The thing that makes this rainbow color palette extra cohesive is mixing up the primary colors first (pink, yellow, and blue), then mixing those colors together to make all the colors in between (orange, green, and purple). This process can help tie the color palette together better than mixing each of the 6 colors individually. You’re able to customize each color as you go along (add more pink to your purple to warm it up, add more blue to your green to cool it down, etc) without going overboard or making any color more vibrant than the rest. It helps to know a little bit about color theory for making adjustments, but even if you don’t know the first thing about color theory, this blog post should help.  

A Word About Color Gels + Buttercream

The color gels I love most for my cake projects are AmeriColor Soft Gel Pastes and the Wilton Color Right Performance Food Coloring System, and I always use them with American Buttercream. Note that if you’re using a different kind of buttercream, it may not take these color gels as easily. For meringue based buttercreams, I recommend using oil-based color gels like Colour Mill for best results. 

Before we get started with color mixing, here are a couple other blog posts that could really help with getting your buttercream just right, including my go-to buttercream recipe:

• How to Make the Perfect Buttercream Consistency
• A Guide to Coloring Buttercream Frosting
• Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

Here’s a video of the entire rainbow color palette process in case you want to watch vs. read about it below: 

If you’re into cake videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube channel for further learning! I’m always rolling out new videos, so click the subscribe button while you’re there to ensure you never miss a new one. 

You Will Need

• 2+ batches of vanilla buttercream (or other white-colored buttercream)
• Blue color gel (I used AmeriColor Sky Blue)
• Pink color gel (I used AmeriColor Deep Pink)
• Yellow color gel (I used AmeriColor Egg Yellow)
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing

Step 1: Mix the Primary Colors

Reserve 1-2 cups of buttercream (in case you need to tone any colors down), then divide the rest of the buttercream between three bowls. The primary colors are yellow, blue, and red (in this case, pink), so those are the colors we’ll mix first. 

Add a few drops of pink or red into the first bowl, a few drops of blue into the second bowl, and a few drops of yellow into the third bowl. It’s best to start with a small amount and add more color gel from there, especially if you’re mixing a pastel color palette. Keep in mind that the colors will darken slightly with time. 

Step 2: Mix the Secondary Colors

Once you’ve got the perfect primary colors, it’s time to mix the secondary colors. When you mix together any two primary colors, the result is a secondary color: 

• 1 part Red + 1 part Yellow = Orange
• 1 part Yellow + 1 part Blue = Green
• 1 part Blue + 1 part Pink = Purple 

Use the formulas above to mix the primary colors together into three new bowls. Start with about ¼ Cup of each primary color and add more as needed in the next step. 

Step 3: Adjust Color Temperature as Needed 

At any point in your color mixing, you can customize any color by changing its temperature. For example, if your green is looking too yellow (or too warm), adding a little more blue can help cool it down. If your orange is looking too pink or red, add a little more yellow to balance it out. Here are some formulas (and a mixing chart!) to help you make the perfect tones:

• Green + more Blue = Blue-Green (cooler)
• Green + more Yellow = Yellow-Green (warmer)
• Purple + more Blue = Blue-Purple (cooler)
• Purple + more Red = Red-Purple (warmer) 
• Orange + more Red = Red-Orange (cooler)
• Orange + more Yellow = Yellow-Orange (warmer)

When adjusting your color temperature, start with 1 Tbsp of added primary color and add more from there if needed. Again, it’s best to start small. 

Once you’re happy with your rainbow color palette, you’re ready to start decorating! Here are some rainbow cake projects to inspire you: 

Pastel Rainbow Birthday Cake: I used a pastel rainbow color palette to create this pretty piped cake. The full tutorial is here.

Cascading Rainbow Cake: I used the same piping techniques from this cascading cake + added these cute little icing rainbows I found from Wilton.

Piped Rainbow Ombrè Cake: I mixed three different shades of each rainbow color on this cake, then used Wilton Tips 1M, 32, and 16 to create the textures as I piped all the colors in an ombrè layout.

Spatula Painted Rainbow Cake: I mixed lots of different rainbow shades for this one and used this spatula painted technique to apply them as a gradient.

I’d love to see what you create with your rainbow color palette! Leave a comment below letting me know about your project or feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post The Easiest Way to Make Rainbow Buttercream Colors appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

These past few months have been crazy. Between the demands of the holiday season coming up and working on a never-ending list of house projects, I am feeling perpetually frazzled these days. Despite the chaos, I thought a little recipe creating sesh would be perfect for me because baking does something good to my soul. I was right. I put on some Springsteen and decided to try my hand at creating the perfect pumpkin layer cake. Five rounds of bakes and a handful of albums later, I am so thrilled with how this Pumpkin Layer Cake turned out.

I tried baking this recipe with all purpose flour vs. cake flour, with buttermilk vs. whole milk, with just white sugar vs. a combination of white and brown sugars. In the end, the winners were cake flour, buttermilk, and the white and brown sugar combo. It’s deliciously moist because of the buttermilk, totally fluffy from the cake flour, and the combination of sweetness and spice is divine. Just look at this crumb: 

The pumpkin flavor of this cake comes from canned, pureed pumpkin and a medley of beautiful spices: cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ground ginger. It’s so classic to pair this pumpkin layer cake with cream cheese buttercream, and in my opinion the flavor combo never gets old. I bet it would taste amazing with my spiced chai vanilla buttercream too if you want to get really autumnal (imagine a pumpkin spiced chai latte but in cake form!). 

The cream cheese buttercream recipe you’ll find below is sturdy and pipe-able without being overly sweet, which is why it’s my forever go-to. I colored some of it with Americolor Orange and Wedgewood and used Wilton Tips 8B and 4B to pipe those cute little pumpkins on top. Probably the easiest way to create buttercream pumpkins, ever. I piped them into a crescent moon shape because it gives me all the feels, but you do you. 

