rainbow fruits layer cake with freshly whipped cream and heart cookie topper

Out of my three kids, my youngest baby is the best eater. Besides rice and pasta, he especially loves to eat all kinds of fruits. So for his second birthday this past February, I decided to make him a rainbow fruits layer cake, inspired by this rainbow fruits cookie cake I found on Pinterest!

I wanted to make a really light cake so that the fruits could stand out, so I chose to use the same cake recipe as the strawberry cream cake that I made a few years ago. It had been very light and airy, and really let the filling stand out. So I baked three 8-inch cakes, each of which I sliced in half horizontally to give me six layers (although I only ended up using five of the layers).

For the rainbow of fruits, I chose to use red strawberries, orange/yellow nectarines, green kiwis, and blue/violet blueberries. Each cake layer got a healthy dose of whipped cream, then fruit, then more whipped cream on top, before adding the next cake layer on top of that.

I ended up making A LOT of freshly whipped cream for this cake - one big batch to fill all of the layers, and one big batch to cover the entire cake. I flavored my whipped cream with vanilla extract, but I think a bit of almond extract would go nicely with the cake and fruits as well.

After I added the first three layers of fruit and whipped cream, it had gotten pretty late in the night, so I covered the whole thing with a big cake dome and placed it in the fridge overnight. Then the next morning, I got back to work caking.

That meant my last layer of whipped cream and fruits, and my final cake layer on top.

I think I could have almost left it like this, for the naked cake effect! But I decided to go ahead with my initial plan to frost the whole thing with freshly whipped cream.

So I covered the entire top and sides of the cake with whipped cream, in what I call a "messy coat".

And then smoothed the whole thing out with an offset spatula and rotating cake stand.

Since the cake turned out so tall, I wanted a really simple frosting design, so I did a quick swirl effect with an offset spatula.

Since Micah is a Valentine's baby (born the day after Valentine's Day), I added heart cookie pop as the cake topper. And to make it more festive, I sprinkled a bit of edible gold glitter stars around the perimeter of the cake.

And then it was done!

While I loved the look of the edible glitter stars, after sitting on the cake for a few hours they melted into little puddles of gold! (Not pictured). So right before the birthday dinner I sprinkled a few more stars on, just to hide the melted ones.

Here's a shot of the inside of the cake. All that fresh fruit!!!

I just wish I could have cut a cleaner slice! But with the softness of the cake, plus the height and all the soft whipped cream and chunks of fresh fruit, that combination just didn't allow me to cut a clean slice!

I really wanted the colors of the fruit to stand out more than this, but this will have to do. Maybe next time I would cut thicker slices of fruit.

Happy second birthday, my little Micah! Even though you are a toddler now, you will always be my baby!