Rainbow 1st Birthday Party

Doodle Bug turned O-N-E on July 7th, and we had a wonderful birthday party with friends, family, and copious amounts of dessert. 

 

I made a rainbow layer cake (inspired by Whisk Kid), tie dye cupcakes, funfetti cake pops, and a rainbow smash cake for the birthday girl. 

For these creations I did not make everything from scratch. I knew I had quite the task at hand, so I started about a month before her birthday. I used box white cake mixes for the cupcakes and layer cakes, and funfetti mixes for the cake pops. 


For the large layer cake: I used two boxes of white cake mix and just used the egg whites (in order to keep the color white).

Then I separated the mix into 6 bowls and used food coloring to tint the cake batter to the correct shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Helpful hint: If you use gel food coloring the colors will be much more vibrant. 

After the layers completely cooled, I wrapped them in cling wrap and stored them in freezer bags (3 in each bag) in my deep freezer. The day of party I took them out of the freezer and let them thaw, and then I iced them with a lemon buttercream. I decorated them with Spritz Birthday Candles from Target.

I greased and floured 9 inch round pans, and then baked at 350 for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center came out clean.

For the small smash cake: I used one white cake mix and 6 inch rounds. I iced this cake with Martha Stewart's Basic Vanilla Buttercream. 
Her recipe makes a TON of buttercream! I made the whole recipe (without the vanilla) and then split it in 1/2. One 1/2 I flavored with vanilla, and used to ice the smash cake and cupcakes. The other 1/2 I flavored with fresh lemon juice and zest and iced the large layer cake. 

I piped the top of the smash cake with an extra large closed star pastry tip. I used this tip to ice the cupcakes, as well as an extra large open star tip.

For the Tie Dye Cupcakes: I used one box white cake mix with egg whites. I separated the mixture into 6 bowls and used food coloring to tint the cake batter to the correct colors. 

I lined my muffin tin with cupcake liners, and started to fill them one color at a time. I started with purple and ended with red. Spoon an equal amount of each color into the tins piling the colors on top of each other. Use 6 different spoons so you do not mix colors. After all cake batter is equally divided, take a clean tooth pick and swirl the colors (DON'T over mix). Wipe tooth pick clean between each use.  Follow baking directions for the mix used. Makes 24 cupcakes. 

I bought the rainbow toppers from Target  (Spritz brand) and then decorated with name, date, ONE, etc. 

For the Cake Pops: I made a funfetti cake mix using the directions on the box. I baked the cake in 9 inch rounds. After the cakes cooled I crumbled them into my stand mixer and turned the cake into crumbs. I added a small amount of lemon buttercream (same recipe as above). I rolled cake balls and froze them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. When the cake balls hardened i transferred them into freezer bags until the day before the party.  used white and pink candy melts to dip them in, and various sugars and sprinkles to decorate them. 

To display them I used small cupcake liners. 

For Decorations: I bought card stock paper in all shades of the rainbow and printed out a picture of Doodle Bug from each month. I used mod podge to secure the picture to the card stock. I labeled each month with the month and year. I used a hole punch and upcycled ribbon from a Christmas gift to string the pennant. 

I also bought the Spritz Party Banner from Target and decorated it myself with her name. 

The Spritz Striped Party Hats were a hit, too.

All in all, even though it was a busy June and July full of planning, everyone had a wonderful time... especially the birthday girl herself!

Exhausted from a full day of swimming, eating, cake gorging, and present opening... we headed home... greeted by a full rainbow. 

RAINBOW 1st Birthday Party= Success!