I fell in love with the rainbow cake a few years ago when I was watching an episode of Martha Stewart. I recently got up the courage to make the six layer rainbow cake for Avery's second birthday. Yup, my baby just turned two! We had a really really low key birthday gathering to celebrate Avery's birthday on Sunday. I'm fairly new to baking, and have never attempted to bake a cake that has more than two layers. I did make Avery a mini three layer cake for his birthday smash cake, but never a full size cake more than two layers. So this my friends for my was a huge task for me to attempt to bake. I'm super happy to that the cake came out colorful and super yummy.

I used this recipe here for my cake and used Betty Crocker gel food coloring to color the batter. I had to visit a few stores in my area to find the gel food coloring, so don't give up if your unable to find it at the first store.

If your planning on making a rainbow cake, here are few of my novice baking tips.

Rainbow Cake Tips

Use disposable cake pans to bake the layers in (spray with non-stick spray)
Use a wide spatula to remove the cake from the pan
Have all your mixing bowls set up to pour batter in
For even cake layers trim the cake layers (I'm doing this next time)
Gel Food Colors are a must and color the batter more intensely
Use Egg Carton whites, instead of wasting egg yokes (I'm doing this next time)
Visit Betty Crocker for the instructions on mixing colors (purple & orange)
After frosting the cake place in refrigerator for an hour & take out a half hour before serving and cutting

Since this was my first time making a multi-layer cake it didn't come out perfect the top was a little lopsided in certain spots, lol. But in the end what really matter was seeing Avery blow out his candle and smile and clap his little toddler hands when he saw his cake. For me that's best feeling ever. Everyone loved the cake, it was not only cute to look at, but it was truly amazing and super moist. I was a little nervous about cutting each slice of cake but each slice cut so nice. I've already gotten a few requests to make another rainbow cake! I'm super excited to apply my tips to the next rainbow cake I bake.

I'm also looking forward to my next baking adventure and stepping outside of my comfort zone, like did with Avery's rainbow cake and his birthday cupcakes last year. I also recently bought an Ikea cake decorating kit, and looking forward to using it on my next cake.

Have you ever baked a rainbow cake?

A few weeks back on my Pin of the Week, I shared the idea of taking a pre-made roman shade and adding fabric or twill tape or ribbon border to customize the shade. I recently bought a couple of pre-made roman shades from JCP for our kitchen window & master bathroom window. My plan is to cover the existing roman shade with fabric giving it a custom look. I'm going to test out the quality JCP roman shades with my smaller windows before buying more roman shades for our larger windows.

For my bedroom & Tabari's bedroom, I'm still on the fence about using roman shades or faux wood blinds. In Avery's room I plan on using roman shades and covering the shade with fabric. Avery's in the 'blinds are a toy phase' so I think roman shades for his room is the best way to go. Hopefully he'll be less tempted to mess when them when they are down.

The fabric on the far left will be used in our master bedroom bathroom. I recently ordered the two chartreuse fabric swatches for Avery's bedroom windows. I love love the middle fabric and think it will make fun roman shades for his bedroom. I also adore the fabric on the end and I might have the perfect spot for it in another area in my house (stay tuned). Can you tell I'm smitten with the color chartreuse? It's slowly made the rounds in our house: Master Bedroom ideas, Our Front Door, Living & Dining Room ideas.

Avery's twin windows, please ignore the sad state of our backyard. We have many upcoming months of whipping our yard back into shape.

Below is the inspiration for for his twin windows. I think the middle fabric above will be so cute on his windows and add fun element of color and pattern in his bedroom.

(via Pinterest)

If we end up going with Roman shades in our bedroom, my plan is to cover them with a neutral fabric maybe white linen? For additional privacy. I also plan on adding a pretty twill tape border to give them a polished custom look. I'm loving the twill tape section at fabric.com, so most likely will order my twill from them. I really love the stunning roman shades below. The border on the roman shades creates such a pretty high-end yet non-fussy look.