I decided to repurpose some of the pumpkin cake scraps into toasted cake crumbs that I pressed onto the sides of the cake and sprinkled around the piped pumpkins on top. It adds a great texture and I always feel good about finding a way to use leftover cake! I just crumbled the cake scraps into a pan and toasted them on the stovetop for about 10 minutes, stirring them frequently until they began to crisp. You can toast cake crumbs in the oven as well, but it takes almost an hour at a low temp, and I was impatient (hence the stovetop). Just be sure to let them cool completely before you use them on your cake and you’re good to go!

Print

Perfect Pumpkin Layer Cake

A Fall classic. Layers of moist, fluffy Pumpkin cake with just the right amount of spice, filled and frosted with tasty cream cheese buttercream.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

Pumpkin Layer Cake

• 2 3/4 Cups (290g) cake flour, sifted before measuring
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 Cup (140g) packed brown sugar
• 1 Cup (205g) white granulated sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Cups (12 oz) canned pumpkin puree
• 1 Cup (240ml) full fat buttermilk DIY recipe in notes below

Cream Cheese Buttercream

• 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 16 Oz cream cheese, room temperature brick-style, not the spreadable kind
• 8 Cup (960g) powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Make The Pumpkin Layer Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 9-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and placing a wax or parchment paper circle into the bottom of each one. Measure the cake flour by spooning into your measuring cup and leveling it. Place it into a medium sized bowl and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ground ginger. Whisk together and set aside.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter on high for two minutes until it's light and fluffy. Add in white and brown sugars and continue to mix on high for another two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla and mix for one minute on medium-high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more. 
• With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the buttermilk in a steady stream and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps. Batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
• Pour batter evenly between the cake pans (fill them no more than ⅔ full) and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pan for ten minutes before removing and continuing to cool on a wire rack or flat surface.

Make The Cream Cheese Buttercream

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese on high until light, fluffy, and uniform (no lumps), about five minutes. Turn the mixer to low and add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla and salt, mixing on low for another 30 seconds.

Assembly

• Once the Pumpkin Cake layers have cooled completely, fill and frost the layers with Cream Cheese Buttercream. To create the design pictured, divide the leftover buttercream into four separate bowls. Use food color gel of your choice to create orange buttercream in the first bowl, light blue buttercream in the second, and brown buttercream in the third, keeping the last bowl uncolored. Fit three piping bags with Wilton Tips 8B (for the larger pumpkins) and 4B (for the smaller ones), then fill them with the orange, blue, and white buttercreams. Pipe pumpkins in a crescent moon design on top of the cake, then pipe a dot of brown buttercream on top of each one to look like stems. Finish the cake by pressing toasted cake crumbs** onto the sides and sprinkling them over the top (recipe in the notes below).

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: 

1. The cake layers can be made ahead and stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to two days. Alternatively, you can store the wrapped cake layers in the freezer for up to 2 months before thawing and frosting.
2. The Cream Cheese Buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

*DIY Buttermilk Recipe: Add 1 Tbsp white vinegar into a mason jar or measuring cup. Add one cup (240ml) whole milk and let sit for at least 15 minutes before using in a recipe. 

**Toasted Cake Crumbs Recipe:  crumble cake scraps into a frying pan and toast on the stovetop on medium for about 10 minutes, until the cake crumbs begin to crisp. Let them cool completely before using them in your cake decorating.

This pumpkin layer cake recipe is a true crowd pleaser, perfect for any Fall gathering! I hope you love it as much as I do. Let me know what you think in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram if you post a pic! I love to see what you create.

The post Perfect Pumpkin Layer Cake Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I’m excited to share everything I know about coloring buttercream with you, especially because how I achieve buttercream colors has been one of my most frequently asked questions over the years. I’ve got all the info you need below, but first, here’s a video to walk you through all of the products I love and helpful tips for getting those colors spot on: 

Want to see more Cake Basics videos like this one? Head to my YouTube Channel to see the growing collection. You’ll also find tons of cake recipes and decorating videos there to inspire you and broaden your skill set – be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss a new one!

My Favorite Products:

Although I definitely started out with those liquidy primary food colors you can get in the baking aisle of any grocery store, over the years I’ve learned that using gel-based food colors make a world of difference. Here are the ones I have come to depend on and will be taking about throughout this post:

Americolor Soft Gel Paste Kits: these water-based gels are the best there is (in my opinion). They’re super concentrated, so you don’t need to use a whole lot to get rich colors. They also don’t affect the taste or consistency of your buttercream, and they come in pretty much every color you could imagine – you won’t ever have to worry about mixing custom colors. 

If you’re serious about your buttercream color palettes, I highly recommend getting either the Nifty Fifty Kit or Heavenly Seventy Kit. Like the names suggest, the Nifty Fifty comes with 50 gel colors and the Heavenly Seventy comes with 70 gel colors. Of course, you can purchase any Americolor gel on its own (they come in a few different sized bottles), but it’s always ideal and inspiring to have an entire kit full of color gels on hand. 

Americolor Bright White: whether I want my buttercream to be extra white for frosting a cake or I need to whiten it before adding color (we’ll get to the importance of that below), my favorite icing whitener is hands-down Americolor Bright White. If you’ve ever struggled with buttercream that is too yellow for your liking, I recommend keeping a big bottle of this on hand. 

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System: If you’re not ready to invest in a big kit of Americolor gels and don’t want to keep buying colors one-by-one, the Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System is wonderful. It comes with eight water-based gels that you can mix with one another to create custom colors. Again, these are super concentrated and don’t affect the taste of your buttercream. The only thing I’ll mention with these is that you’ll need to know some basic color theory to achieve the colors you want (I’ll give you a mini lesson below!). 

I do realize there are other brands and types of food coloring products out there, but the ones above are the ones I reach for on the daily and are responsible for all the color palettes I’ve been able to create. So with these in mind, read on for everything I know about creating colorful buttercream. 

