“I love that after a day when nothing is sure – and when I say “nothing’ I mean nothing – you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort,” said Amy Adams in the 2009 movie “Julie & Julia.”

I have to agree. Baking soothes my mind and my soul, and I love sharing with other people what I have created. Granted, I have garnered a bit of a reputation when it comes to producing delectable baked goods, but there are times when even I feel I have outdone myself.

My boyfriend’s 22nd birthday was a quiet, at-home affair, but I wanted to do something special for him. Most anyone can bake a cake with the help of the ubiquitous Betty Crocker &- and I am not dissing her involvement at all; she even helped me with this &- but I wanted to do something beyond the traditional chocolate cake.

A few weeks before, I had been browsing recipes on foodie blogs Tastespotting and Food Gawker. I came across a recipe for a cake with 14 layers and immediately was in awe of the baker’s time and dedication. I had to make that cake … but with a few modifications.

I wanted to make a rainbow cake, with each layer a different color. It would have to be 12 layers to accommodate the restrictions of visible light and my doubtful ability to create indigo-colored cake with gel food coloring, but I had hope it would still be amazing.

It was.

Even before I get into the recipe, do yourself a favor and buy enough foil pie pans for the number of layers you want to have. This will run you about $8, but the time saved by not having to wash pans and wait for them to cool down is what makes this cake even worth the attempt.

If you have a cake recipe that you want to make by hand, feel free to use that; I used boxed cake mix because I made the decision to make this cake around 2 p.m. for a party that started at 5 p.m.

12-layer Rainbow Cake

Cake

2 boxes white or vanilla cake mix, plus the other, necessary back-of-the-box ingredients

6 bowls

Food coloring

12 foil pie pans. I am really not kidding about this one.

Parchment paper (optional)

Butter or canola oil

Flour

Glaze

2 cups sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 cup butter

1 can evaporated milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Sprinkles for garnish

Prepare the cake mix according to the package directions. Divide the batter into the six bowls &- about two cups per bowl. Color each of the bowls with a different color. I did the basic colors red through purple, but you could do different ones. Try different shades of green for St. Patrick’s Day or pastel colors for Easter.

If you have parchment paper, cut out 12 circles in the diameter of your pie plates. If you do not have it, grease the pans with a little butter or canola oil. I like using the butter wrappers because it saves time. Pour two tablespoons of flour into one pan, then tilt and rotate it over another until the bottom and sides are coated with flour. The excess will drop into the other pie pan. Repeat 11 times, or until your hands get tired.

Set your oven to the right temperature and put one cup of each color into the pie pans. You should end up with two of each color that you picked.

You likely will be able to bake four layers at a time. Generally, the bake times should be close to what the package said, but keep an eye on them while you make the glaze.

Combine all the glaze ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and stir until it has thickened to the consistency of Hershey’s syrup.

Continue baking until you have 12 rainbow-colored disks of cake cooling on various work surfaces. If you have cooling racks and jelly roll pans to catch all the dripping glaze, use those. If you are like me and like to do things the difficult way, put your cake on a large platter. It will taste just the same.

After you have placed your bottom layer, cover it with a generous amount of glaze. You want it to drip down the sides, but not overflow. Place the next layer on top and do the same thing and repeat until you have 12 gooey and chocolatey layers.

Slowly pour the remaining glaze over the top of the cake. If necessary, spoon some of the glaze that pooled at the bottom over the top again to make sure all the layers are covered. Then, cover the whole thing with sprinkles. Go crazy. Make up for all those times your mom would not let you put more sprinkles on something.

When you slice through those 12 layers and see your creation on the plate, all the time and effort spent should no longer feel wasted. Your cake may be rough around the edges and there may be a few sprinkle-less bald spots, but that interior should buoy your spirits.

And it tastes pretty good, too.

Alexandra Poggione can be reached at [email protected]