rainbow cakeThe rainbow cake has become legendary in certain circles. Hit up Pinterest, and there are hundreds of pins for dazzling towers of cake in magnificent colors. Which is all well and good if you're one of those Martha types who can actually replicate a Pinterest picture. But what about the rest of us?

Is there a rainbow cake that those of us who go into birthday planning mode with the best of intentions and always end up ripping our hair out at 2 a.m. because the cake looks nothing like the picture? Good news! There is!

I have a rainbow cake that is so easy even a 7-year-old could do it (well, OK, mine helped!)! And it's paired with the best cream cheese frosting I've ever tasted! So what's the secret?

The rainbow is on the outside.

So ... no baking seven different layers in seven different colors. No trying to make seven different layers all stand up and not fall apart.

But with colors M&Ms that criss-cross the entire cake, it looks like you spent HOURS working on this thing ... only you didn't. After a colossal rainbow cake disaster in 2011, I did this for my daughter's last birthday party, and it was a huge hit.

Here's the recipe:

Rainbow Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

  • Your favorite cake (mix or recipe -- I like this butter cake from Epicurious)
  • 2 (1-pound) bags M&Ms
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 tbs. softened butter
  • 16 oz. cream cheese (two packages)

Directions:

1. Prepare your favorite cake. Set aside to cool.

2. Separate your M&Ms by color into five small bowls (this is the part where my daughter and her babysitter were the most helpful!).

3. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, butter, and cream cheese in a bowl. Whip until all ingredients are smooth. This will be your frosting. You may want to add a bit of blue food coloring to represent sky, but I left it white and that looked good too.

4. After you've frosted your cake (I'd suggest a crumb coat plus another layer, but the beauty of this cake is that a messy frosting job will be hidden), make one straight row of one color of M&Ms right across the center. Build out from there with other colors, making sure your lines of candy closely abut one another.

I tried to follow the ROY G BIV pattern of the rainbow as best I could considering a regular bag of M&Ms doesn't carry all the colors of the rainbow, but you can buy special colors at a party store to get the total rainbow effect.

5. Scatter the remaining candies around the edge of the cake plate to complete the effect and serve.

Have you tried the rainbow cake for a party yet? Will you try this one?