Kool Aid Ombre Cake
Kool-Aid ombre cake is a fun and colorful dessert that combines vibrant layers and fruity flavors for a visually stunning and delicious treat. It’s perfect for any occasion, offering an easy-to-make yet exciting twist on traditional cakes.
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 box of white cake mix
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ⅓ cup olive or vegetable oil
- 3 egg whites
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Additional Ingredients:
- Kool-Aid drink powder or liquid concentrate
Food coloring, as needed
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
- Grease 3 6-inch cake pans with oil and line the bottoms of each with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, water, oil, and egg whites until the batter is smooth. Divide the batter evenly into 3 separate bowls.
- Add Kool-Aid powder or liquid concentrate to each bowl, using enough to create three distinct shades of cake batter. For some Kool-Aid flavors like grape, you might need to add food coloring to enhance the color intensity. If necessary, add food coloring to achieve brighter colors.
- Pour the colored batters into the prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
- Allow the cakes to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting. Don’t start frosting until the cakes are fully cooled.
Make the Frosting
- To make the frosting, beat together the softened butter, powdered sugar, and heavy cream until smooth and fluffy.
- Stack the cakes on a cake stand, starting with the darkest layer on the bottom. Generously spread buttercream frosting between each cake layer.
- Frost the entire cake with buttercream, ensuring the top is generously covered. The sides don’t need to be fully covered—just apply a crumb coat.
- Divide the frosting into 3 bowls.
- Add Kool-Aid powder or liquid concentrate to each bowl, creating three distinct shades of colored frosting. As with the cake batter, food coloring might be needed to brighten the colors.
Assemble the Cake
- To apply the colored frosting, use a piping bag with a large round tip, a Ziploc bag with the corner clipped off, or an offset spatula.
- Starting from the bottom of the cake, pipe rings of the darkest frosting around the cake, covering about a third of the sides.
- Next, pipe rings of the second darkest frosting above the dark layer. Don’t worry about making the rings perfectly straight or even.
- Finish by piping the lightest color on the top, filling in the remaining space until you reach the top of the cake.
- Once all the colors are applied to the sides, it’s time to create the ombre effect.
- Use an offset spatula, holding it perpendicular to the table, to smooth the layers of frosting together. Remove any excess frosting as you go and clean the spatula between uses.
- Continue smoothing until you achieve the desired ombre effect.
For Cupcakes
- Each box of white cake mix typically yields about 24 cupcakes. To create the ombre effect for cupcakes, fill a large piping bag with stripes of each colored frosting, as described above. Gently press the bag flat to smooth out the frosting.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes using your desired frosting tip.
Notes
- The quantities of oil, water, and egg whites may vary depending on the brand of white cake mix you use. Adjust these ingredients accordingly.
- You can use either powdered or liquid Kool-Aid concentrate. The amount you use for both the cake batter and frosting will depend on your personal taste and how large the drops are that you squeeze out. Keep in mind that some Kool-Aid colors may not be as vibrant, so you may need to add a little food coloring to enhance the brightness.
- For cupcakes, if you prefer generous amounts of frosting like shown in the pictures, prepare the full batch of frosting. If you’d rather have less frosting, halving the recipe will be sufficient.
To Freeze: You can also freeze leftovers by wrapping them in foil, parchment paper, or plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 4 months.