Another Rainbow Cake... Steamed!

Rainbow cakes are such fun to eat... and these are much easier to make than the baked version.

Call me a lemming, but when I saw this recipe being circulated on my Facebook, I just couldn't resist trying it out. :)

The original recipe can be found here.

Steam Rainbow Cake

Ingredients:

6 Eggs

200g Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Extract (or almond extract or lemon juice or whatever flavour you prefer or have on hand)

280g Cake Flour, sifted, and add in ¼ tsp salt

200ml Coconut Cream/Milk (from packet.  I used Kara brand.)

Liquid food colouring

Method:

1. Prepare wok steamer. Line an 8" round tin. 
2. Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla until the mixture increases in volume and is pale in colour.  I beat the mixture with the Kitchenaid from medium to high speed for about 10 minutes.
3. LIGHTLY fold in a third of the flour, then half the coconut cream, another third of the flour, the last of the coconut cream and finally the last of the flour.
4. Ladle the batter into 7 bowls and colour with the liquid food colouring.  I found that gel food colouring doesn't work well because to incorporate the gel into the batter required a lot of stirring, and that resulted in the batter losing all those precious air bubbles which makes the difference between a light cake and a denser cake.
5. Pour the bottom-most colour (Reddish-Purple) into the cake tin, and then give it a light bang on the counter.  This is to allow the batter to flatten evenly as well as to remove the larger (and uglier) airpockets.
6. Put the cake tin in the wok steamer and steam for 5 minutes on medium heat.
7. Remove cake tin from wok steamer and pour in the second layer (Bluish-Purple), and spread the batter evenly with the back of a spoon.  Then bang the cake tin lightly on the counter and put the cake tin back into the wok steamer.  Steam for 4 minutes on medium heat.  Repeat until all layers are done.  For the final layer (Red), steam for 15 minutes before removing from the wok.
8. Remove cake from the cake tin unto a wire rack and leave to cool. 

My preference is still the baked Rainbow Cake.  Slicing into the white frosting, revealing the hues of the rainbow is a lovely surprise, and any cake with frosting is a lovely treat. :)

Nonetheless, this is a quick and easy version - no messy frosting, and a quick and clean snack that will appeal to both young and old.  Best of all is that more people have the means to steam a cake than to bake one - especially families without an oven. ;)