Pastel Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease three 7-inch cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment paper. Set aside.

Into a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla until well blended.

Reduce the speed to low and add flour mixture into the mixing bowl in three batches, alternating with half cup of milk, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pans and spread evenly.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before inverting cakes out of the pan onto the rack. Let cool completely.

To prepare frosting, beat butter in the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed for 10 minutes, until very pale and fluffy. Add remaining frosting ingredients (except the food coloring) and beat on low speed for a minute, then on medium speed for another 5 minutes.

Equally split buttercream into 3 portions. Mix 1 or 2 coloring paste colors of your choice into each portion, until incorporated and colors are even, so that you have 3 different colors.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on the serving plate and spread with half of the pink (or whatever color you prefer) frosting, leaving a 1-cm border around the edge of the cake. Place another cake layer on top, and gently press down a little bit. Spread with the remaining half of the pink frosting. Place the last layer of cake on top. Gently press down and smear the extra frosting that squeezed out between the cake layers along the sides of the cake.

Freeze the cake for 15 minutes. It helps to avoid showing the pink buttercream while frosting the sides of the cake.

Carefully smear the side (bottom half) with the turquoise (or another color of choice) buttercream, followed with the purple (or another color of choice) buttercream on the upper half and top of the cake. Use a mental spatula to smooth frosting all over the cake, to blend the colors together and create rustic stripes effect.

Garnish with spring flowers, pastel color sprinkles or pearls.

Cover and refrigerate the cake. Leave out in room temperature for at least an hour prior to serving.