The rainbow cake: Halloween style

Everyone's seen the rainbow cake, right?  I just adore it.  The colors are so vibrant and appealling...it's just so fun!  (Can a cake be fun?) 

Anyway, when I first came across it, I knew it would be perfect for the individual cakes my boys will have at their upcoming birthday party.  Being the control freak/type A personality that I am, I knew I needed a trial run.  So I did, only tweaking it for Halloween.

I made 1 box of white cake mix, using my favorite shortcut recipe.  I then halved the batter, tinting one half orange and one half black.  Now I know I had the gel food coloring in my hand at the store, but somehow I ended up coming home with this:

Go down the baking aisle with a 2 year old who cannot help but be drawn to every last sprinkle, marshmallow, and box with a picture of cookies, and something's bound to go awry.  Attention anyone else who makes this mistake...1 entire tube will color half a box of cake mix just fine.   Next time, though, I will read more closely.   Or go shopping alone.  Something.

Then I started glopping (technical term) a scoop of orange and a scoop of black batter into two pans, alternating until I was out.

I baked 'em, frosted 'em and then had to arm wrestle my 2 year old to eat some.  Poor, carb-deprived me enjoyed every last crumb! 

Black and orange are not nearly as pretty as the original, but it was still oh-so-good!