Rainbow cake with marzipan figures

This cake is understated on the outside: a single-colour smooth cream coating, a few figures on top. The point is inside, and it only reveals itself when the first slice is cut – from then on the children are not looking at the cake but at each other’s plates.

We bake four or five coloured sponge layers with vanilla or fruit cream between them. The colours are made with edible colouring and are deliberately not sharp: we work with softer, pastel shades, because they look better when cut and the cream does not discolour them.

The figures on top are hand-shaped from marzipan or sugar paste – cats, bunnies, flowers, roses, letters. They are not meant to be eaten: most children keep them instead. If that is the aim, tell us and we make them from a firmer paste so they last longer.

Worth knowing

• Because of the sponge layers this cake needs longer chilling, so it is worth asking two weeks ahead.
• The number of colours depends on the size: a small cake takes three or four layers, a larger one five or six.
• Lettering is made from chocolate or sugar paste, together with the name.
• We can make it gluten-free, but the rainbow effect will be more muted, because gluten-free sponge holds colour less well.