Rainbows and Unicorns Cake

What a show-stopper! And check this out: You need just two boxes of cake mix, 2 containers of frosting, 1 waffle cone, 1 fruit roll-up, gel food coloring, and edible flowers. That's magical no matter how you slice it. 

I made this cake for Kyle's birthday; partly as a joke (he's a 17 year-old boy) and partly because I knew he (and his friends) would think it was hilarious. Beauty aside, it's pretty damn delicious too.

And those boys DID think it was awesome.. and yummy. The best moment was when I sliced into the cake to reveal the rainbow... the crowd went wild. 

Since this is a 6-layer cake, featuring 6 different colors, I have no shame using a boxed cake mix. In fact, I knew a boxed mix would stay moist after 2 days in the fridge. Fact is, I baked the cakes 48 hours before I assembled and decorated this cake. If you ALSO want to prep in advance, bake the cakes as instructed and, once they're completely cooled, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before frosting and decorating.

About cooking the cakes: If you're like me, you'll have to cook the cakes in stages (unless you have 6 equal-size cake pans). If you have 2 cake pans, cook two cakes at a time and refrigerate the remaining batter. If you have 3 cake pans, cook 3 cakes at a time and refrigerate the remaining batter. Just don't keep the batter in the fridge longer than about an hour.

Rainbows and Unicorns Cake

Cooking spray
2 (15-ounce) packages vanilla cake mix, plus the ingredients for making the cakes (6 eggs, 1 cup water, 1 cup vegetable oil)
Gel food coloring: red, yellow, blue
2-3 containers vanilla frosting, or 2 vanilla and 1 rainbow frosting
1 waffle ice cream cone
1 piece fruit leather, cut into 2 "ears"
Decorations:
Food coloring spray (I used gold, pink and purple)
Edible flowers (I used tiny colored flowers and white "wafer" flowers; I sprayed the wafer flowers pink and purple)
Black gel food coloring for eyes (sold in small tubes with the cookie decorations)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 to 3 cake pans with cooking spray.
Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions (you can combine both packages in one large mixer).
Divide the batter evenly into 6 bowls (each bowl will have about 1 1/3-1 1/2 cups batter; just make sure they all have the same amount). Use the gel food coloring to create 6 different colors: red, yellow, blue, green (yellow + blue), purple (red + blue), and orange (red + yellow).
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans (as many as you have) and refrigerate the remaining batter.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cake springs back when gently pressed in the center and is JUST starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Cool the cakes on wire racks for 10 minutes. Transfer the cakes to the wire racks to cool completely.
Wash the cake pans and make sure they are no longer hot. Bake and cool the remaining colored cakes the same way. Let all the cakes cool completely before assembling the cake (see prep ahead note above).
To build the rainbow cake, arrange the purple cake layer on a cake plate or serving plate. Top with 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting and spread out to cover the surface. Top with the blue cake and 1/2 cup frosting. Repeat layers: green cake/frosting, yellow cake/frosting, orange cake/frosting, and red cake/frosting. Use more vanilla frosting to thinly cover the top and sides of the rainbow, creating the "crumb layer" (we'll cover this once it sets). Let the frosting set before frosting the tops and sides with more vanilla frosting (refrigerate to speed up sealing the crumb layer). Once the cake is covered with a nice layer of vanilla frosting, if desired, top with a thin layer of rainbow frosting.
To make the unicorn, spray the waffle cone with gold food coloring spray (this is optional; the brown cone looks cool too). Arrange the cone on top of the cake. If desired, spray the fruit leather ears with gold food coloring spray (or leave them the color they are) and arrange the ears next to the cone.
Surround the cone and ears with the edible flowers. Arrange more flowers down the side of the cake, creating a "mane".
Draw the eyes with the black gel food coloring.
Makes 1 awesome cake