Pepper Paints

Thursday’s Recipe -Six Layer Rainbow Cake!!!

Alert–if you are looking for a healthy or raw recipe-look somewhere else this week!

If you are looking for a special occasion cake or need something impressive( or just want to go into a diabetic coma)…look no further!!

I recently found out about Apartment Therapy. What??? How did I not know about this site??!! It is awesome and could keep me glued to  my computer screen ALL day! What else is out there you are not telling me about???

Anyways, it was while going through each and every back post of Apartment Therapy that  I found this Epic Rainbow Cake. As soon as I saw it I knew we had to attempt it! So I borrowed 6 cake pans from my Mom and my neighbor Abby

and set to work.  I followed Whisk Kid’s cake recipe but could have bought boxed cake-it’s not like we were baking for health here! Note-these cakes are very thin so don’t be intimidated by a 4 foot high cake-it wasn’t that big. My family likened the taste of the cake to sugar cookies, which was really good I might add.  It was really 1 or 2 cake batter recipes divided between six pans.

The cake recipe I used is as follows

2 sticks butter, room temp
2 1/3 c sugar
5 egg whites, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 1/2 c milk, warmed for 30 sec in microwave to bring to room temp
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Oil and line how ever many 9” cake pans you have.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter, then add the egg whites (I cracked them all into one bowl) and add them a little at a time. Add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Then, alternating between wet and dry, add the milk and flour mixture in two parts.

Divide the batter amongst 6 bowls—I used a large soup ladle, It was about 2 and a half scoops per bowl. Then add the food coloring and mix WELL.

Pour into cake pans and bake 15 minutes-or more or less according to your oven.

I tripled a buttercream frosting recipe. It made a ton of frosting but we ended up using every bit of it. This cake was super sweet and ends up being like a slab on a plate because it is so heavy with frosting. You could cut down on the amount of frosting if you choose-it is super sweet. Also-I might add this cake tastes better chilled.

This recipe frosts two 9 inch cakes–I tripled–my mixer was full of frosting(I was in heaven)!

1/2 cup of butter

3 1/2 cups powder sugar

4 to 5 Tablespoons of liquid—milk, creamer, water   I used Snowville Creamery 1/2 and 1/2

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Molly did a bit of decorating

And we all did some eating!!!

Note-my cake looks much less professional than Whisk Kids-but sure did taste good!!!

Pumpkin Playdough

After dinner we made  quick batch of Pumpkin Pie Playdough. This is not only a super easy recipe but it turns out great every time. Not too sticky and not too dry! And smells great too. The color and spice combo could be switched up as needed. Store in a plastic bag or covered container.

Mix together in  pan:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Then add:

1 Tablespoon oil

1 cup water with 6 drops red food coloring and 15 drops of yellow food coloring added

cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until playdough forms into a ball and pulls away from the sides.

Dump out on to table and let cool a bit before playing with it.

Yes-this is the same recipe we made last year!

Mix It Up Mess

One of the great things about summer is taking the mess outside. Sometimes when my kids start pulling out various things for a project my blood pressure goes up a notch or two because I either just cleaned or more than likely the place is a wreck and the thought of more mess sends me over the edge. So I tell them to take it outside!

One of there favorite messes to create is just mixing up different concoctions.

You don’t need anything exotic. This days ingredients were salt, sugar cubes, baking soda, spices,  extracts, water and lots of food coloring. Different size small “vials” and containers (film canisters work great as do baby food jars) and “tools” for stirring and measuring. (craft sticks work great)

On this particular day, I was busy cleaning inside so this kept them busy with out needing any help from me.

When they were finished -over an hour later-I just turned the hose on them and there mess. Easy!

Street Paint Recipe

OK, this is cheap, easy, fun and works great!! My favorite kind of activity.

Homemade street paint

1/4 cup of corn starch

1/4 cup of water

food coloring -to make just the color you want. We used neon colors

mix it all up-we doubled the recipe and made 4 colors.

We also used large paint brushes. The bigger the canvas the bigger the brush!!

The results of this recipe were great. When the paint dries it really holds its color. It is easy to work with too.  And cleans up with water! How easy is that?

I bought another box of corn starch last night so we could make another batch soon!! So get going and paint your street!!