Double Rainbow... All the way across my plate!

So nine months is a looooooong time in Internet Viral Video Land, but who remembers the Double Rainbow guy? If you lived under a rock last year, allow me to fill you in. Paul "Yosemite Bear" Vasquez filmed a video of himself (presumably while under the influence of some kind of illicit substance) reacting to the emotional and profound sight of a "double rainbow" in his yard in Yosemite National Park and then posted it to YouTube. Some time last summer, comedian and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel stumbled across this internet gem and declared on his Twitter account that it was the "funniest video in the world." Less than two weeks later, CNN announced that it had received over 4.8 Million views. As of April 7th, this number is closer to 27 Million views, not including re-posts, emails, and various auto-tune remixes.

So what does this all have to do with cake? Well, my cousin Laura kinda has a thing for stuff like this. She has been known to quote popular trends long after they are over. References to them can still make her laugh loud enough to make my cats run away. If you are going to quote The Mask around her, be sure to cover your ears first. (You should all know that I love my cousin very much and I mean all of this in the most good-natured way possible.)

When Laura's birthday came along this year, I knew what I had to do. I had to make Laura an epic double rainbow cake. I had a vision in my mind and it looked a little something like this:

Mission accomplished, right? WRONG. I knew I had to go above and beyond for my cousin's birthday cake. I had to take it one step further and create... a TRIPLE Rainbow Cake.

Step One was to mix myself a Roy G. Biv of colours, I chose to use basic white cake batter and gel food colouring as the pigment is more concentrated than liquid.

My husband was not too pleased when he got home and saw the mess.

Step Two was to actually pour the batter in to the cake pans. This part was easier than you might think. Basically you start with the colour you want to be on the outside of the cake and pour it straight in to the middle of the pan. Next you pour your second colour right in to the centre of the pan, on top of the first colour. The first colour will spread towards the outside of the pan as you do this.Repeat with all the colours until your pan is full. I found that it was best to use slightly less of each colour as I went along because it takes more batter to create the same width or ring towards the outside of the pan. I also reversed the order for my second cake.

While the cakes were baking, I decided to start cleaning up before Paul had an aneurysm. Since I hate wasting left over batter I ended up using it to make "paint splatter" cupcakes.

The best thing about these cupcakes is that, once they are iced, they just look like a normal cupcake. I brought them to my parents' house and when my dad went to eat one it blew his mind.

Anyway, if you are wondering what the finished cake looks like, here it is!

Success! So bright, so vivid! The only problem with this cake might be that it can be very colourful coming out, too. Ahem. But that's not very appetizing, is it?

Happy Birthday, cuz!