Rainbow Cake in a Jar

I apologize in advance for all of the parentheses, but here goes.

Rainbows are special.

They make everyone happy! When I see a rainbow outside, it feels like a good omen for the fresh start that the rain gives. (I love rain too.)

That was really cheesy. But it's true! When someone sees a rainbow in anything (giant lollipops, t-shirts, signs) it immediately catches their eye.
That's why I decided to make this:

It's rainbow. It's cake. It's in a jar! 

So many good things about this jar of happiness. Oh yeah, and it only takes 15-20 minutes to whip up, and a half hour to bake. So here's how:

First you want to mix up some plain white cake mix, according to the box directions.

Then, you split the batter up into 5 small-ish bowls (a little over a half cup in each bowl).

Mix up food coloring into the bowls (the recipe suggests neon coloring, which I didn't have) until desired colors are reached.

Here's a tie-dye version (also known as me being too lazy to try on the 2nd cake):

I just messily poured in the colors, and took a fork and mushed them together for that one.

I made another cake for my other friend's birthday a few weeks later, and I thought it was really cute! I just used 4 colors instead of 5, and different shades of the same color to create an ombre effect.

Pour about 3 Tbs of each color of batter into each jar (the recipe suggests three, I only made two, though I suspected that I could have squeezed out a third, more proof of that is later in the recipe) and make sure it's not too full. I didn't measure exactly. I also didn't use baking spray and nothing was different, that I noticed.

Then, place in a shallow baking dish (I used an 8 inch square baking dish) with about 1/4 inch of water in the bottom. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Here's where the mistakes come in.

I didn't show a side picture of the batter, for how much you put in, because it was too much. About 3/4 through baking I checked the cakes, and this is what I found! The one I didn't try very hard on actually was the perfect size.

Let's compare sizes:

and

It's kinda hard to tell because of how messy it is, but the second one is a teeny bit more than halfway. The first one is about a half inch more full-- small amounts extra apparently do make a difference! But the nice thing is, is that if you just keep baking the overflowed cake until it bounces back to your touch (it might bake a bit longer than it normally would because it's more full) it will be totally ok! Just make sure you wipe off any spilled cake batter on the outside of the jar at least while it's still warm; once it's baked it will be rock hard (personal experience right there) and be really difficult to scrub off. After it's cooled, scoop off the extra cake on top, enough so that you can close the jar lid.

And there you have it! Rainbow Cake in a Jar (with lots and lots of tips).

By the way, the one pictured above is the tie-dye one. I didn't mess with the other one (except for scooping the extra cake off) because it was for my friend's birthday. I brought it to school for her (super convenient to put in your backpack!) and everyone was commenting on how cool it was. My friend thought it was delicious too! Rainbow cakes have so much more magic that plain white ones. You could totally send it in the mail too! You should probably find out how to do that by looking it up, because I have no idea how you would send a jar in the mail. 

Rainbow Cake in a Jar

Ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix made according to package instructions
• Neon food coloring in pink, yellow, green, turquoise, and purple
• 3 one-pint canning jars
• 1 can vanilla frosting
• Rainbow sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly wash and dry the inside of each canning jar. Spray the inside of each jar thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Scoop about 1/2 cups of cake batter into five small bowls. It doesn’t have to be perfect, don’t panic if you get a little more of less of one color than another.  Tint each bowl of cake batter with the food coloring until very vibrant.

3. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the purple batter into the bottom of each jar.  Spoon equal amounts of turquoise batter, then green, yellow, and pink.  Place the jars in a shallow baking dish, add about 1/4″ in water in the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

4. Remove jars and allow to cool completely before adding a hefty dollop of vanilla buttercream to the top, and a spray of sprinkles.

(adapted from babble.com)