Any advice on making purple sponge??

[booksandchoc]

I'm making DD's birthday cake next week and I would like to do the sponge like this?

I am a total novice. I only really make fairy cakes. Is this going to be really difficult?

I've just looked up Wilton paste colours, will the one pot of violet be enough?

Help please!!! TIA

I made a similar one for my DD's second birthday but I did a rainbow of 6 different colours. One pot of paste colouring will be stacks, the colour is very concentrated, go for just a small dab on a toothpick to start, you can always add a bit more. For 4 layers I would do a double sponge cake recipe and split it into 4.

I wasn't sure about the colours so I practised with cupcakes first! It's easier than it looks, I'm very much an enthusiastic novice rather than a professional! Good luck, and happy birthday to your DD

I use sugarflair grape for my purple. You will only need a small amount. Less than you think.

Sugar flair is great. One pot of the gel will be enough for the three layers, easy. You'll need to use a recipe that makes very white rather than yellow sponge for the lighter coloured layers. Not sure what recipe though. I guess it's the eggs and to a lesser extent the butter that makes it yellow....

Blimey!
Wear sunglasses?

It looks like some of the recipes on the internet use packet cake mix to make a white cake - like the Betty Crocker one in your picture. I don't know if you can buy this in the UK. You could make angel cake to get a white cake as it doesn't have any butter/fat or egg yolks in it. However angel cake is normally baked in a tube pan rather than in layers, so I am not sure it would work.

Whatever you do, don't try to mix red and blue food colouring instead of buying purple. We have some lovely grey macarons in the freeze because I tried to mix colourings.

This recipe looks good

Thanks for the replies! I've got a tub of Wilton's colour paste but just realised it's icing colouring! Will that work do you think? I never thought about the actual recipe, I was just going to make plain sponge. Going to check the link now.

Yes - it should colour the cake batter. You could do a small trial run with some fairy cakes to see.

Is it a gel or paste colour? As long as its not a liquid you will be fine.

I wouldn't worry about the cake mix. My only tip would be to really beat the butter and sugar for ages before adding the eggs/flour. That will give a slightly lighter cake.