To never, ever attempt this stupid cake again

[Mrsknackered]

It always looks brilliant when someone else has made it.
DS1 requested it for his party tomorrow, so far the green looks toxic, the blue is a weird grey, the orange has a nice thick brown crust around it and is twice the size of the other layers and half the purple looks barbecued.
I don't usually struggle with baking this much! I thought it was meant to be fairly easy.
Not sure if I can bring myself to attempt the pink, yellow and red at this rate

I attempted it once, several ruined cakes later I switched to colour gels and that worked much better (why i decided to attempt it when I can barely bake a normal cake Ill never know, but it did work out in the end).

Agree the professional gel colours are fab for this cake. The butter ice the whole lot. I decorated my last one (for my 10 year old) with skittles spiralling round in a circle but you could use chocolate buttons etc. As others have said it was far more impressive when cut open ( I left it in the fridge overnight as I had butter iced it, oh and yes carefully cut away the edges/tops) and it all seemed to gel together. Best of luck and yes, don't panic...keep going (my dh insists that we buy a back up cake, such is his trust in my cooking but mainly because I get really stressed out that it will turn out o.k) but we haven't had to use one yet. I will be making one of these again shortly.

Sticks through it would support it. Cut layers into squares to cut burnt edges off?

Quick tip: plastic straws make a very good support system - just push straight through and no risk of swallowing a toothpick!

Hopefully the big reveal tomorrow is vibrant, rainbow colours

It looks great - you've done a marvellous job evening it out with the buttercream. It looks very rich and appetising. As pps have said, the colours will look more vibrant as slices than as layers, and the cake will definitely have the 'ooh' factor when you cut into it to reveal the colours. Please do update the thread with how the big reveal went!

And now I want cake!

Great job, make sure to post us a pic when it's cut! Happy Bday to your DS

Thank you all!

The thing is, I know next year I'll try take it up a step and there'll be another thread

Once you trim round the edges and level the layers a bit, then cover with bright white buttercream and cut into it, it will look fab! Well done.

Oops, should have read page 2. It looks fab already.

So not the most epic ever. But pretty good! Got lots of compliments.

Looks way better in the last photo!

Looks great! Very funky.

Love it!

OP, did it taste ok with all the gel colour?

whatcanido it was amazing! What it lacked in aesthetics it made up for in taste.

You've inspired me. Meant to be making a 'rainbow marbled cake' for DD for next weekend. Slightly panicking now as I don't have all the food colours I need.

mark what do you have? I used some liquid, some gel.

I'm going to have a go!

I have the sugarflair colours. They take a bit of mixing, but a little goes a long way.