Rainbow Cheesecake Swirl Bars

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I stole this recipe for rainbow cheesecake swirl bars from hungryhappenings.com. I was looking for a spring dessert to bring to a party. You can adjust the colors of the rainbow cheesecake as desired. But the original recipe has such cute spring colors, they would make a great Easter dessert, they are definitely worth finishing your vegetables for.

 

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 9×13 pan with foil or sprayed parchment paper.

Start with the cake layer first. Combine 1 box Betty Crocker Moist White cake mix, ½ cup melted butter, 1 egg and 2/3 cup milk in a bowl. Stir until combined. Batter will be thick like brownie mix.

Divide equally into 6 bowls (~ ½ cup batter per bowl). Using 6 different Betty Crocker gel food colors; color one bowl each of the following colors: purple, blue, yellow, green, orange and pink. Reserve 1 tbsp of each color in a separate bowl or cup.

Be generous with the dye, the more you use the brighter the colors are in the finished dessert. I had to purchase 2 different gel color boxes to get a variety of colors, but I still ended up with 2 shades of green. You may need to shop around to find more colors.

Spoon colored batter a spoonful at a time into bottom of pan, alternating as you go.

Wet hands, slightly press batter, flattening where needed.

Add 1 ½ tsp of milk to each bowl of the reserved 1 tbsp of batter, stir to thin out.

Start on the cheesecake layer next. In a separate bowl, stir together cream cheese and sugar. Add vanilla and egg; stir until smooth.

Pour cheesecake filling over layer of cake batter. Drizzle thinned color batter over top, swirl with knife or toothpick. (The picture below is from the first batch I made, I used less food coloring so the colors are more muted.)

Bake 20 minutes uncovered; cover with foil (to prevent browning) bake an additional 14 to 20 minutes.

Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 2 hours (center will firm as cake cools). Cut 6 by 4 to get 24 servings. Store in refrigerator.

I found it easier to remove the whole cake from the pan using the parchment paper to lift it out after it finished cooling. Then I cut the bars to plate them. (This was the first batch where I used less food coloring, I used more for the second batch for brighter colors. The picture at the top of the post is from the second batch.)

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Rainbow Cheesecake Swirl Bars

A colorful swirled cake with a cheesecake top layer.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 25 minutes
Servings 24
Author Recipe Thief

Ingredients

  • Cake portion:
  • 1 box Betty Crocker Moist White Cake Mix
  • ½ cup butter melted
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup milk separated, plus 9 tsp
  • Betty Crocker gel food colors Neon Pink, Neon Orange, Neon Purple
  • Betty Crocker gel food colors Yellow, Green, Blue
  • Cheesecake portion:
  • 1 ½ blocks (12 oz) cream cheese softened
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line 9x13 pan with foil or sprayed parchment paper.

  2. Combine cake mix, melted butter, egg and 2/3 cup milk in a bowl. Stir until combined. Batter will be thick like brownie mix. Divide equally into 6 bowls (~ ½ cup batter per bowl).

  3. Color one bowl each of the following colors: purple, blue, yellow, green, orange and pink. Reserve 1 tbsp of each color in a separate bowl or cup.

  4. Spoon colored batter a spoonful at a time into bottom of pan, alternating as you go. Wet hands, slightly press batter, flattening where needed.
  5. Add 1 ½ tsp of milk to each bowl of the reserved 1 tbsp of batter, stir to thin out.
  6. In a separate bowl, stir together cream cheese and sugar. Add vanilla and egg; stir until smooth.
  7. Pour cheesecake filling over layer of cake batter. Drizzle thinned color batter over top, swirl with knife or toothpick.

  8. Bake 20 minutes uncovered; cover with foil (to prevent browning) bake an additional 14 to 20 minutes.

  9. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 2 hours (center will firm as cake cools). Cut 6 by 4 to get 24 servings. Store in refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

Make sure to use enough food coloring to keep the colors bright. This recipe can easily be adapted to change colors for special occasions or team colors. Instead of using 6 bowls to color, adjust bowls down to the number of colors you need.

I found it easier to remove the whole cake from the pan using the parchment paper to lift it out after it finished cooling. Then I cut the bars to plate them. I was able to cut the bars more evenly without the edges of the pan hitting the knife.