Rebecca's 7th Birthday!

The last year went FAST and now Rebecca is 7 years old. She decided on a Rainbow theme for her birthday after seeing a rainbow layer cake on Pinterest (of course, where else would we look for anything :). We decided to use gumballs to decorate the cake. She shared this party with her two cousins who were turning 3, and her aunt, so I made a large cupcake for each of them with their birthday number on it out of gumballs.

The rainbow theme was very easy to decorate for - multi-colored plates and napkins, juice boxes, and fun straws - there is something about twisty straws that kids go bonkers for!

Blake (2 1/2), Rebecca (7), Brianna (10 months)

This is a little banner I made to go on the top of the cake, but I didn't really think about the size while making it and it ended up too big so I improvised a little. I picked these little buckets up at Target a few years ago in the dollar bins and they have been worth every penny. I have used them for so many parties in various ways. So cute!

Here are the girls and their cupcakes! Happy Birthday Rebecca, Brooke, and Katie! (Aunt Debbie also got a cupcake with her birthday number on it, but I didn't get a picture of her.)

Here is the big cake reveal!!

 It turned out so great! I was so happy how it went together and looked! Honestly, one of the easier cakes I've made for a birthday so far.

 It tasted just as good as it looked!

Here is a little "how to" of the cake: I used 2 white cake mixes. The first mix I divided equally into 4 bowls (about 2 1/2 cups of batter each) and used food coloring paste to color the batter. I was impressed with how bright the batter was without having to use a ton of coloring.

 I only have two 8 inch round pans so the baking took a little patience. I lined the pan each time with parchment paper to ensure the cakes would not stick - nothing worse than trying to flip the cake out of the pan and have it stick and crumble! They baked for about 15 minutes each. Blake was a big "helper" :) Do you see his blue face?

First 4 layers done. 

The second cake mix made the last 2 layers (blue and purple) and then I made 4 large cup cakes for each of the birthday girls.

 When all the layers were baked and cooled, I mixed up my favorite frosting recipe (Wilton Butter cream frosting) and put a thin layer of frosting between each colored cake. I made the frosting softer than I use for piping so that I didn't tear the cake apart trying to frost it.

 Finally, I added a row of stars around the bottom and a few on the top and put a gum ball on each star. I put the gum balls in rainbow order on around the bottom and the pattern came out perfectly!

 This cake turned out perfect inside and out! And honestly, it was the easiest of all the baked birthday cakes I've made for my kids so far.