Rainbow Jelly Cake!

October rolls around so fast every year. It's the month of the year which my step-daughter, Felicity, celebrates her birthday and being on a gluten and dairy free diet I spend most of September every year trying to think of a yummy, festive and diet friendly birthday cake to make. This year was no different but I scored (thanks to Pinterest yet again) when I found the idea of a jelly cake!

I needed a jelly mould (I have also seen these cakes done in a bundt tin) and found one at a local kitchenwares store for $15ish and of course jelly.... Areoplane Jelly is gluten free and is loved in our home for treats so I headed straight to the supermarket and grabbed 5 packs: red, yellow, green, blue and purple... yep, a rainbow!
You will need a day that you are at home for a while without too much distraction as it is a little time consuming but oh so worth it for the result.

With my jelly colours, in order of how I wanted the layers to be in the cake, I made up the jelly mixtures and used 150ml LESS water than the packet asks for - this will help the jelly set a little stiffer but still have a true jelly 'wobble'. It also then made up the perfect amount to have all the liquid fit into my size jelly mould.
Pour 1/2 of the first colour (red in my case) into a lightly greased jelly mould and put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (you can use the fridge but it will take longer to set and with so many layers to go will make it a looooong process). You want each layer to be just set but still slightly 'tacky' to touch so the next layer will 'stick' to it.
While the first layer is setting mix a small amount - approx 1 tablespoon - of greek or natural yoghurt (I used a dairy free yoghurt) into the second half of the mixture until combined. Once the first red layer was set to the consistency I needed it I GENTLY poured the red yoghurt/jelly mixture onto the first and put it back in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes.

Continue just like this for each colour until the whole rainbow is done and the jelly mould is full. Then put it in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours or overnight in my case to really set well.
15 mins before serving take it out of the fridge and leave at room temp. When you are ready to serve find a plate large enough to take the cake and place it onto of the mould then flip the whole thing (plate and jelly in the mould). You might need to give it a little gentle wriggle but it should slid straight out of the mould and onto your plate.

Pop in a few sparklers and wow your birthday girl and guests - This 'cake' was a HUGE hit here and I can see it being made many times over... maybe a different colour combo next time??

Rainbow of Ribbons Party Pics!!

What a fun day!! From the 5:00am wake up call by the excited birthday girl until the last guest left our home after the party we all had a fabulous day!


Decorations: Ribbon chandelier hung on our letter box and the rainbow ribbon wreath on our front door welcomed party guests. A rainbow selection of Giggleberry ribbon garlands hung on the front of the food table and clear baubles from HERE filled with ribbon sat in a rainbow on the table.




Mini Candy Buffet: I had never done a candy buffet before but had a ball with this and now I want to do more!! A selection of Skittles, Sour rainbow straps, Twizzlers and gold chocolate coins gave a fun and colourful sweet splash to the party. A HUGE thanks to Cake Ink for the awesome custom printables that matched perfectly with the Cake Ink designed party invites. One of the custom printables was a little sign I hung above the mini candy buffet that read:
Little Miss Milla is turning 3
where rainbows and ribbons meet.
So help us celebrate this special day,
and enjoy a sweet rainbow treat.
I also decided to be a bit different and took the circle printables that are usually used for cupcake toppers and sewed them into a garland to hang on the front of the buffet table and on the box stand the sour straps are on.





Food Table: We just had a nice and simple BBQ and salad lunch so the food was easy to think about. For the kids drinks I wrapped pop top juice bottles in more gorgeous prinatbles from Cake Ink. With a little bit of string I tied the matching printable thankyou tags onto the ribbon wands from Pinwheels and Pearls and had them in a vase on the table for decoration until the end of the party when each of the kids got to take a ribbon wand home. Behind the table I hung a ribbon curtain I made - simple but effective I thought.


The Cake: I know, I know you would of all liked me to have done one of the simply amazing rainbow layer cakes but I wanted to be different so I still went with the layers but made two of the layers a 'rainbow sprinkles layer'. I just mixed a pack of rainbow choc chip sprinkles into the batter before baking so when the cake was cut there were little rainbow specs all through 2 of the layers. I stuck to the ribbon theme by turning the cake into a maypole cake. And thanks to Janelle from Cake Ink I was able to track down the ribbon cake stand that I absolutley ADORE from Tracey Lau - I LOVE it!! I also made some little cupcakes which I decorated like mini rainbows on clouds but forgot to take a photo of them... you can just see them in the bottom corner of this pic:




After the cutting and eating the cake I thought it was the perfect time to slow the kids down a little so we all stood around my dining table and made a Ribbon Rainbow Artwork... most of the kids stayed with the craft and enjoyed themselves and were excited to be taking their craft home too!

All in all it was one rather fun and memorable day! And I think Miss Milla will be having a nice slow day tomorrow to recover from all the action.
Happy birthday my baby girl!! The last 3 yrs have been a giggle a minute and I've loved it all!!

Rainbow of Ribbons - birthday cake!

99% of you who know I am planning a Rainbow of Ribbons party would be forgiven for assuming that of course the cake will be one of those AMAZING rainbow layer cakes that are popping up everywhere.


Truly I think these are just stunning not to mention super clever!! (the above pic is from HERE with the how to for the cake too) One day I do want to make one just to say I had but for Milla's upcoming party I can't help but want to 'be different' from most other rainbow parties so I have gone another route with the cake.
Now, I don't want to promise anything as spectacular as the famous rainbow layer cakes but I will have fun making what I have planned and am going to keep it a surprise.... only 3 wks to wait, you'll be right ;)

In the mean time I thought I'd share with you some fabulous rainbow cakes I found while searching for Milla's cake inspiration - Enjoy.


1. The idea room
2. Wedding Cake Pictures
3. Snag Wire Media
4. Crumbs and Doilies Cupcake Blog
5. Cupcakes take the cake
6. Rainbow Cake
7. Rainbow Cake
8. Rainbow Cake






Oh and check out these fabulous candles I found for Milla to blow out - PERFECTO!! I bought them from HERE