Rainbow Sheet Cake - a colorful Parrot Cake

Are you ready for this real "good mood cake"? The delicious rainbow sheet cake, also known as parrot cake, is really fun!

Taste and Occasion

The cake is an absolute eye-catcher, isn't it? Kids especially love the colorful sponge cake and adults are delighted with the great taste and fluffy consistency. Whether as a children's birthday cake or for a party buffet: an actual "fun recipe" 😉 ! Colorful recipes are great anyway. As we all know, food has to be an eye-catcher and should not only be great in taste. Other super delicious recipes are, for example, the piñata muffins or - if it should be something wintry, icy or cool - the snowflake cupcakes.

Ingredients

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Like with my colorful funfetti cake, my mood always turns up when I make this cake. Because somehow, there is a child in each of us… The parrot cake is made of sponge cake that is incredibly fluffy with sour cream. Concerning the colors: I usually use organic colors (made of fruit powder), but exceptionally, I make this a colorful cake also with classic food colors.

If you've associated birthday parties mostly with stress, this is a recipe for you: you can prepare the rainbow sheet cake and freeze it very well. The colors of parrot cakes usually come from red fruit jelly instant powder, woodruff, and lemon jelly.

How to make the Rainbow Cake

Let's go and let us bake the rainbow! First of all, grease the baking pan and dust it with a bit of flour. Preheat the oven 360°F/180°C and beat the soft butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and mix well.

Mix flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Now, add the sour cream alternately to the foamy egg mixture and mix vigorously but not too long. Divide the dough among four small bowls and color each portion of dough with a bit of food coloring (e.g. yellow, red, green, blue).

Add additional flavoring as desired, e.g. add lemon juice to the yellow dough, freeze-dried berries to the red dough, and woodruff syrup to the green dough. It's time for filling the dough portions into small piping bags or freezer bags with the ends cut off and piped alternately onto the baking sheet. Bake your parrot cake for about 20-25 minutes and let it cool.

Once that's done, melt the chocolate coating in a hot water bath and spread it on the cake; alternatively, as a glaze, mix 200g powdered sugar with about 5-6 tablespoons lemon juice. Decorate with smarties.

Top Tip

You can flavor the rainbow sheet cake with lemon zest, freeze-dried berry pieces, and more. But it is also delicious on its own, nice, fluffy, and refreshing! I promise you: Both children and adults will love the recipe. The consistency and the color make the great rainbow (or parrot) cake simply irresistibly, pretty, AND delicious.

Recipe Card

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4.5 from 2 votes

Rainbow Sheet Cake

This sheet cake gets really fluffy and is an eye-catcher at any party! Kids aren't the only ones to love this colorful rainbow sheet cake or parrot cake.

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Baking Time20 minutes mins

Calories: 348kcal

Equipment

• 1 small baking sheet (approx. 15*12.5 in/ 38*32 cm)

Ingredients

For the dough

• 250 grams (1 cup) butter, soft
• 200 grams (1 cups) sugar
• 4 eggs, medium
• 1 pinch salt
• 350 grams (2 ⅘ cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 200 grams (1 cup) sour cream
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

For coloring

• food coloring best gel color

For the decoration

• 200 grams (1 ½ cups) white chocolate, coating or icing
• smarties

Instructions

• Grease the baking pan and dust with a bit of flour. Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C. Beat the soft butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and mix well.
• Mix flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the sour cream alternately to the foamy egg mixture and mix vigorously but not too long.
• Divide dough into four small bowls. Color each portion of dough with a bit of food coloring (e.g. yellow, red, green, blue). Add additional flavoring as desired, e.g., add lemon juice to the yellow dough, freeze-dried berries to the red dough, and woodruff syrup to the green dough.
• Fill the dough portions into small piping bags or freezer bags with the ends cut off and piped alternately onto the baking sheet. Bake the cake for about 20-25 minutes. Let cool.
• Melt the chocolate coating in a hot water bath and spread it on the cake; alternatively, as a glaze, mix 200g powdered sugar with about 5-6 tablespoons lemon juice. Decorate with smarties.

Ingredient substitutions

Do you want to replace some ingredients? Here you find tips for baking ingredient substitutions!

Variations

And now it's time to bake! I'm excited to hear what you (or your kids?) have to say about my rainbow sheet cake 🙂. Because I mentioned "good mood recipes": How about my wacky cake or the homemade cherry cake?

In my cake category, you will find lots of inspiration - whether for the next children's birthday party, the next garden party, or the next breakfast. It's easy to click through and find the recipe that suits you best!