Chip and Dale Rainbow Cake

Our son requested a rainbow Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers cake for his 5th birthday. I was excited because I love making creative cakes for our boys. When I was little, I always imagined I would do this some day. Chip and Dale were a challenge. Since Rescue Rangers in an old cartoon, there are no figurines available. I did a lot of research and decided against creating my own 3-D sculptures. For this project I printed out a picture of Chip and Dale then cut out pieces of colored sugar paste like a puzzle (freehand- art school is good for some things). Then I dried the pieces overnight and glued them together with a mixture of meringue powder and water. The pieces didn't fit exactly but the main thing is my son loved it. He helped make the acorns made out of sugar paste. For the fondant, most fondant tastes just plain nasty but the marshmallow one, although sweet, is pretty tasty. It didn't have the smoothest texture but it turned out ok.

Rainbow Cake Makes 2 8" cakes or 2 tall 6" cakes

Inspired by Yellow Butter Cake by Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America

3 1/2 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup milk, divided use

4 eggs

2 egg whites

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Food coloring- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

1. Grease cake pans with shortening. Cut parchment paper to line the sides and the bottom of cake pans. Press gently to adhere. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together. Beat in flour mixture and half of the milk on low speed then increase to medium. Scrape down bowl with rubber scraper.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining half of milk, eggs, egg whites and vanilla. Add in three additions to the batter, scraping down after each addition.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

6. Divide batter into six separate bowls and color each with food coloring. In one cake pan layer red, orange and yellow. In the other pan, layer purple, green, blue. You want the bottom of the pan to be the color you want on top of the cake and on the bottom of the cake. Drop cake pans on flat surface to get out air bubbles.

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool in pans on wire rack. Trim top layers with a serrated knife to stack evenly.


Sugar Paste

Inspired by Gingerbread House Heaven

4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted (reserve 1 cup for later)

1 Tbsp. gum tragacanth

1 Tbsp. liquid glucose

1 packet Knox gelatin

4 Tbsp. warm water

1. In a stand mixer, stir together warm water and gelatin until dissolved.

2. Heat glucose for 20 seconds in microwave and add to gelatin. Add in confectioner's sugar and gum tragacanth. Mix with a dough hook attachment until sticky dough forms.

3. Place dough in plastic bag and store at room temperature overnight.

4. Knead in remaining cup of powdered sugar with paddle attachment. Store in ziplock bag or plastic wrap inside an airtight container.

5. Knead in food coloring and work quickly with small amounts if sugar paste as it tends to dry out and get crusty. If it does, knead in more powdered sugar. Work on a smooth surface greased with vegetable shortening to prevent sticking. Let pieces dry before gluing together. For glue I use 2 Tbsp. of meringue powder mixed with 2 tsp. of water. This glue can be stored in an airtight container as well.

Marshmallow Fondant

1/8 cup vegetable shortening

16 oz. package of mini marshmallows

3 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. glycerin

1 tsp. clear vanilla extract

3 lbs. powdered sugar, sifted


1. Place shortening in small bowl and set aside.

2. Place marshmallows in a large heat proof bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds to a minute until smooth. Stir in water and glycerin. Transfer to stand mixer bowl with dough hook attachment both greased with vegetable shortening. Beat in powdered sugar one cup at a time until a sticky dough forms. Will not use all of the powdered sugar.

3. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface greased with vegetable shortening. Knead in powdered sugar until a stiff dough forms. Knead 10 minutes longer till not sticky. Form into a ball. Roll between two layers of parchment paper or with rolling pin greased with vegetable shortening. Fondant can be stored in a ziplock bag in fridge overnight but needs to warm to room temperature (3 hrs) before using.