My Best Tips for Getting the Colors You Want:

1. Consider Your Buttercream Type

First, let’s talk about the type of buttercream I’m using, because that makes a huge difference in the outcome of the color. I use this buttercream recipe for everything I do, which is an American buttercream. Of all the buttercream types, American buttercream is the easiest to color and achieve rich, dark hues with minimal product. 

Other types of buttercream, such as Swiss Meringue or other meringue-based buttercreams, don’t take color as easily due to the high fat content not being as compatible with water-based gels. This may mean either the need to use more product, use different types of product (such as oil-based gels), wait longer for the color to develop and deepen, or use alternative methods of coloring the buttercream. I’ve never worked with any other type of buttercream before, so if Swiss Meringue (or another type) is your go-to, you may need to research the best methods and products to use for what you’re working with. 

2. Start with the Right Base Color 

Remember those elementary school lessons about colors? Yellow + blue = green and so on? Well along these same lines, when coloring buttercream it’s important to know that whatever color your buttercream is to start with (aka the base color) will mix with any color you add, which has a huge effect on the final color. To get the purest color palettes, you’ll want to start with a white buttercream, because white + any color = that same color (which intensifies as you add more color).

My go-to vanilla buttercream recipe is pretty pale in tone to begin with and easy to mix with colors, but if you’re starting with a more yellow-toned buttercream, that yellow color will mix with whatever color you add to it. To combat this, you’ll need a good icing whitener like the Americolor Bright White mentioned above. I add a teaspoon or two to each batch of my buttercream at the very end of the recipe, make sure it’s mixed in well, and just look at the difference it makes: 

It’s totally fine to start with yellowish buttercream if the end result of your coloring session will be in the yellow-toned family (yellow, orange, lime green, etc), but just keep in mind that the base color will affect the end result. Other than that, the only time I recommend not starting with white buttercream is if you need to achieve the colors black, deep burgundy, or dark brown. In those cases, always start with chocolate buttercream because it’s much easier to go from brown to black (and so on) than it is to go from white to black. 

3. Start Small

It takes practice to know how much buttercream you’ll need for different scenarios – what amount is ideal for filling and frosting a cake? Or for the final frosting layer on top of a crumb coated cake? Or for just a few buttercream flowers? Because those amounts vary so greatly, it’s almost impossible to come up with a “recipe” (or how many drops to use) for different color intensities.

I will say that the smaller the amount of buttercream you start with, the smaller the amount of color gel you’ll need to use to get a rich color. That being said, if you’re going for a pastel color and starting with a small amount, it’s also easy to add too much color gel and go overboard. Once you have the amount of buttercream measured out, the best way to approach coloring buttercream is start with a small amount of gel to see what color you end up with and go from there. 

To demonstrate, I’ve got two bowls here with about ½ Cup of buttercream each. I’ll start by adding about half a drop of Fuchsia color gel to the bowl on the right and mixing it all together. 

After mixing it all together, I can see we end up with a super slight pink color and can feel more comfortable adding one more drop to achieve a Fuchsia pastel.

Now I’ll double the amount (so, three drops) to the bowl on the left to show you how quickly this color can intensify. 

The more buttercream you have, the more drops you’ll need to use to intensify or darken the color. Because of this, you’ll just need to practice and be sure to always start with a tiny bit of gel unless you want a super dark color to begin with. 

4. Allow Time for Colors to Deepen

Not only does the color get richer and richer the more color gel you add, it’s also important to know that these colors will actually darken a little more over time. Again, this is going to take some practice and patience, but just look at how these Fuchsia colors from the above example have darkened after 15 minutes:

And then after 30 minutes: 

So whether you’re going for a dark color or not, be sure to factor in that the color will most likely get a little bit darker over time. 

5. Study Up on Color Theory

Especially if you’re mixing custom colors, knowing a thing or two about color theory will make you so much more confident. Here’s a great article that covers the basics, like what happens when you mix certain colors together and how to make a color warmer or cooler. The Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System that I mentioned in my “favorite products” section above comes with eight different color gels that you can mix together to create certain shades. It even comes with a handy little guide on how to make certain colors, but I still think it’s really important to know color theory, because sometimes the color you mix up is just a little off and knowing color theory will help you learn how to fix it. 

To demonstrate, I’ll show you how I would create a few different variations of purple buttercream starting with one drop of pink and one drop of blue. Notice that we end up with a cool-toned purple pastel color: 

The more blue you add to this color, the cooler it will be and the more pink you add, the warmer it will be. I want a warmer toned purple, so I’m going to add another drop of pink. See how the tone of the color changes? 

Now that I have a sort of “recipe” for this color, I can darken it by adding another round – one drop of blue and two drops of pink. I’ll keep doing this, adjusting the tone as necessary, until I end up with the color I’m going for – all the while knowing that time will intensify the color. 

If you’re ever stumped on how to mix a certain color, you can always Google how to make it as well. There are a lot of painting and art websites that will note the different colors that make up a turquoise blue or a forest green, so if you just Google things like “how to mix (name of color)” the results may be art-related but so helpful! 

6. Learn How to Lighten Colors 

Just in case you made a color and realized that after time it’s too dark or not right in some other way, having a little extra white buttercream or Americolor Bright White around is a life saver. Mixing in a little bit of white buttercream or icing whitener will help lighten the color so you can achieve the shade you were wanting to begin with instead of having to start from scratch. 

I hope all of this is helpful for your buttercream color palettes! It really does open up a whole new world of creativity when you have a great buttercream recipe, the right products, and know how to use them. So excited for you to explore some new possibilities with colors! 

Want more Cake Basics? Head here to see all of the posts and learn the methods of caking I’ve come to love over the years. I’m cheering you on every step of the way!

