Joan’s Rainbow Cake - Colors of joy this Christmas season

This Christmas season I wanted to bake a cake and I was looking for various recipes. It was sheer coincidence that we happened to see this Malayalam movie called Salt n’ Pepper (superb movie especially for all you foodies out there). This movie has a sequence where the lead pair talks over the phone about a cake recipe which was made by a housewife in France while she was waiting for her soldier husband to come back from the war. Each day, she baked one cake thinking that her husband would return home and this continued for 3 days, when finally her husband came back home and she completed the cake with three layers of different flavors and chocolate topping.

In the movie, they have named this cake as Joan’s rainbow cake. Though it says rainbow cake, it only has 3 layers and not seven :-) I wanted to use the same original name as they depict in the movie since it sounds quite unique and passionate.

This story sounds apparently fictional. We couldn’t find anything in the web which indicates otherwise. So this must be the creative imagination of the story writer. But anyways, the cake they made out of this sequence is quite interesting. Each layer individually is quite simple, but the whole recipe obviously takes more time and effort than a regular cake.


This whole excitement culminated in a cake which I believe came out quite well with all the intended flavors.

This is undoubtedly the most exciting recipe I have ever posted in my blog. Here you go ...
First Layer:
Strawberry Cake:
Ingredients:
For Puree

1. Strawberrys- ¼ cup
2. Sugar- 2tbsp (optional)
3. For the cake
4. All purpose flour / Maida- 1cup
5. Baking Powder- 1tsp
6. salt- a pinch
7. Milk- ¼ cup
8. Sugar- ½ cup
9. Butter- ¼ cup
10. Egg- 1no
11. Strawberry essence- 1tsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Puree the strawberry and sugar in a hand mixie to a smooth pouring consistency.
3. Cream butter and sugar, till creamy. In this add egg and stir well till fluffy.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and add this to the egg and butter mixture in 3 lots alternately along with milk.
5. Add the strawberry essence and puree and beat well till everything is mixed well.
6. Pour this batter in a greased baking pan and bake for 30- 40 min or till a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool this on a wire rack.

Note:

• Before pureeing the strawberrys check for sweetness and then add sugar.

Second Layer:
Pista Cake:
Ingredients:

1. Pista- 1cup
2. Milk- ¼ cup
3. All purpose flour / Maida- 1cup
4. Baking Powder- 1tsp
5. salt- a pinch
6. Butter- ¼ cup
7. Sugar- ½ cup
8. Egg- 1no
9. Pista Essence- 1tsp
10. Green Colour- ½ a pinch

Method:

1. Soak the pista in water for 4hours and grind them to a fine paste in a hand mixer along with milk.
2. Cream butter, sugar and eggs and also add the above made pista paste to a fluffy texture and keep it aside.
3. Sift together Flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to the above wet ingredients ad blend well. In this add the pista essence and green food colour. Mix well.
4. Mean while preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Pour the prepared cake batter in a greased cake tin and bake in the oven for 30- 40 min or till done.
5. Cool this on a wire rack and keep it aside.

Third Layer:
Orange Cake:
Ingredients:

1. Orange Juice- ¼ cup
2. Orange Rind- 1tsp
3. All Purpose Flour / Maida- 1cup
4. Sugar- ½ cup
5. Butter- ¼ cup
6. Egg- 1no
7. Milk- ¼ cup
8. Baking Powder- 1tsp
9. Salt- ½ tsp

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and egg till fluffy and creamy.
3. In this, add the above dry ingredients and milk alternatively in 3 lots.
4. Add the orange juice and rind. Mix well.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Pour the cake batter in the prepared greased cake pan and bake for about 30- 40 min.
6. Cool them on a wire rack.

Soaking Syrup:

• Sugar- ½ cup
• Water-1/2 cup

Method:

• Boil the sugar and water for 2 min or till the sugar dissolves well.

Other Ingredients:

1. Whipping Cream- 2cups (I have used amul cream packet and ¾ cup of castor sugar. Blend it well with a hand mixer for about 15- 20 minutes. Before blending, we must take care that the amul cream packet are refrigerated.)
2. Chocolate Ganache- 1cup

For Chocolate Swirls and curls:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Make sure the water doesn’t touch the  bowl containing chocolate.
2. Spread this evenly on a plain surface with the help of a knife.
3. When this is cooled lightly, with a sharp knife in a short sawing movements make curls.Keep this in fridge until ready to use.

For Assembling the Cake:

• On a plate or a cake stand place the first layer i.e the strawberry cake and soak it with 3- 4tbsps of syrup.
• Over this and on the sides, spread the whipping cream. Place the next layer i.e the pista cake and soak it with the syrup and spread the whipping cream over this.
• Over this keep the last layer, orange cake and soak it with syrup. Spread the whipping cream well on the sides and over the cake.
• Keep the cake in the refrigerator till we prepare the ganache and let it cool completely.
• Take out the cake from refrigerator and pour this ganache over the cake. Decorate with chocolate swirls or as you wish.

Note:

• The whole process looks tiring, but it is fun to make this and I am sure that this will be perfect for parties and will be loved by all.