rainbow cakes and a baby shower

I found this really awesome cake recipe for a rainbow cake and have been dying to try it! I even blogged about it the first time I found it saying I couldn't wait to find a reason to make it...well it happened! We threw Nichole a baby shower at the Hyatt Lost Pines. It is such a cool resort! So Friday I spent the day baking these rainbow cakes. I made 2 test ones and then the rest. All in all I was baking these things for probably 4 hours. I also made gluten free brownies so I could eat something, and in case the cakes didn't turn out ok. It was hard because I made the icing from scratch and I couldn't test it to make sure it turned out ok, so I was a little nervous. 

Mixing the batter (I used a box mix so I knew they would turn out ok.)

About to tint the batter. I found neon food coloring which looked awesome!

My first two...not a good sign the way the batter came up the sides.

For the next batch I tried tilting the jars with each new color to try to distribute it better. I also used less purple in case that was a factor. They weren't layered like on the recipe, but they looked cool and tye-dyeish!

View from above.

All iced, sprinkled, and bowed up!

I was told they were delicious!!! They looked really cool on the inside too. The colors were super vibrant. You can kind of tell from this picture, but not really.

So there were 7 of us and we all stayed in one room! We also all brought food, magazines, etc. so most of us had multiple bags even though we were only staying the night. I had 3 bags, the present for Nichole, and a sleeping bag. Heather had the same, plus a cooler and a blender! It was pretty hilarious because we were probably the cheapest people at that place. 7 people in one room, we all brought food so we didn't eat dinner there, and we brought our own drinks. When the bell boy came up for the 3rd time with all of our bags Heather told him that we were poor teachers and not to tell anyone what he saw. He thought that was pretty funny. He also said he was an education major so he totally got it.

 Also Laura came in town surprise Nichole!!

Sleeping arrangements. Heather almost slept on that chair back there, leaving a king bed for Nichole only. We had to force her to share the bed with Nichole.

Good thing Laura and I are such good friends, otherwise this could have been awkward.

I want to go back already! Spending the entire day with amazing friends at the pool laying out, reading trashy magazines and going on the lazy river is not a bad way to spend your first weekend of summer!