With Pride Month upon us, it’s time to start thinking about the best (and sweetest) ways to show your Pride.
One of the ways that Pride month is celebrated is with a delicious and colorful rainbow cake.
Rainbow cakes grew in popularity after a nation-wide controversy in which a Colorado baker refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding.
At a time when cakes had suddenly become controversial, allies and members of the LGBTQ community used rainbow desserts to fight back.
They are now a common stable of Pride celebrations around the world.
Why We Celebrate Pride
Pride Month is a celebration of acceptance and love that transcend all sexualities and sexual identities. It is held yearly in June to honor the Stonewall Riots of 1969.
It is a federally recognized observance that often includes parades and public celebrations that are fun for all people.
At these events, you’ll be greeted with a welcoming atmosphere, a playful ambience, and lots of color.
The Meaning Behind the Rainbow Symbol
The roots of the rainbow symbol stem back to a time when being gay or lesbian was not openly accepted.
During those times, people would wear bright colored articles of clothing as part of their regular wardrobe. This was a signal to other LGBTQ individuals that they were part of the community.
Oscar Wilde is one famous person who was known for carrying on this secret tradition. He often wore a green scarf. As the times changed, the rainbow also became symbolic of how all different kinds of people can make up something beautiful.
It became a symbol of acceptance and equality.
Fifteen Best Rainbow Cakes for Gay Pride Month
If you are looking to bake a colorful declaration of Pride, you are likely sifting through thousands of ideas online and overwhelmed by your options.
Below, we will discuss some of our favorite rainbow cakes and how to create them. These recipes range from simple to more complicated, but all are equally delicious.
We have selected the following recipes to represent a variety of skill levels and to suit multiple tastes. After all, Pride Month wouldn’t be Pride Month if we didn’t recognize that every person is their own individual.
We hope the list will provide you with some inspiration to create your very own rainbow cake that is uniquely representative of you.
1 – Rainbow Fruit Snack Cupcakes
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If you’re looking for a simple cake design, this is one of the best. Simply bake cupcakes in whatever color or flavor you prefer. Once they are finished, let them cool completely before you begin the decorating process.
When you are ready to decorate, cover the top in fluffy blue frosting. Then use two large marshmallows as clouds and a strip of multi-colored fruit snacks curved into an arch. The marshmallows will stick into the frosting and help hold the fruit snack arch in place. You will wind up with a cupcake that looks like a rainbow floating above clouds in the sky.
2 – Rainbow Fruit Topper
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A simple white cake can be decorated with multi-colored fruit in stripes to represent the colors of the rainbow. Grapes, orange or peach slices, blueberries, strawberries, and more can be used to mimic the fading colors of the rainbow as they blend together.
This cake will not only be beautiful to look at, but also delicious with a healthy kick. This cake should be kept chilled, however, so make sure that you serve it on a cold table or over an ice rack to keep the fruit tasting and looking fresh.
You’ll also want to wait until just before serving to arrange the fruit. Otherwise, it will look old and unappetizing by the time it meets the table.
3 – Rainbow Pancakes
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Dying pancakes with a variety of colors and infusing them with flavors like cherry extract, banana extract, and others can give them a sweet surprise and a colorful appearance when plated in the appropriate layers to mimic a rainbow.
These can be served with whipped cream and fruit syrup for an added sweetness. They make a great breakfast to start Pride festivities that is also worthy of an Instagram appearance.
4 – Rainbow Roll Up
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A simple white sheet cake can be topped with stripes of colored frosting, then rolled up into a pinwheel cake. You can choose to top the pinwheel cake with multi-colored frosting, whipped cream, or leave it plain.
However you top the cake, when it is sliced, you should see a white cake swirl with rainbow swirled frosting running between the layers. This cake is gorgeous and simple enough that anyone can bake it easily in their own home kitchen.
5 – Rainbow Flowers
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Are you feeling extra fancy? If so, any colored cake can be made even more colorful and fun by adding in rainbow colored flowers as décor. If you’re feeling extra EXTRA fancy, you can even candy the flowers before you top the cake with them. This will make them delightfully edible and keep your guests talking all month long.
This is a beautiful cake that will be so pretty your guests won’t want to cut into it.
6 – Rainbow Inside
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Remember those rainbow pancakes? They come in handy here, too.
Go ahead and whip one up of each necessary color to form a rainbow, then roll them together.
