If you want to impress your guests, this Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake is the way to do it.

It’s also a good way to kill a lot of time because this Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake takes a while.

But it’s worth it.

Trust me.

My brother loves Italian Rainbow Cookies, so I made them for him a few Thanksgivings ago. But this year, I decided I would try to figure out how to turn the tasty cookies into a full cake.

This Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake was a huge hit. Plus, when you cut into it, it’s beautiful with three bright layers.

Worth it.

Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake

What You’ll Need:

• 4 eggs
• 8oz. almond paste
• 2 sticks softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 drops red food coloring
• 6 drops green food coloring
• 8 drops yellow food coloring
• 1/4 cup red raspberry preserves
• 1/4 cup apricot preserves
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

What You’ll Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Separate your eggs.

In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on high with a wire whisk for eight minutes. Stop the mixer. Beat on high for an additional two minutes until soft peaks form. Set them aside.

Break the almond paste into small pieces and add them to the stand mixer’s bowl.

Add the butter, sugar, and egg yolks.

Beat on high with the flat beater until the almond paste is completely broken down, about ten minutes.

Keep in mind this is your only chance to break down the almond paste, and you need it to be completely smooth for the cake to be successful. So don’t try to rush this step. It will ruin the taste of your cake if you do.

Add the flour to the mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Beat on low until combined.

Fold in the egg whites.

Split the mixture into three bowls.

Add the red food coloring to one bowl, green to another, and yellow to the last. Stir them until the color is combined.

Let the dough rest 20 to 30 minutes.

Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. If you have three same-sized pans, that’s great. If you only have one pan (like me), you’ll have to bake these one at a time.

Spread one of the colored doughs into the pan. Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool, then move it (with the parchment) to a wire rack. Bake the next two cakes in the same manner.

Let the three cakes cool completely.

Now it’s time to build your cake.

Put the green cake (and its parchment paper) back into the 8-inch round pan. Top it with an even layer of raspberry preserves.

Remove the yellow cake from its parchment paper and put it on top of the raspberry preserves.

Evenly spread the apricot preserves on top.

Flip the pink cake upside down (so the smooth bottom is on top). Remove it from its parchment paper and place it on top of the apricot preserves.

Wrap the cake in foil.

Put anything heavy that you have handy (I went with tomatoes) on top of the foil to weight it down. Place the cake in the fridge overnight.

The next day, remove the cake from the fridge. Take off the foil and parchment paper.

You want the edges to be as even as possible, so use a sharp knife to carefully remove any excess cake from the side of the cake.

Melt half of the chocolate chips and use that to cover the top of the cake. Do your best to make a sharp edge around the top of your cake (that’s really for presentation purposes only).

Melt the other half of the chocolate chips. Using an icing spreader, put a thin, even layer of chocolate around the side of the cake.

When the chocolate has cooled, wrap the parchment back around the cake and put it back in the cake pan. Put the foil back on top and put it in the fridge overnight.

Slice and serve.

Are Italian Rainbow Cookies Italian?

Italian Rainbow Cookies are a little bit of a misnomer. So, let’s break them down a little bit.

Are they Italian?

Not exactly.

They’re Italian-America, and you’ll find them in Italian bakeries, as well as American bakeries and big box stores. You won’t (as far as I know) actually find them in Italy.

Are Italian Rainbow Cookies Rainbow?

So, they’re not Italian and they’re not rainbows. There are only three colors in this: Red, Yellow, and Green, which is a nod to the Italian flag. The flag is green, white, and red. But, since there’s no such thing as white food coloring, yellow is substituted.

The Italian flag is sometimes referred to as il Tricolore, in Italian, and these cookies are sometimes called Tricolore.

Are Italian Rainbow Cookies actually cookies?

One out of three isn’t bad, right? Except in this case, we’re 0-for-3. These are not Italian, not rainbow, and not cookies.

Italian Rainbow Cookies are three cakes placed on top of each other, then traditionally cut into mini bites. They’re sold with cookies and packaged with other holiday cookies, so Italian Rainbow Cookies are referred to as cookies.

But they’re made as three cakes, layered on top of each other, cooled as cakes … and then cut into “cookies.”

These are sometimes called Seven-Layer Cookies … although my recipe (and any I’ve ever had) only have six layers: three layers of cake, two layers of filling, and a layer of chocolate on top. The seventh layer (I’ve heard) is a layer of chocolate on the bottom. That sounds delicious, but I’ve actually never seen them made that way. I have sometimes seen then with a layer of chocolate sprinkles on top, so maybe that’s the second layer.

So the name of these Italian Rainbow Cookies is very confusing, but the taste is amazing and makes you forget all about the misleading name.

How do you store the Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake?

If you don’t eat the entire Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake in one sitting, you can rewrap it in parchment paper and foil and store it in the fridge for four to five days. Anything longer than that and the cake gets really hard.

If you’re not going to finish it in that time, you can cut it into slices, wrap them in foil, put them in a freezer-safe bag, and store them in the freezer. When you’re ready, pull the slice of Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake out of the freezer, allow it to defrost, and then enjoy it with a strong cup of coffee.

Would you make this Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake?