it just come out in straight lines?? My son wants this cake for his next b-day!
Dawn – use a bundt pan like I did and the shape of the pan will cause the rainbow of color. Layer the colors as you would in another pan, but with the bundt it will curl into a rainbow! Happy bday to your son!
Wait. The cake in the photo doesn’t make sense. You pour layers of colored batter into a Bundt pan, they’re not going to arrange themselves into those nice rainbow-shaped arcs of color. Think about it. You’d have flat, straight layers. What’s up?
Amazing, isn’t it, Clara! It actually does make sense when you think about the heat transfer in a bundt pan — from the inside and the outside because of the tube in the middle. Give it a try and prepare to be amazed!
Wow! I love rainbows, how awesome to eat a rainbow! Love the cake presentation on facebook, rainbow cake on a rainbow plate…
you rock! Looking forward to baking rainbows in days to come..
Ah, Dee – you’re so sweet! And you noticed that I even went out and bought a rainbow plate just for this purpose!!!! So glad SOMEONE noticed!
Actually, the funny part was that I could never have guessed that the colors of my rainbow bundt pan could ever have come out so perfectly aligned with the rainbow plate and the placement of the cake on the plate. Oh happy circumstance!