Next, pour a white cake into a deep cake pan and submerge your rolled pancakes under the batter. Bake the cake as you normally would. When you slice it, there will be a hidden rainbow inside.
This is an especially fun cake for children who will be amazed to find the secret.
7 – Rainbow Topper
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If cake decorating isn’t really your strong suit, don’t worry. There are plenty of beautiful rainbow toppers to choose from at cake supply stores and on the world wide web.
If you need inspiration, simply look at the display photos associated with the topper listings. You’re sure to find simple, yet beautiful ways in which you can decorate the most beautiful pride cake at your event.
8 – Food coloring Rainbow
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This one can get messy, so only attempt it if you are confident in your abilities. To do this, you would mix food coloring into frosting or cake batter in the pattern you want. It will infuse into the cake or topping and create the design you have created.
You should be cautious with this, though. Food coloring does stain clothing and counter tops. It also will turn into a murky brown color if you over mix, so you’ll need to work with precision and a steady hand.
9 – Colorful Hearts
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Candy hearts are a cute way to decorate a cake for Pride Month. You can arrange them to form a rainbow in the frosting that is not only symbolic of equality and diversity, but also expresses sentiments of love.
Candy Hearts are hard to find after February, so check the clearance aisle of your local department store or buy them online. If you can’t find them this year, mark your calendar to put a few back next year so you can use this design later on.
10 – Rainbow Frosting Splatter
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Heat colored frosting in the microwave or over the stove to thin it out. Then, carefully splatter it over a cake topped in white buttercream or fondant.
Do one color at a time and allow each color to firm up before moving onto the next. This will create a fun and colorful splattered appearance on your cake that contrasts beautifully with the white undertone.
11 –Rainbow Sprinkles
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Rainbow-colored sprinkles are a simple and easy way to decorate a rainbow cake. You can create a colorful cake on the inside, top it with white or light blue frosting, and use the rainbow sprinkles to make it look even more glamorous.
You can combine this cake decorating idea with a number of others, including rainbow toppers or the surprise rainbow baked into the cake.
12 – Rainbow Swirls
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Swirl colorful buttercream frosting up the sides and over the top of your cake. Small swirls work best and alternate the colors so the entire cake is evenly decorated in a multitude of colorful “spikes” or “flower” shapes.
You can also color the cake batter in separate bowls and use a whisk or spoon to swirl the colors together into the pan before baking.
This will make a beautiful rainbow marble design on the interior of your cake to match the exterior.
13 – Rainbow Pull Apart Cupcake Cake
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Arrange cupcakes on a cardboard flat in the shape of a rainbow. You can ice the cupcakes in the various colors of the rainbow and lay them side by side in arched rows to represent the layers of the rainbow.
At the ends of the rainbow, you can ice cupcakes in simple white frosting or white frosting with sprinkles to represent clouds. This is a neat rainbow cake that offers guests a chance to simply take their serving without having to wait for someone to cut the cake.
Pull-apart cupcake sheets are a great way to invite guests to help themselves at times when everyone seems to be waiting for someone else to make the first move.
14 – Rainbow Flags
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When in doubt, rainbow flags are a good stand by. You can buy tiny decorative toothpick flags at most bakery shops or online. These flags are a quick and easy way to decorate a rainbow cake or cupcakes for the Pride event in your city without having to invest hours into perfecting your cake decorating skills.
What’s even better is that the tiny flags can serve as souvenirs of the event or decorations that can be pushed into hats or costumes to carry on the enthusiasm of Pride all through the event.
15 – Rainbow Layers
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Using food coloring, you can color your cake layers to represent the layers of the rainbow. When you do this, you would simply allow the layers to cool and then stack and ice them appropriately. You can ice the outside any way you want. The surprise will be the rainbow Pride inside the cake when you cut it.
Remember that rainbows have a lot of layers, so you’ll need to bake your cake layers especially thin in order to not have a cake that topples over or is too thick to adequately display.
A small amount of batter in the bottom of a well-buttered round pan that has been baked for only a few minutes is your best bet on this one.
Enjoy Pride Month with a Dessert as Sweet as the Sentiment.
We are glad you chose us as your source for finding the perfect rainbow cake to celebrate one of our favorite months on the calendar.
We hope you found what you were looking for and that it has inspired you.
Remember, it’s okay to put your own unique twist on any of these designs. After all, this month, we are celebrating a diversity of preferences and personalities.
Keyword: rainbow cake