Failed Rainbow Cake

I wasn't going to make a big deal of Harrison's birthday this year, but at the last minute I decided to put a little more effort then I initially had wanted towards his birthday celebration. The one and only thing that inspired me to have a theme for the party was this rainbow cake. I was obsessed. It was super cute, worked perfectly for a boy and a girl party (we were hosting a double birthday party with our niece, Emmy), and most of all it seemed so easy. We were going to have a rainbow themed birthday party!

Here is a picture of my inspiration:

I reviewed several recipes and researched several different people's personal experiences with making this type of cake and it all seemed pretty straight forward. I decided I didn't need to level each cake layer, as several people had said they skipped this step. This seemed to be the ultimate achilles' heel. The slight dome of each cake layer combined with the slippery icing and the weight of the layers caused a small fissure at first and then entire collapse of the cake. It was a disaster. And it was the night before the party. I did not lose my cool. Repeat, I DID NOT lose my cool. Ask Matt. Really, I didn't. And thank goodness for my Mom and Dad who ordered two rainbow ice cream cakes to be made in time for the party early the next day!!! 

Here are pictures of my cake.

I made my own frosting and the cake was super moist, so despite it's looks it tasted devine. We decided to shove it all in a truffle dish and eat from it that way over the next few days.

Warning: The food coloring is quite intense and does some weird stuff at the other end of the digestive tract.  

I never got to the final frosting the outside of the cake step.

Not a flattering picture of me, but I had to include it to prove that I was not freaking out.