How to Make a YW Value Color Layered Cake

 Ellen, one of our YW advisers, recently taught the young women how to make a rainbow layered cake with the layers in the YW value colors.   I loved how it turned out and since then have been asked by a couple of other people, who had seen the pictures of it,   if I could post the instructions on how to make it.  I think it would make a perfect dessert for a Young Women in Excellence or other special YW night.   I recreated it for my son's birthday (not divulging to the boys that the colors were the YW value colors) to make sure that I got the instructions correct and to get pictures of each step.  I was surprised at how easy it was to make it myself and  loved to see the boys reaction to the cake, which was every bit as animated as the young women's had been.  Enjoy!  

Click here for printable recipe. 

The ingredients:


CAKE  (the ingredients listed are if you are using a Duncan Hines white cake mix.  If using another brand, prepare as directed on that box.)
2 boxes white cake mix
6 egg whites
2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
food coloring (you'll need at least the primary colors)   
at least one 9-inch round cake pan and parchment paper

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
1 cup butter
8 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1+ Tbs. milk (until good frosting consistency has been reached)

Directions:
CAKE:  Mix together the cake as directed on box.  Divide the batter evenly among seven small bowls (if you're using a double Duncan Hines cake mix it should be about a heaping cup of batter in each bowl).  Dye each bowl of batter your desired color.  


You will have to be liberal with the food coloring in order to get it bright enough.  Read the box of food coloring to get an idea of amounts.  For the gold I added some extra yellow to the orange. 

Here are the YW value colors:   

FAITH--white (frosting)
DIVINE NATURE--blue
INDIVIDUAL WORTH--red
KNOWLEDGE--green
CHOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY--orange
GOOD WORKS--yellow
INTEGRITY--purple
VIRTUE--gold

After each bowl of batter is mixed well and dyed to your desired color, add to a greased 9-inch circle baking pan with parchment paper lining just the bottom.  Spread batter evenly to the edges and pound pan on counter top to get rid of any air bubbles that may remain. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-minutes. 

Repeat for each layer. 

Allow each layer to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.  After layers are cool, wrap in plastic wrap and place on a flat surface in a freezer.  It's okay to stack them.

This picture does not reflect the correct final order of colors

Allow to freeze for 1 hour or more, then place the color of layer you want on the bottom onto a cake platter.  For the YW value cake, I placed them in reverse order  (gold on the bottom, then purple, yellow, orange, green, red, then blue on top.  The frosting is the white.) 

FOR FROSTING:  Mix all ingredients together, adding a tablespoon of milk at a time until the right consistency is reached. 

Frost each layer liberally to the edge of the round and place the next layer on top until you've reached the top layer. 

Frost tops and sides of cake. 

If you have time, do a light layer of frosting over the whole cake, then place in the freezer for 1-2 hours, then refrost with a pretty layer of icing. 

If you don't have time to do a second coating, just frost it the best you can. 

To serve, cut into slices and wait for the oohs and aahs! 

Enjoy! 

Sugar Free FAQ's

I've had a lot of people asking me questions about my new quest to be sugar free, so in the true spirit of divulging TMI on the internet I've compiled a list of my most frequently asked questions and answered them all for you right here.


What prompted the no sugar diet? I felt like I was addicted to sugar and the temporary burst of energy it provided. I was finding it harder to keep my weight stable and I was growing increasingly worried about my long-term health and the example I was setting for the kids.  


How are you doing it? The way I'm doing it is that I'm completely avoiding sugary foods six days a week and indulging in something special once a week (usually Sunday).  


Is this permanent? At this point, I'm viewing it as a permanent thing. Eventually I hope to get to a point where I'm not as obsessive with my sugar fixation and that I will be able to indulge in those special treats that come along (even if it's a couple times a week). But for now I feel like I've got a long way to go, before I can reach that kind of self-control.


How do you handle the cravings ? At first, it was just pure mind over matter and not wanting to cave in front of my kids. I've been chewing gum like crazy too. One of my biggest challenges here is that I found myself subconsciously filling the hole that sugar left in my diet with other carbohydrates, like homemade bread and cereals. While my homemade bread is whole grain and my cereal choices were healthy, I still realized that I was plugging a hole. Now that I'm more conscious of it, it's not as bad. I'll still use a bowl of Cheerios as an afternoon snack, but not the mindless eating of them by the handful. I still struggle day-to-day with cravings, especially on stressful days, but they've become much easier to handle now.  


Did you get headaches? I did get headaches (and stomach aches) occasionally from the withdrawal, but I found the hardest part was being tired. I had been using sugar to keep my energy level artificially up and I really missed those jolts of energy that sugar gave me. With that though, I quickly realized that while I missed the jolts, I was also missing the crashes that inevitably followed the burst of energy. I feel like I have been much more even since beginning this quest. Even-energy wise and even-tempered.


What about Cami's treat baking? Do you still always have treats in the house? Well, let's see....right now we have a heaping plate of peanut butter bars Cami made on Sunday for our FHE treats and 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies we ordered before we started our quest. They're both hidden out of sight, but it's common that we have treats of one form or another in the house at any given time. Having said that, one of the quickest benefits of Glen and I embarking on this journey, was that it was not as rewarding for Cami to bake treats as often as she had been. She is now focusing her efforts on making more special treats for Sundays, which have to last until FHE too. It's been a very good change for the whole family.  


What about social eating? While I still struggle more with my private eating habits, social events have been difficult too. Like last night at Enrichment night, there was a homemade cake on every table and everyone was sampling all the different kinds. I had to intentionally throw away my silverware and refuse the plate, so I wouldn't try to snitch just a bite. I also find that the more people I tell, the easier it is to refuse, because I don't want to embarrass myself by cheating in front of knowing eyes. 


Have you lost any weight? I have no idea. We just bought a scale on Saturday, but I do feel more svelte and calm if that counts for anything.



Any suggestions or techniques you want to share? It's much easier if you can get your husband on board with it too. Glen had always been very resistant to any kind of drastic dietary changes like this, but he finally realized that this was a moderate approach that thus far has been very maintainable to us. Granted we're only about 6 weeks in, but I'm hopeful that we can keep this up for the foreseeable future! I also believe that accountability is huge. That's why I talk about it on the blog and openly tell friends and family about it.


Have you ever tried drastically changing a bad habit before? What kinds of hurdles did you face? Any words of wisdom for me?

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