The post A Guide to Coloring Buttercream Frosting appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

To celebrate two years of cake blogging, I’ve partnered with my friends at Americolor to give away one of their incredible Heavenly Seventy Kits! Just like the name implies, this kit comes with seventy color gels that will take your cakes to the next level. Whether you’re tinting buttercream, cake batter, fondant, gumpaste, ganache, or any other food that can be tinted with water-based gel, Americolor has (in my humble opinion) the best colors on earth. They’re so concentrated that you don’t need to use much to get rich color, they don’t alter consistency, and they are tasteless so you never have to worry about ruining flavors. They will change your life when it comes to color palettes!

For your chance to win this Heavenly Seventy Kit, be sure to follow along on my Instagram and keep your eye out for the giveaway post. The giveaway will be open from May 13th at 10:00am PST to May 14th at 11:59 PST. Aaaand it’s open WORLDWIDE, so as long as you’re over the age of 18 and have a valid shipping address, you’re good to go! 

There are 20 different shades of Americolor gels on this rainbow cake just to show you a fraction of what you can expect with this Heavenly Seventy kit! The most beautiful colors ever.

So happy to celebrate this milestone and looking forward to all that year three will bring! The only thing I know for certain is that things will look a bit different around here. I’ll still be bringing you tasty recipes and fun cake tutorials, but I’m also working hard on a project I’m calling Cake Basics – a series of videos and blog posts that cover the very basics of cake making! I’ll be walking you through all the simple methods I’ve come to lean on over the years that make a world of difference, all in hopes of giving you even more confidence with your cake making. I can’t wait to show you! 

One other thing I’m certain of for year three: there will be 100% more baby pics on here than previous years. My sweet baby boy is due in August and I could not be more excited! 

To wrap it all up and take a walk down memory lane, here are a few of my favorite recipes and decorating tutorials from this past year:

Floral Sheet Cake Tutorial

This is hands-down my favorite way to decorate a sheet cake. Just choose your favorite color palette, follow these quick and easy piping techniques, and you’ll end up with a beautiful cake for celebrating anything.

Cactus Cake

A true crowd favorite, I love seeing this cactus cake recreated all over Instagram. Such a simple design, but these desert vibes are just so pretty! Featuring a buttercream ombre sunset, piped cacti, and edible (graham cracker) sand. 

Lemon Layer Cake

Last spring, I decided to try my hand at the perfect lemon layer cake and I’m so proud of how this one turned out (after lots of tries!). I paired it with freeze-dried blueberry buttercream and oh my. Just look at how beautiful that buttercream is! Such a classic flavor pairing. 

Striped Buttercream Cake Tutorial

I finally learned how to use a cake comb for buttercream stripes and just love how perfectly spaced they turn out! This was another one of those techniques that took some trial and error, but this tutorial tells all in hopes of helping you create perfectly striped buttercream cakes. 

Buttercream Painted Floral Cake 

If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at spatula painted florals, here’s your chance! All you need is a great buttercream color scheme and a few palette knives. It’s basically art therapy at its tastiest. 

Mint Chocolate Cookie Cake Recipe

This recipe was fully inspired by my love for Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, and if you’re a fan this cake will not disappoint! Layers of decadent mint chocolate cake, mint chocolate cookie crumbles, and mint chocolate chip buttercream. So tasty!   

Knitted Sweater Cake

Inspired by the coziest wool yarn ever, the color and textures on this knitted sweater cake ended up so swoon worthy. This tutorial shows you how to get the look with just three piping tips and some easy buttercream techniques.

Thanks again for following along and encouraging me every step of the way! Can’t wait for what’s in store for year three. If you have any requests for recipes, tutorials, or videos, let me know in the comments below! 

The post Sugar & Sparrow is TWO! appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Although there’s a ton of texture going on here, the design could not be simpler to create. I used a mix of simple fondant flowers, buttercream piped flowers, and sprinkles to make this cascading bouquet of blooms come to life. Incorporating all three of those elements helps to give depth to the design, but I’ve also created this cascading floral look with just buttercream and both ways look incredible! Whatever techniques you use, as long as you nail this floral placement, you really can’t lose. 

If you do include the cute little fondant flowers, I do recommend making them at least a day ahead, just because they’re much easier to work with when they’re firm. I made them with this plunger cutter set and loved how quick they were to cut out in a variety of sizes and colors. Allowing them to dry in a semi-sphere mold (or even on the inside curve of a bowl!) really helped give the petals the perfect shape. Probably the easiest fondant flowers I’ve ever made!  

And as far as the buttercream flowers go, all they really take is the right piping tips and a fun color palette. Including the Fuschia background color I used for the cake, this color palette consists of seven different buttercream colors! I do tend to get a little carried away when color mixing sometimes (it’s therapeutic!) but keep in mind that you can create this look with less colors, or really any color palette you want. With that in mind, feel free to follow the tutorial below closely or use it as inspiration for your floral cake creation. You do you! 

Here’s a quick video to show you the decorating techniques before you read all about them below:

Be sure to check out my YouTube channel to see even more cake decorating videos, tutorials, and recipes. Hit the Subscribe button while you’re there so you never miss a new video!

You Will Need 

• A 6-inch cake, filled and frosted in a solid color of your choice
• 3 1-inch balls of fondant
• Small rolling pin
• 1 tsp vegetable shortening
• Flower Plunger Cutter Set
• Flower drying mold
• 1 batch of vanilla buttercream
• Food color gels of your choice
• Bowls and spoons for mixing
• Piping bags
• Wilton Tip 1M (x2)
• Wilton Tip 4B (x2)
• Wilton Drop Flower tips: 190 and 225
• Sprinkles of your choice (I used the Sea Glass Mix by Sprinkle Pop)

Step 1: Make the Fondant Flowers

At least a day ahead (so the fondant flowers have time to dry), color the three 1-inch balls of fondant according to your chosen color scheme. I used Americolor Lemon Yellow, Fuschia, and Regal Purple for the colors shown below.

Coat a flat surface with a little bit of vegetable shortening, then roll the fondant out to about ⅛ inch thick.

Use the flower plungers to cut out a variety of floral shapes, gently pressing the plunge button to create the dot center on each one.

