How to Make a Rainbow Bundt Cake
Rainbow foods make me so happy–and so does this Rainbow Bundt Cake from my friend’s cookbook, My Little Pony Baking Book! The rainbow bundt cake is easy to make and it’s delicious.
I received a copy of My Little Pony Baking Book for review. There are affiliate links in this post.
You NEED to make this rainbow bundt cake. I mean it. It’s the best bundt cake I have ever made! And if you’re looking for a cake to make for a party, you can’t beat this one. Everyone will ooh and ahh when you cut into the cake to reveal the rainbow swirls.
Look how pretty this rainbow bundt cake is!
(And if you totally love it, you should check out my rainbow birthday cake recipe too.)
I first made this rainbow bundt cake recipe for a friend who was moving away, for our goodbye gathering. Everyone LOVED the cake.
We were at a restaurant and I offered a slice to our server and she declared it the best cake she had ever had!
The rainbow bundt cake is pretty simple to put together; it just takes a few extra bowls than usual but I know you’ll love it! This cake is moist and delicious and with a simple vanilla glaze and a scattering of rainbow sprinkles, it’s the best!
As a child of the 80s–and as someone who loves all things rainbow–I just adore this cookbook. The My Little Pony Baking Book has 50 fun recipes that both kids and adults will love. Although this rainbow bundt cake is my fave, there are recipes for cupcakes, cookies, brownies and more.
Want to win a copy of My Little Pony Baking Book for yourself? Go enter my giveaway!
How to make Rainbow Cake in a Bundt Pan
I show you how to make a rainbow cake in a bundt pan below with step by step photos.
Christi’s recipe uses a cake mix that’s doctored up with more ingredients like instant pudding, sour cream, vegetable oil and more water than the box calls for. This makes the cake super moist.
Gather six small bowls and the food coloring and let’s go. (I love Americolor food coloring, this set has 8 colors in it though! I love that all six colors you need for the rainbow bundt cake is in this set.)
I know what you’re thinking: this rainbow bundt cake looks complicated to make. I promise, it’s not! Let me show you how it’s done, step-by-step.
Quick tip! First thing, I actually put the water in my measuring cup first if I’m baking with water and oil.
Then, measure the oil out. That way the oil sticks to the measuring cup A LOT less.
First, combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
How to mix bundt cake
Next, use a stand or hand mixer to combine all of the ingredients. You want to make sure that the dry and wet ingredients are well-combined, while also being careful not to over-mix.
Here’s where the fun starts! Divide the cake batter evenly between six bowls.
For each bowl of batter, add 1-2 drops of food coloring and stir well. If more color is desired, add additional drops of food coloring until desired color is reached. Repeat with each bowl. I just adore this rainbow bundt cake, but you can also switch things up by trying different colors or adding a little bit less food coloring for muted pastel layers.
How to keep cake from sticking to the bundt pan
Is there anything more frustrating than having your bundt cake stick to the pan? To keep that from happening, generously spray a standard sized Bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Generously generously. Like more than you think.
How to fill bundt cake
Usually if your cake batter is all one color, you would just pour the batter in and use a rubber spatula to smooth out the top of the batter.
To make this rainbow bundt cake, we’re layering the colors in order.
Now it’s time to make our pretty rainbow layers. Starting with red, spoon the bundt cake batter into bottom of the pan.
The cake batter should go around the bottom of the pan in a complete circle. (I use an angled spatula to smooth out each layer so it’s even across the bottom.)
Carefully spoon the orange cake batter into pan, placing it in an even layer over the red cake batter, making sure the red layer is completely covered.
Try not to mix the different colored cake batters or the rainbow layers will bleed together; simply spoon one color on top of the other.
So fun, right?! Repeat the rainbow bundt cake layers with all of the remaining colors.
There’s green. I love how bright it is!
Blue…
then purple!
Place your bundt cake in the oven at 350ºF and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
When to flip bundt cake
The trick to knowing when to flip a bundt cake? Patience, my friends. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in pan, on a wire rack, for 10-15 minutes. If you try to flip the bundt cake too soon, you risk it falling apart. Don’t do it!
I put a paper towel on the wire rack and then put that on top of the bundt cake pan, then flip over…
just like that.
Allow the cake to cool completely prior to adding glaze.
How to frost bundt cake
The easiest way to frost this rainbow bundt cake is to make a glaze. No muss, no fuss, just spoon the glaze over your bundt cake and add some sprinkles if you want. (To me, sprinkles are never not an option. Always use ALL THE SPRINKLES.)
Or you can use store bought frosting and microwave and pour it. I learned this from my friend Courtney who shows you the easiest way to frost a cake. I used her technique the first time I made this cake for friends.
Pictured in the photos, I used store bought cream cheese frosting and I frosted it with my angled spatula. Any way you do it, it’s super simple! I know you can do it!
Rainbow Bundt Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1 standard size box white or vanilla cake mix
- 1 (3.4-oz) pkg vanilla instant pudding (dry mix, unprepared)
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup warm water
- Food coloring — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine all cake ingredients and mix with a mixer until combined. Do not overmix, but make sure all dry ingredients and wet ingredients are well-combined.
- Divide cake batter evenly between six bowls.
- For each bowl, add 1-2 drops of food coloring and mix. If more color is desired, add additional drops of food coloring until desired color is reached. Repeat with each bowl.
- Generously spray a standard sized Bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Starting with the red batter, spoon cake batter into bottom of pan. The cake batter should go around the bottom of the pan in a complete circle.
- Carefully spoon the orange cake batter into pan, placing it directly on the red cake batter, once again making sure it goes completely around the red cake batter. Try not to mix the different colored cake batters; simply spoon one on top of the other. Repeat with remaining colors in the following order: yellow, green, blue, purple.
- Place in oven and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan, on a wire rack, for 10-15 minutes.
- Tap the pan firmly a few times on the countertop, gently shaking it to help loosen the cake. Carefully invert the pan onto a cake plate and lift the pan off of the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely prior to adding glaze.
- To make glaze, place powdered sugar and milk into a bowl and stir well to combine. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Glaze should be thin enough to spoon over cake, but not runny. If glaze is too thick, add additional milk, one teaspoon at a time, until a spoonable consistency is reached.
- Spoon glaze over the top of cake.
- If desired, garnish with rainbow sprinkles.
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Other Rainbow Foods
Now that you’ve got your rainbow bundt cake which is such a colorful cake! Let’s make it a whole rainbow party with these recipes:
Rainbow Chocolate Chip Cookies
