Alexa Chung – ASOS

How to make a magical rainbow cake according to Meringue Girls

When we saw Alexa Chung’s birthday cake last week, we were instantly jealous of her incredible pastel rainbow cake. And, because there are only so many times you can pull a Colin The Caterpillar out the bag, we went straight to the ladies who know everything about creating cakes and treats so good you could display them at the Saatchi Gallery and call them art: the Meringue Girls. Carla from the team has some seriously good cake tips about creating a rainbow cake, just like Alexa’s. You’re very welcome.

Though you could start by buying two or three plain sponge cakes and layering them up with buttercream, Carla says: ‘We’d recommend you choose an amazing delicious sponge recipe and bake it from scratch. Something like a lovely spicy carrot cake or a rich chocolate sponge. To get the height to the cake, I’d bake two really deep sponges; I think an 18cm diameter cake tin has been used for Alexa’s. Once baked, split them both in half horizontally. You’ll end up with four layers of cake and, once each layer has been filled with buttercream, it will be nice and tall.’

 

Carla continues: ‘The pastel rainbow ombré effect is SO cool and not as complicated as it looks. It’s created by piping horizontal stripes of rainbow coloured buttercream around the sides of the cake. Just use a large disposable piping bag and cut a hole in the end about 1in wide. Then, using a metal scraper or a large palette knife, dip it in boiling water and glide it steadily around the whole cake. Make sure you keep the knife as straight as possible.’

 

‘For the meringue garnish, you can just make a basic mini meringues recipe (find one here) and then add to a disposable piping bag with a cut-out hole the size of a 20p piece. Then squeeze the bag until a kiss is piped in the size you require. For this rainbow cake design, we would probably decorate it with our pastel rainbow-coloured meringue kisses – we call them unicorn poo kisses.’

 

‘Alexa’s cake is tall, so to save any disasters make sure it’s chilled for about 30 minutes after you add the buttercream. Never try and decorate cakes in a rush, it will only end in stress. Check you have all your ingredients and equipment before starting, and have fun!’

If you want to check out any of the recipes mentioned, go and buy the Meringue Girls cookbook. You won’t be disappointed (or hungry).