Finally, set the flowers to dry in a semi-sphere mold or the inside of a bowl so that the petals dry with some upward lift.

After about 24 hours, your fondant flowers should be dry and fully ready to use on your cake.

Step 2: Prepare the Buttercream 

Divide the vanilla buttercream evenly amongst separate bowls, one per color in your palette. Then color each bowl with your favorite color gels. For the color palette shown below, I used Americolor Fuschia, Lemon Yellow, Regal Purple (for both the light and dark purple), Turquoise (for both the light and dark turquoise), and Peach.

When your buttercream colors are ready to go, fit your piping bags with tips and fill each one with a different color. I fit the Fuschia and dark Regal Purple piping bags with Wilton Tip 1M, the Lemon Yellow and dark Turquoise piping bags with Wilton Tip 4B, the Peach bag with Wilton Tip 190, and the light Regal Purple and light Turquoise bags with Wilton Tip 225.

Feel free to use any variety of floral piping tips and colors you’d like for this look! 

Step 3: Decorate the Top of the Cake 

On the top of your frosted cake, start by piping some scattered rosettes with Wilton Tip 1M in a crescent moon shape.

Use the piping bags fitted with Wilton Tip 4B to pipe stars that follow the same crescent moon shape, allowing plenty of space to fill in with more florals.

Fill in most of the space with your drop flowers using Wilton Tips 190 and 225. If you’ve never piped a drop flower before, they’re super easy! Simply hold the piping tip at a 90 degree angle (straight down) about ⅛ inch from the cake surface. Then, twist the tip in a clockwise motion while you squeeze to swirl the petals before releasing.

Next, add the fondant flowers wherever you’d like, standing them at different angles. They’re super light weight, so they should stick right onto the buttercream without shifting or falling over.

Finally, fill in the empty spaces with spherical sprinkles of varying sizes. I loved adding some of the sprinkles to the buttercream flowers to give them a pretty center!

Step 4: Create the Floral Cascade 

To make these beautiful blooms look like they’re cascading down the side of the cake, repeat the above steps for piping, adding fondant flowers, and attaching sprinkles – only this time at a diagonal angle. Starting near one of the edges of the crescent moon shape you created along the top, pipe scattered rosettes diagonally down the side of the cake.

Pipe more stars with Wilton Tip 4B in that same diagonal direction down the side, then fill in most of the empty space with the drop flower tips to complete the general cascading shape.

Accent your cascading florals with fondant flowers and sprinkles until you are totally satisfied with all the textures going on.

This is one of those cake designs I get totally lost in and just keep adding things until I feel like it’s time to step back and marvel. These floral textures get me every time!

So pretty, right? I can’t wait to see your cascading floral cake creations – be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me! We could all use something pretty to look at nowadays, so no matter what your reason is for making this cake design, it’s sure to bring some life to this crazy season. Hope you’re all safe, well and staying creative (or doing whatever brings you joy these days)!

The post Cascading Floral Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This cake design is ever so slightly revamped (don’t mind my terrible pre-DSLR food photography in this original photo), but in the best way. It’s mostly because JOANN sent me a big box of Valentine’s Day goodies just for fun, and in it I found these amazing Wilton Icing Heart Decorations and the perfect sprinkles for my color palette. I ended up ditching the conversation hearts and adding in those extras instead. And speaking of the color palette, I am super into Americolor Dusty Rose right now, so I designed the whole color scheme around it. The warm pink and red tones are giving me all the feels (don’t worry, I’ll show you how to replicate the colors below). 

This design all begins by making your own fondant hearts. I colored some Satin Ice fondant to match my buttercream color palette and used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the decorations. In about 24 hours (flip them halfway in between), they’re dry and ready to use. One question I get a lot is how I stick them to the side of the cake without weighing anything down. The answer is this: just make sure they’re only about ⅛ inch thick when you make them. They’ll end up weighing barely anything, so you can just stick them right into the buttercream and they’ll hold up perfectly. The buttercream piping serves as extra “glue” to keep them in place as well. 

Here’s a quick video to show you my technique for making fondant hearts and cascading them down the side of the cake with all the pretty details. I’ve written out all the steps below, but be sure to give this video a watch first for visualization: 

If you’re into cake decorating videos like this one, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel! I love making videos and am adding new ones there all the time, from cake decorating techniques to my go-to recipes. Head over there and click the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

You Will Need

• A 6-inch cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Food color gels of your choice
• 2 ounces of fondant 
• Small rolling pin
• 1 tsp vegetable shortening 
• Small heart cookie cutter (mine is about 2 inches tall) 
• Cake turntable
• Angled Icing Spatula 
• Icing Smoother
• Wilton Tip 4B (x2)
• Wilton Tip 199 
• Piping Bags
• Wilton Icing Hearts Decorations
• Wilton Valentine’s Day Sprinkles

Step 1: Make the Fondant Hearts

With your hands coated in a little bit of vegetable shortening, knead the fondant until it’s the consistency of Play-Doh. Divide the fondant in half and color each half a different color. I used a mixture of Americolor Fuschia + Super Red to create the dark red color, and just a tiny bit of Fuschia to create the light pink color. 

Spread a little vegetable shortening onto a fondant mat or smooth cutting board, then roll the first fondant color out to about ⅛ inch thickness. Then, use the heart cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes. 

Repeat with the other fondant color and allow the heart shapes to dry for at least 24 hours, flipping them halfway through so that each side dries thoroughly. 

Step 2: Create the Buttercream Color Palette

Add about 3 cups of vanilla buttercream to a medium sized bowl, then divide the remaining buttercream evenly amongst three smaller bowls. The largest bowl is what you’ll be using to frost the cake, so color it whatever hue you’d like as your backdrop. I went with a light shade of Americolor Dusty Rose. 

The remaining bowls will be what you use for the accent piping in the cascading decoration. I colored two of the bowls with Dusty Rose (one a little lighter than the cake background color and one a bit darker), and the last bowl with a mixture of Americolor Fuschia and a small drop of Super Red to warm up the color. 

