Hidden Rainbow Strawberry Chiffon Cake for Baby Shower

I like to pattern chiffons because my family do not like fattening cream or fondant (they call sugar paste!). Since I love rainbows, I decided I would decorate my baby shower chiffon with rainbows. I had the sudden inspiration to do "hidden rainbows" in the cake from a dream I had during the second week of my confinement (I am forever dreaming of chiffons!). 

Be prepared to spend 6 hours for this cake! In between taking care of baby and the kids, I took 2 days just to bake this cake! It was truly a labour of love, but I'm happy with how it turned out! ^_^. 

I used the recipe from my earlier post Valentine's Day Hearts-in-all-directions Strawberry Chiffon Cake for the letters and chiffon cake (requires 3 hrs). This cake requires an additional step of making chiffon rainbows (another 3 hrs). I made them vanilla-flavoured for an extra flavour to be embedded in the cake. 

Chiffon rainbows (makes three 4-inch round bowls)
3 egg yolks
20g sugar
35g vegetable oil
45ml boiled water
60g cake flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Wilton colours for rainbow

4 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till foamy before stirring in oil, water and vanilla extract. Next add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found.
3. Divide egg yolk batter into 6. Add in a tiny dip of wilton colour and mix thoroughly.
4. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.

5. Divide the meringue into 6 and scoop into the egg yolk batter.

6. Gently but quickly fold in egg whites into the 6 egg yolk batters till well combined and scoop the cake batter into the round glass bowls (in the sequence of rainbow colours).

*For steps 5 and 6, must work quickly before meringue breaks down.

7. Bake the cakes in the preheated 160°C oven for 30-35 min.
8. Unmould as soon as the cakes are cool. 

9. Shape the cakes into rainbow arc shape using a baking sheet (roll it slightly) and slice it into rainbows.

Aren't the rainbows pretty? :)

After this, bake the layer cake and chiffon cake according to the recipe from my earlier post Valentine's Day Hearts-in-all-directions Strawberry Chiffon Cake. Lastly, the clouds are made by sifting icing sugar (or dessicated coconut if you prefer) onto the cake with a "cloud" template.

Isn't a slice pretty? :)

Thank God the experiment turned out well. The chiffon cake was extremely soft and light, and family commented it was very pretty on the outside! The best part was that the hidden rainbows came out really pretty when we sliced the cake open!

Happy 1 month to my little sweet baby Charissa :)

With loads of love,

Susanne