Little Ivy Cakes

Happy St. Patty's DAY!
Why does it have to be all about the green? Isn't life all about finding the gold at the end of the rainbow?

Somewhere over the RAINBOW

The Wizard of Oz is still one of my favorites but, as a kid it was like... THE FAVORITE!  When I would visit my older cousin and her husband in the summer, they would play dress up with me. I was Glenda *the good witch*, she was Dorothy, and her husband was Toto. Oh they loved me so much to put up with that kind of funny business.

Anyway, I was on a rainbow kick this week with rainbow heart cookies, and a rainbow swirl cake.

The first time I saw the cookies at Diamonds for Dessert, I knew I HAD to make them. They are just so cheery and delightful. I made some bigger ones where I sprinkled sugar on before baking too.

Heart Shortbread adapted from Diamonds for Dessert with a few different steps
3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup milk
food coloring

-Cream the butter and sugar then add in the egg.
-In a seperate mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
-Add half your dry mixture to the butter mixture.
-Pour the milk and then add in the rest half of the dry mixture
-Divide the dough into five equal pieces. Take one piece of dough, add two to five drops of food coloring until you get your desired color. I used neon and regular food coloring.

-Knead the dye into the dough. Repeat with different food coloring. 
I used this handy tool to knead in the color.

-Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a small disc, then chill them for 45 minutes. 

-Then between two pieces of plastic wrap roll them out to the desired width between the plastic wrap on a flat work surface *1/8 inch?*
-Preheat the oven to 325ºF
-Toss the discs in the freezer for 30 minutes or more.
-Then take out one flat disc at a time and cut the shapes as quickly as possible-place then on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Having the dough frozen was much easier to handle and they kept their cut shape better.
-Bake each color batch for about 10 15 minutes depending on the size. 
-If you want the cookies crunchy after cooled, place back in the oven covered by foil, and bake for 5-10 more minutes and then let cool again.

The rainbow cake is a little less involved at I saw a super inspirational version here at one of my favorite blogs Almost Bourdain. She made this cake with her little girl which I think is super adorable and such a smart and fun baking project to do with kids.

You make your favorite vanilla cake recipe or if you want to make it REALLY easy, pick up a box of white cake mix. Divide the cake batter evenly into separate bowls and add food coloring to tint as desired.
The pour each color into the cake pan(that has been buttered and floured) one at a time, tap the pan on the counter a couple times to spread after each color addition. And when adding the new color, pour directly into the center of the last color. I started with purple first and it's the outer later at the bottom of the cake.

I topped mine with a fluffy cloud of meringue frosting that I made HERE. I also thought it would be pretty to coat in white buttercream and cover in finely grated, dried, unsweetened coconut.

Stay Cute 

THE END!