When you’re happy with your color palette, add the small bowls of buttercream into three separate piping bags, each fitted with either Wilton Tip 4B or 199. 

Step 3: Frost The Cake

With your chilled and crumb coated cake on a turntable, use the largest bowl of buttercream to frost a smooth finish onto the cake. Start by frosting a smooth layer on the very top of the cake with your angled icing spatula. 

Next, add buttercream to the sides of the cake and glide your icing smoother over them while turning the turntable to create smooth sides. 

You’ll notice a crown of buttercream forming on the top edges of the cake, which is essential to getting sharp edges on the top. Use your angled icing spatula to swipe the crown inwards (toward the top center of the cake). Repeat until you’ve got nice sharp edges. 

When your cake is looking ultra smooth, pop it into the refrigerator to firm up for about 20 minutes. If you want more tips on creating a perfectly smooth cake finish, I’ve got a great tutorial for you here. 

Step 4: Create The Cascading Heart Design

First, stick the fondant hearts onto the top of the cake in a semi-straight line from the edge to just past the center. Make sure they look perfectly imperfect by sticking them in at different heights and angles. 

Next, use the piping bags to pipe open stars all around the hearts. Add sprinkles and icing heart decorations wherever your heart desires.

Place more fondant hearts down the side of the cake at an angle, connecting from the hearts on top towards the bottom middle of the cake. The fondant hearts should stick right into the buttercream and stay in place without weighing anything down. 

Add more buttercream piping all around the fondant hearts (this helps to truly ensure that they’ll stay in place).

Finally, add the finishing touches with sprinkles and more icing heart decorations. The icing hearts are my favorite! 

And just like that, you’ve got the most perfect cascading heart cake ever! It looks pretty complex, but can you believe how simple it is to create?

I’m in love with this one and I hope you are too! Let me know if you make this cake for Valentine’s Day (or any day!) by tagging @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram or leaving a comment on this post. I love to see your work inspired by my designs!

The post Cascading Heart Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day with your s/o or Galentine’s Day with your best gals, it’s the perfect reason to whip up something sweet, pretty, and made with love. If you’re looking for a dessert that’s quick and easy (but looks like you spent lots of time and effort!), this cupcake project is for you! All it takes is your favorite vanilla buttercream recipe, pink food color gel of your choice, and this stunning Romance sprinkle mix by SprinklePop. And if you’re looking for a great cupcake recipe for underneath all that magic, I’ve got some tasty suggestions below!

First, let’s talk sprinkles. This year I am so delighted to see that SprinklePop has such an amazing lineup of Valentine’s Day sprinkles that will make any dessert look spectacular! I was really drawn to the dreamy vintage color palette of the Romance sprinkle mix, because just look at it! The blend of burgundy, mauve, pale pink, and silver is such an eye-catching alternative to the traditional Valentine’s Day color palette. So classy!

While these sprinkles will look fantastic on a solid-colored buttercream, I thought it would be so fun to create an ombrè effect with white and pink buttercream as I piped these cupcakes. Mixing the colors together into one piping bag is a great way to get a multi-toned rosette without a whole lot of effort. Plus, it really makes these Romance sprinkles shine!

You Will Need

• 12 baked cupcakes (here are some recipe ideas if you need them)
• A batch of your favorite vanilla buttercream recipe
• Pink food color gel
• Bowls and spoons for mixing colors
• A piping bag
• Wilton Tip 1M
• 4 oz. bottle of Romance Sprinkles

Step 1: Mix Up Your Buttercream Colors

For this ombrè look, I divided my batch of buttercream into three bowls. I mixed one of the bowls with Americolor soft gel paste in Fuschia to create dark pink, then mixed a spoonful of the darker pink buttercream with one bowl of white to create a lighter pink. That gives you three colors: white, light pink, and dark pink buttercream.

You can certainly use any pink food color gel to create the color palette that you feel will go best with the sprinkles you’re using on top.

Step 2: Prepare Your Piping Bag

Snip off the end of a piping bag and fit it with Wilton Tip 1M (or any favorite piping tip of yours!). Then, fill one side of the bag with white, another side with light pink, and the final side with dark pink buttercream. It’ll look a little something like this:

You should then have close to equal amounts of buttercream colors being piped at the same time.

Step 3: Pipe The Rosettes

One by one, pipe a swirl starting in the middle of the cupcake and ending on the outer edge.

I think the coolest thing about piping rosettes with multi-colored piping is that no two will look identical. Each one is beautiful in it’s own way!  

Step 4: Sprinkle Some Romance

After piping the rosettes, finish by sprinkling the Romance sprinkles wherever you’d like! I’ve chosen to add a few sprinkles on one half of each cupcake, but you can feel free to be as generous with the sprinkles as you’d like to be.

And voila! Totally romantic cupcakes for any Valentine’s Day celebration!

These cupcakes are perfect for a Valentine’s Day dessert, Galentine’s Day soiree, or really any occasion that calls for some pretty cupcakes. The design is super versatile and would look amazing in all sorts of color combinations! Whatever the occasion, let me know if you create some cupcakes inspired by this design in the comments below or by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see your creations!

The post Sprinkled Ombrè Valentine’s Day Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I’m one of those people who starts making big plans for costume ideas months ahead of time and watches all the scary movies as soon as they hit Netflix. So when I saw some sneak peeks of SprinklePop’s Halloween sprinkle lineup, I couldn’t help my brain from bursting with spooky cake ideas! I got my hands on the Monster Mashup sprinkle mix as soon as it hit the shelves and got right to work on planning the ultimate Halloween cake.

