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    Home » Fun Food For Kids » Cakes & Cupcakes

    Easy End of the School Year Cake

    Jul 27, 2020 · Leave a Comment

    11 shares

    Make this cute and easy cake to celebrate the end of the school year in style! With edible pencil and paper and a gorgeous fondant rainbow on the side!

    Today I'm sharing a super cute cake that I made recently to celebrate the end of the school year. And what a strange school year it has been! My youngest went back to school in the middle of June for a few weeks and he was SO happy to have the chance to see his friends again!

    How to make a fun rainbow cake for the end of the school year

    We celebrated the end of the school year with a socially distanced picnic for his year group in our local park and I thought a cake would be just the thing to make it a little bit more special. 

    I decided to make this cake at the last minute so it had to be quick and easy to pull together.  As with the Easy Pirate Themed Cake that I made last year, I used a simple three layer Victoria sponge recipe to make a nice tall cake.

    How to make an easy rainbow fondant cake decoration

    I thought a rainbow would be very appropriate for this cake, as it's been a symbol of hope for so many this year, particularly the children, so I coated the cake in blue and white buttercream to represent the sky, and added a gorgeous fondant rainbow to the side. 

    I decorated the top of the cake with a fondant pencil and paper, and added lettering spelling out 'Year 1 2020'. It was a big hit with all of his friends and every crumb was gone by the end of the picnic!

    Cute and easy cake for kids to celebrate the end of the school year

    End of the School Year Cake

    Ingredients: 

    For the cake: 

    • 300g butter (softened)
    • 300g golden caster sugar
    • 6 eggs
    • 300g self-raising flour
    • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
    • 3 Tbsp milk
    • 2 tsp vanilla extract

    For the buttercream:

    • 375g butter
    • 750g icing sugar
    • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
    • blue gel food colouring

    For the fondant decorations:

    • white fondant icing
    • gel food colourings
    • black, blue and pink edible writing pens

    Method:

    Make the fondant decorations

    Before you start baking, make the fondant decorations to go on top of the cake. This will give them some time to dry out before you use them. 

    Roll out white fondant and cut into a rectangle for the paper. 

    How to make pencil and paper cake decorations - step 1 cut white rectangle for paper

    Colour a piece of fondant yellow and roll into an even snake shape for the pencil. Cut the ends off with a sharp knife. Colour a small piece of  fondant light orange and roll into a cone for the pencil tip. Attach to the rolled out yellow piece with a tiny dash of water. Colour in the tip with a black edible marker pen and add a dot at the other end for the pencil lead. 

    How to make pencil and paper cake decorations - step 2 make pencil

    Colour fondant in rainbow colours, roll out thickly and cut out letters to add a message to your cake. I wrote 'YEAR 1 2020' on my cake. (note: I used the leftover fondant from making the fondant rainbow for the letters. If you aren't adding a rainbow to the side of your cake, you can of course just use one or two colours of your choice for the lettering).

    Leave all your fondant toppers on a piece of baking paper somewhere well ventilated to dry. 

    Make the cake

    Preheat oven to 190°C (Gas mark 5/375°F). Grease and line the base of 3 x 20cm round cake tins (shallow sandwich tins are ideal).

    Place the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl and whisk together until well combined and fluffy.

    End of the school year cake - creaming the butter and sugar together

    Add the six eggs, two at a time, whisking after you add each pair.

    End of the school year celebration cake - add eggs and whisk in

    Once the eggs have all been whisked in, add the flour, baking powder, milk and vanilla. Whisk again until fully combined.

    Divide the mixture between the 3 tins, gently smoothing the tops down with a spatula. 

    Bake in the pre-heated oven for around 20 minutes, until the cakes are golden and springy to the touch.

    Turn the cakes out onto cooling racks and leave to cool completely before icing.

    Make the buttercream

    Whilst the cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream icing.

    Whisk the butter until soft and fluffy. Add the icing sugar, a little at a time, whisking as you go until completely combined. Add the vanilla extract and whisk again until combined.

    End of school year cake - make the buttercream icing

    Remove approx 300g of the buttercream icing and pop it into a separate bowl – this will be used to fill the cake.

    Remove another 300g of the icing – this will be used for the crumb coating.

    Colour three quarters of the remaining icing light blue and leave the remaining ¼ plain white.

    When ready to assemble, secure one of the cakes onto a cake board with a little of the buttercream icing. 

    Spread over half of the buttercream icing you set aside for filling. Add a second cake and repeat the buttercream filling, then top with the third and final cake.

    Using a palate knife, spread the buttercream that you set aside for the crumb coating all over the cake. If you have a cake turntable, this will really help you to get an even coat. Spinning the cake slowly, use a large cake scraper to even out the sides.

    Once the cake is covered in the crumb coating, dab small amounts of blue and white icing all over the cake, until the whole cake is covered in blue and white buttercream. Using the cake scraper, smooth the icing until roughly even and blended together. Bear in mind you’re going for a cloudy sky effect so it doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth. 

    How to make a rainbow cake - blue and white clouds sky effect buttercream

    Decorate the cake with the fondant rainbow (see my fondant rainbow tutorial for full instructions).

    How to make a fondant rainbow cake decoration - step 8 repeat until complete rainbow is on the cake

    Add the lettering around the edges of the top of the cake.

