Pride Party Recipes
Pride is the time to get together with friends, foes, and family to celebrate being who we are–and what celebration is complete without food and drink? And what menu for Pride is complete without a little bit o’ rainbow thrown in? Are you having a Pride brunch? Serve up the fast and colorful Rainbow Mini-Donuts. Need to make your bar a little more colorful? Make Skittles-flavored vodka. Want to present an impressive dessert that looks like a Pride flag? Try the six-layer Rainbow Sprinkles Cake.
Rainbow Sprinkles Cake
I made this cake for my nephew’s birthday since I have been obsessed with tinting lately and figured a cake laden with sprinkles was sure to be a hit. Using my basic vanilla-bean white cake recipe, I tinted the six layers the various colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet; red at the top down to purple at the bottom. Complimenting the vanilla-bean white cake recipe, I frosted this using my vanilla-bean buttercream. A cake of this size used over half of a 9.5-cup tub. (I store the frosting in a 9.5-cup tub in my freezer for simplicity. Then, whenever I am inspired to make a cake, I just pull a tub out the evening before or morning of the project.)
Prepare six 8″ round cake pans by spraying them with Bak-klene or butter/flour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I am fortunate enough to have six 8″ round cake pans–you can easily bake these in pairs as I imagine most people have only two 8″ cakes pans in their home. When the cakes have cooled after each baking, re-prep your cake pans, add two more colored batters, and bake them off.
Ingredients
1.5 cups butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
8 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 T baking powder
1.5 t baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 T vanilla bean paste
4.5 cups cake flour
Place prepared pans into preheated oven and bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until tester comes out clean. You may need to move pans around if your oven has hot spots. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert cakes out onto racks to cool completely. Wrap with plastic wrap and place into refrigerator to chill fully. Remove from refrigerator when you are ready to ice layers together and frost the outside. Chill the frosted cake again before encrusting with sprinkles.
The tricky part with this cake is encrusting it with the sprinkles. I used two 7.5 oz. jars of Wilton Sprinkles; two, because it simply makes it go faster–you will technically still have one when you are done. So, the next time, you just need to go out and buy one jar.
After I placed the very chilled cake into an upside-down cake carrier (to catch the excess), I began by pouring the sprinkles over the top to get the top covered. Then, to do the sides, I held my hand very close the cake and poured sprinkles into the crevice and lightly tapped them into the frosting, moving down the side of the cake. Once the two jars had been emptied, I removed the cake and poured the excess back into the jar and repeated until I had the entire surface of the cake covered in rainbow sprinkles.
Finally, be sure that there are plenty of people around when you cut into your cake for the first time. Exclamations of excitement and a shower of compliments should follow the reveal of the six rainbow layers of cake that are hiding within the sweet, sprinkled exterior. More reasons for Pride!
Rainbow Mini-Donuts
I picked up the Mini-Donut pan they are selling at Williams-Sonoma, and, with all the colored cakes I have been making, I wondered how it would look if I colored mini-donuts. No, they don’t taste like Froot Loops® , but they sure look like them. These are pretty darn incredible—I’m so happy with how they turned out. It’s a little futzy to divide the batter, color it, and then pipe it into the wells, but well worth it. This recipe will make three mini-donut pans of Pride brunch pastries.
Ingredients:
6 T unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp fresh-grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla-bean paste
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Food coloring, if desired
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep your pans using Bak-klene or other spray that is enhanced with flour or corn starch. In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients and divide equally into six bowls, almost 1/2 cup per bowl. Color each batch as desired, then place each color into a disposable bag with the tip cut off, leaving roughly a 1/4″ opening. Pipe roughly 1/2 tsp. of each color into a section of the well, doing one color in all the wells and then another. I piped the second color up against the third and then began alternating which side I was placing the subsequent colors so not every donut looked the same.
Bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let rest for five minutes, then shake in sugar or cinnamon sugar to coat. Devour.
Rainbow Vodka
This is a fairly easy concept; simply infuse a 750ml. bottle of Ketel One Vodka with Skittles—it’s like juice for adults!
Ingredients:
14 oz. bag Skittles, separated by color
5 – 750ml. bottles of vodka
liquid measuring cup
4-cup gravy separator
1 pack coffee filters (basket style)
Pour roughly 1/2 cup of vodka out of each bottle into the liquid measuring cup and set aside. Place each bunch of Skittles colors into its own bottle (all the orange into one bottle, all the red into another, etc.). Replace cover and allow to sit for a day.
Hint: I use the gravy separator because it is the perfect size, and I also use it for several other things in my kitchen. It is a definite investment into your culinary adventures.
Place two coffee filters inside the strainer basket of the gravy separator and allow the mixture to filter on its own. Do not try to rush it as it will force debris back into the vodka. If the filter is plugging up, replace it and start using another set of filters inside the basket. Once you have the bottle filtered, you can strain it once more if you desire a lot of clarity. (This is what I did; it is fine either way.)
Continue to do this with each color. The filtering process takes a little time, so it is nice to do this while you are simultaneously doing something else that way you are not standing there waiting for it to finish. Once you are done, top them off with the initial vodka you poured out. At this point, you can chill, freeze, or use them as is. Use alone or as a mixer–it’s tasty either way!
Kinky Cherries
Pit 48 cherries, leaving stems in tact and place into a sealable storage container, filling with Kinky Liqueur to cover. Allow to soak for at least 24-48 hours.
Pride Puffcorn Recipe
Just in time for summer or anytime of year, my latest creation. Buttery, salty puffcorn blended with M&M Mini’s, white chocolate and SPRINKLES!!! So super easy, the hardest part is waiting for the chocolate to re-set so you can start eating it!
Ingredients:
1 bag Old Dutch puffcorn
1 12 oz. bag white chocolate
4 oz. M&M Mini’s
3 oz. jar of Sprinkles
Set out two half-sheet pans and line them with a Silpat. Divide the bag of puffcorn between the two pans, laying it out as evenly as possible. Gently sprinkle the M&M Mini’s over the puffcorn. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and then pour into a disposable piping bag, snipping of the tip and drizzling the melted chocolate over the puffcorn and M&M Mini’s, making sure to get sufficient coverage so the mixture sticks together. Finish it all off by sprinkling the SPRINKLES over the two between the two pans. Allow to set and cool for 2-3 hours. Gently break into desired-sized clumps, place into a bowl and serve!