The Monster Mashup sprinkle mix is just what it sounds like: a fun collection of monster-esque sprinkles mixed up with some pretty Halloween colored awesomeness. It’s well-saturated with cute candy mummies, googly eyes, and ghosts. Just look at the variety of shapes and colors you get:

In the spirit of Halloween, I decided that the perfect backdrop for these Monster Mashup sprinkles is black buttercream. Pitch black buttercream to be exact. Using a floating technique for placing the sprinkles, it almost looks like those googly eyes, mummies, and ghosts are levitating in the dark! To add to the spook-factor, I’ve also topped the cake with some white cotton candy that’s reminiscent of cauldron smoke.

And because I’m an ultra Halloween nerd, I also tinted the vanilla cake with orange food color gel underneath it all. Everyone knows orange and black are the signature colors of this horrifying holiday. Muah ha ha ha.

I’ve included a full written tutorial below for how to make and assemble this cake, from achieving pitch black buttercream to perfectly placing your Monster Mashup sprinkles. First, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the decorating process: 

Whether you’re in need of a Halloween party showstopper or you just want to make something for the love of spooky cakes, this one’s for you!

You Will Need:

• Chocolate buttercream (here’s the recipe I use)
• 2 tsp Americolor Super Black food color gel
• A great vanilla cake recipe
• A few drops of orange food color gel, optional
• Icing spatula and scraper
• SprinklePop Monster Mashup Sprinkles
• Piping Bag
• Wilton Piping Tip 1M (or another favorite piping tip)
• White cotton candy

Step 1: Make The Chocolate Buttercream

Going from large amounts of white buttercream to black is near impossible. I’ve successfully tinted small quantities before, but in my experience, the easiest way to turn large amounts of buttercream pitch black is to start with your favorite chocolate buttercream recipe. Since brown is not far from black on the color wheel, you won’t have to use a ton of food coloring to get there.

If you don’t yet have a favorite chocolate buttercream recipe, I’ve got a great one for you here! You’ll want to double that recipe to have enough for filling and frosting this cake.

Step 2: Tint The Chocolate Buttercream Black

To get the best consistency of black buttercream, you need a food color gel that’s so concentrated you don’t need to use the entire bottle. My absolute favorite food color gel for the job is Americolor Super Black. It’s a water-based gel and is so powerful you’ll only need a little bit of color! And best of all, it doesn’t affect the taste of your buttercream at all. Not even a little bit.

Once you’ve made your chocolate buttercream, add 2 tsp of Americolor Super Black and make sure it’s fully incorporated. I add it at the end while my buttercream is still in the stand mixer and let the paddle attachment do all the hard work for me.

Step 3: Let The Buttercream Set Overnight

After adding your food color gel, note that your chocolate buttercream won’t be pitch black right away. It’ll probably look a bit like dark concrete. The missing ingredient here is time. In order to let that food color gel work it’s magic, you’ll need to add your buttercream to an airtight container and stick it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, bring it back to room temperature and whip it all back up in your stand mixer.

What you’ll end up with is pitch black buttercream magic!

Step 4: Bake And Cool The Cakes

While your buttercream is setting in the fridge, whip up your favorite vanilla cake recipe and add a few drops of orange food color gel at the end to tint the cakes.

Bake the cakes according to your recipe instructions and let them cool completely before torting the layers to your desired height.

Step 5: Fill And Frost With Black Buttercream

Once your cakes are completely cool and leveled, fill and frost them with your black buttercream. I’ve created a smooth black buttercream finish as the backdrop for my sprinkles.

I use an offset icing spatula and bench scraper to achieve the perfect smooth buttercream finish, and if you need additional tips on how to create this look, you can check out this blog post on how to get the smoothest finish ever.

Step 6: Apply The Monster Mashup Sprinkles

Now for the fun part: adding the sprinkles! To achieve the floating monster sprinkle look, reserve some of the googly eyes, mummies, and ghosts from your Monster Mashup sprinkle mix and set them aside. While the buttercream is still soft enough for the sprinkles to adhere, pour a handful of the Halloween colored sprinkles into your hand and place them around the bottom of the cake.

Cover the entire bottom third of the cake this way, making the top edge of the sprinkle border slightly uneven as you go around.

Once your sprinkle border is complete, take the monster sprinkles you’ve reserved and place them one by one around the top two thirds of the cake. It looks best when there are more monsters toward the bottom and less toward the top. I’ve also chosen to add some of the colored jimmies one by one to fill in some of the blank spaces.

Step 7: Decorate The Top Of The Cake

When your spooky Monster Mashup sprinkle placement is complete, prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 1M or another favorite piping tip of yours. Fill the piping bag with black buttercream and pipe a border around the top of the cake. I’ve chosen to pipe a few swirls around the top of the cake and sprinkle with more Monster Mashup sprinkles.

Stretch out the white cotton candy so it looks a little more like cauldron smoke and less like a clump of cotton, then place it on the top of your cake.

How cool is this cake? Definitely a showstopper for your Halloween festivities! This design will work with any of SprinklePop’s Halloween sprinkles, but I think the Monster Mashup does the trick quite well. Happy Halloween month to all!

The post Spooky Black Buttercream Halloween Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Pretty, right? Before I act like an expert and show you how to create this sprinkle fault line cake, allow me to admit that this was my second attempt. The first go at this technique did not end well at all. The sprinkles got in the way of my smooth buttercream, my fault line was too tiny, and I basically ended up with a ripply, sprinkled mess. Thankfully, I learned some valuable lessons in my first attempt and I can tell you how to avoid cake tragedies like that!

Now, I can confidently say I’ve got all the details of how to make a failproof sprinkle fault line cake below. Here’s a quick video of the process before you read all about it:

You Will Need

• A 6-inch cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Food color gel of your choice (optional)
• 4 oz bottle of Vintage Rose Gold sprinkles (or any fave SprinklePop mix)
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula
• Gold Edible Art Paint (gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka works too)
• Small food-grade paintbrush

Step 1: Separate The Sprinkles

To prepare for your beautiful sprinkle fault line cake, first divide the sprinkles into two separate bowls: one for the jimmies and smaller sprinkles, and one for the large spheres and dragees.

