RAINBOW COOKIE CAKE
a cake for Arielle, and later me, and now everyone
SWEET TEETH
Every year I have a tradition of sorts, where in the days leading up to my birthday, I hole up in my kitchen, and dedicate my every waking moment to plotting, shopping for, and executing the cake of my dreams.
In recent years, I’ve found that my birthday has filled me with more anxiety than celebratory spirit. With every year that passes, I tend to fixate on what I haven’t done or accomplished, as opposed to all the glorious life I lived. I can be a person who is so concerned with slowing, or flipping, or breaking the hourglass, that I never really stop to appreciate the beauty of each falling grain under a microscope.
So in an effort to ground me, I like to give myself a large scale project in the form of a cake. I find that it not only keeps my hands and mind busy, but gives me the time to meditate and bask in the light of my past year. Typically I find the whole thing to be quite emotional (the secret ingredient in many of my birthday cakes is in fact tears), so I never do it with the intention of sharing what I come up with.
But this year, in the month since my birthday, I have not been able to stop thinking about how incredible this cake is. So I had no choice but to bake it up again to share with all of you.
The first iteration of this cake was for my friend Arielle (who herself makes expert level rainbow cookies). The execution was simple, layers of a light almond sponge in the classic tricolor, raspberry jam sandwiched between them, a rich chocolate ganache poured over the outside. It was delightful.
But when I set out to try it again for my birthday, I longed for it to be closer to an actual rainbow cookie in its texture. And after a bit of trial and error, I ultimately decided, why not just make a cake out of actual rainbow cookies.
So thats what I’ve done, made a big old slab of rainbow cookie, and dressed it up as a beautiful cake.
This one is a bit involved, but I promise it is worth the effort—it might even be the best thing I’ve ever made. Plus, your left with a bunch of extra rainbow cookie scraps you can snack on whilst you assemble. Sounds like a dream to me!
THE RECIPE
