Rainbow Hearts

Back in mid-April I was really pleased to be able to make a cake for my lovely very-soon-to-be-sister-in-law.

I cannot tell a lie - it was a bit of a last minute one. I only found out I was making it two days before, which gave me limited planning time. Usually I think about celebration cakes for quite a while before I get down to the baking.

Selfishly, I wanted something that I could eat too, and after a bit of brain-wracking, I decided to go with a rainbow layer cake, that wouldn't be obvious until the cake was cut, since Miss P likes surprises, and I iced it with seven-minute frosting, as it's dairy free.

I went with four layers, each a 2 egg Victoria sponge mix, and used food colouring paste to get the colours nice and bright. Mr E was forbidden from licking the bowls or eating the cake trimmings to prevent him from bouncing off the walls!

And in the end, my 'seven minute' frosting took about 14 minutes to get it to the correct consistency. But it got there in the end, which is the important bit!

I made a fondant hen decoration for the top, with some orange, brown and yellow fondant which I decorated with some writing icing.

Now... if you're not easily offended, then feel free to follow this link to see the finished cake. Look closely and you'll see why I thought it might be a little too risqué for everyone!

And I even gave a DIY makeover to a stray Easter chicken to perch on top.

Here's a cross section of the finished cake. Thankfully despite all the colouring, it still tasted delicious, and went down a treat with everyone - especially after some rather potent cocktails.