If you’re planning on coloring your buttercream, now is a good time for that too! For this rustic rose color, I used a combination of Americolor Dusty Rose, Peach, and Maroon.

Step 2: Frost Only The Middle Of The Cake

Place your crumb coated cake on a turntable and frost a thin layer of buttercream around only the middle of the cake. Then, smooth it with your icing smoother.

This will become the middle of the fault line, where the sprinkles go.

Step 3: Apply The Small Sprinkles

Place a baking sheet underneath your cake turntable to catch any sprinkles that fall (this part can get messy!). Then, add only the jimmies and smaller sprinkles to the newly frosted portion of your cake.

By leaving the larger sprinkles out of this part, you will prevent them from getting in the way once you frost the buttercream fault line. That was the biggest takeaway from my first time trying this technique. Smaller sprinkles make it easier to achieve a smooth, flawless fault line. Don’t worry though, we’ll add the larger sprinkles in toward the end!

Step 4: Frost The Fault Line

Frost and smooth the top of the cake, then add buttercream to the top third and bottom third of the cake, making sure you stop wherever the sprinkles begin. Feel free to overlap the sprinkles in some areas, but try to keep most of the sprinkles exposed. Also, make sure that the layer of buttercream you add is thicker than the layer of sprinkles. This way when you go to smooth it, your icing smoother will glide over the buttercream without dragging the sprinkles along with it.

Next, smooth the buttercream with your icing scraper to create even sides without touching the sprinkles.

When your sides are looking smooth, use your angled spatula to create sharp edges around the top of the cake by swiping any buttercream from the outer edge toward the top center of the cake.

Once your fault line is looking perfect, chill the cake in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to let the buttercream firm up before moving on to the next step.

Step 5: Add In The Large Sprinkles

Now that the buttercream is nice and set, it’s time to add in the rest of this beautiful sprinkle mix! Add all of the large sprinkles you separated out in Step 1 to the sprinkled portion of the cake.

Continue adding sprinkles until the fault line looks dazzling.

Step 6: Paint The Edges (Optional)

To complete the look, use a small food-grade paintbrush to paint some Gold Edible Art Paint onto the edges of the fault line. As an alternative to Edible Art Paint, you could use gold foil, gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka, or whatever your jam is when it comes to an edible gold look!

And voila! This sprinkle fault line cake is so eye-catching. I love this technique now that I know a few tips and tricks to getting it just right!

I hope you feel a little more confident with your sprinkle fault line cakes now that you know a thing or two. Be sure to try it with your fave SprinklePop mix! And if you found this tutorial helpful for your cake decorating session let me know by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see what you’re caking

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Sprinkle Fault Line Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

A little over a year ago, my husband kept pushing the idea of turning my love for cake into a blog and although I liked the idea of it, I was absolutely terrified of the idea at the same time. I’d never had a blog before, never taken photos with a DSLR camera (so happy I upgraded to this one from my iPhone though!), and had never shared my recipes with anyone. What if they only worked in my own kitchen and were a disaster everywhere else? Somehow, I pushed the fear aside and got to work on what is now Sugar & Sparrow. What a wild ride it’s been!

I want to thank you A MILLION for following along and cheering me on with all this cake stuff. I couldn’t do any of it without you and am so amazed to find myself part of such a kind, inspiring community of bakers. I’m blessed by you all and consider you a huge part of my journey as a cake maker and recipe writer. You’ve grown my confidence a ton and I hope that you’re feeling more confident in the kitchen too!

That being said, to celebrate my blogiversary, I’ll be hosting a few giveaways on my Instagram channel over the next few weeks to give you all a chance to win some of my can’t-live-without cake decorating supplies. I hope they bring you even more kitchen confidence! Here are the details:

• This week: $100 worth of SprinklePop sprinkles (hello!) for making those cakes pop
• Next week: an Americolor Heavenly Seventy kit with (you guessed it!) seventy different soft gel pastes for making the most beautiful buttercream colors on earth.

Details to come on all of those things, be sure to follow along on my Instagram so you don’t miss any of it!

And for a trip down memory lane, here are some of my favorite recipes and tutorials from the past year:

Chocolate Ganache Drip Cake Tips

This is the perfect chocolate ganache recipe for dripping cakes, plus all of my best tips for achieving drip cake greatness!

If you’re working with milk, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate, this one is the best ratio. If you’re more of a white chocolate ganache drip caker, this one is my favorite ratio.  

Salted Caramel Buttercream Recipe

The perfect buttercream recipe for every salted caramel lover! It all starts with a batch of my easy four-ingredient salted caramel, then I’ll show you how to whip it up into tasty buttercream for filling and frosting cakes.

Spatula Painted Cake Tutorial

One of the easiest ways to decorate a colorful, eye-catching cake. Just mix up your favorite color palette, grab a small icing spatula, and go crazy!

Milk & Cereal Cake Recipe

This one’s for all the cereal lovers and it pairs perfectly with your Saturday morning cartoons. The best part about this recipe is it works with any cereal, so grab a box of your favorite and I’ll show you how to turn it into a tasty Milk & Cereal cake, plus how to make the perfect white chocolate milk splash to top it!

Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

One of the number one recipe requests I get is for my basic vanilla buttercream. It’s perfect for piping buttercream flowers, topping cupcakes, and frosting smooth buttercream cakes.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe

A decadent, moist chocolate cake that’s almost as easy as whipping up a box of cake mix! All of the ingredients go into one bowl, making the mixing process totally failproof, and from start to finish you’ll have the perfect chocolate cake batter in about five minutes.

How To Frost A Smooth Buttercream Cake

This tutorial will walk you through all my tips and techniques for frosting a super smooth buttercream cake finish. You’re gonna want to know these tricks!

Thanks again SO MUCH for all of your support and I’m looking forward to all that’s to come in year two and beyond!  

The post Sugar & Sparrow Is ONE! appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.