    How to make end of scool year cake add lettering around the edges of the cake top

    Using the edible marker pens, decorate the white rectangle of fondant to look like a piece of lined paper, then add it to the top of the cake, along with the fondant pencil you made earlier.

    How to make pencil and paper cake decorations - step 3 draw on lines and letters then add to cake

    Serve and enjoy! 

    Cute and easy rainbow end of school year cake

    If you enjoyed this cake recipe, you might also like these fun and easy cake ideas:

    Easy Anti-Gravity Cake

    How to make a fun and easy anti-gravity pour cake with HARIBO Starmix sweets - easy recipe and video tutorial

    Easy Boat Cake

    Easiest ever childrens birthday cake idea - make this quick and easy boat cake in less than an hour - from Eats Amazing UK

    Snake Cake

    Fun snake cake with marshmallow scales - with full recipe photos and instructions to make this fun cake for kids

    Pirate Themed Cake

    Easy ocean themed pirate ship cake recipe with pirate cake topper and ocean animals

    Or check out the cakes and cupcakes for kids section here on the blog for all of our fun cake recipes and easy cake decorating ideas!

    Grace

    How to make a fun rainbow cake for the end of the school year
    Print Recipe
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    End of the School Year Cake

    Make this cute and easy cake to celebrate the end of the school year in style! With edible pencil and paper and a gorgeous fondant rainbow on the side!
    Prep Time15 minutes mins
    Cook Time20 minutes mins
    Decorating Time30 minutes mins
    Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins
    Course: Dessert, Party Food
    Cuisine: British
    Servings: 16 people
    Author: Grace Hall

    Ingredients

    For the cake:

    • 300 g butter softened
    • 300 g golden caster sugar
    • 6 eggs
    • 300 g self-raising flour
    • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
    • 3 Tbsp milk
    • 2 tsp vanilla extract

    For the buttercream:

    • 375 g butter
    • 750 g icing sugar
    • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
    • blue gel food colouring

    For the fondant decorations:

    • white fondant icing
    • gel food colourings
    • black blue and pink edible writing pens

    Instructions

    Make the fondant decorations

    • Before you start baking, make the fondant decorations to go on top of the cake. This will give them some time to dry out before you use them.
    • Roll out white fondant and cut into a rectangle for the paper.
    • Colour a piece of fondant yellow and roll into an even snake shape for the pencil. Cut the ends off with a sharp knife. Colour a small piece of  fondant light orange and roll into a cone for the pencil tip. Attach to the rolled out yellow piece. Colour in the tip with a black edible marker pen and add a dot at the other end for the pencil lead.
    • Colour fondant in rainbow colours, roll out thickly and cut out letters to add a message to your cake. I wrote 'YEAR 1 2020' on my cake. (note: I used the leftover fondant from making the fondant rainbow for the letters. If you aren't adding a rainbow to the side of your cake, you can of course just use one or two colours of your choice for the lettering).
    • Leave all your fondant toppers on a piece of baking paper somewhere well ventilated to dry.

    Make the cake

    • Preheat oven to 190°C (Gas mark 5/375°F). Grease and line the base of 3 x 20cm round cake tins (shallow sandwich tins are ideal).
    • Place the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl and whisk together until well combined and fluffy.
    • Add the six eggs, two at a time, whisking after you add each pair.
    • Once the eggs have all been whisked in, add the flour, baking powder, milk and vanilla. Whisk again until fully combined.
    • Divide the mixture between the 3 tins, gently smoothing the tops down with a spatula.
    • Bake in the pre-heated oven for around 20 minutes, until the cakes are golden and springy to the touch.
    • Turn the cakes out onto cooling racks and leave to cool completely before icing.

    Make the buttercream

    • Whilst the cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream icing.
    • Whisk the butter until soft and fluffy. Add the icing sugar, a little at a time, whisking as you go until completely combined. Add the vanilla extract and whisk again until combined.
    • Remove approx 300g of the buttercream icing and pop it into a separate bowl – this will be used to fill the cake.
    • Remove another 300g of the icing – this will be used for the crumb coating.
    • Colour three quarters of the remaining icing light blue and leave the remaining ¼ plain white.
    • When ready to assemble, secure one of the cakes onto a cake board with a little of the buttercream icing.
    • Spread over half of the buttercream icing you set aside for filling. Add a second cake and repeat the buttercream filling, then top with the third and final cake.
    • Using a palate knife, spread the buttercream that you set aside for the crumb coating all over the cake. If you have a cake turntable, this will really help you to get an even coat. Spinning the cake slowly, use a large cake scraper to even out the sides.
    • Once the cake is covered in the crumb coating, dab small amounts of blue and white icing all over the cake, until the whole cake is covered in blue and white buttercream. Using the cake scraper, smooth the icing until roughly even and blended together. Bear in mind you’re going for a cloudy sky effect so it doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth.
    • Decorate the cake with the fondant rainbow (see separate fondant rainbow tutorial for full instructions).
    • Add the lettering around the edges of the top of the cake.
    • Using the edible marker pens, decorate the white rectangle of fondant to look like a piece of lined paper, then add it to the top of the cake, along with the fondant pencil you made earlier.

    Notes

    A link to the full step-by-step tutorial for making the fondant rainbow can be found in the blog post accompanying this recipe card.

    Love this fun and easy cake idea? Why not save this post to Pinterest so you can easily find it again!

    Fun and easy cake to celebrate the last day of school

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