Watercolor buttercream is the perfect base for all sorts of cake designs, whether you want something simple or elegant. The cakes shown below are actually the same cake decorated two different ways! And as far as buttercream types go, any kind of buttercream that you can tint to your desired colors will work with this tutorial (I’m using my favorite Vanilla Buttercream Recipe).

Most of the watercolor buttercream tutorials out there show you adding all of the colors at once and then smoothing them all together. With this technique, I find that the result ends up being more streaky in nature than I like. So, I usually start out with that technique and then go on to add and smooth the colors one by one to better control the outcome. All of this is shown in the video below, so give it a watch before you move on to the written tutorial below:

If you’re into cake decorating tutorials like this one, head on over to my YouTube Channel. You’ll find all sorts of cake decorating tutorials, recipes, and my entire Cake Basics series in video format. I’m always adding new videos there, so be sure to hit the subscribe button so you’ll always be the first to know about a new one. 

You Will Need

• A cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled (mine is a three layer 6 inch cake, but any size will do)
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Food color gels of your choice (mine are varying amounts of AmeriColor Fuchsia and Orange)
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• Angled spatula
• Icing smoother
• Cake turntable

Step 1: Frost the Cake with a Base Color

First, frost the cake. You don’t need to worry about getting it super smooth this go round, but you will want to make sure it’s nice and level to serve as a base for the colors that will go on top. With your chilled and crumb coated cake on the turntable, add some buttercream to the top and smooth it down with your angled spatula until it’s level and reaches beyond the edges of the cake. 

Next, add a thin layer of buttercream to the sides of the cake and smooth it with your icing smoother as you turn the cake on the turntable. 

When the sides are level and smooth, you should have a little crown of buttercream that has formed along the top edge. Use your angled spatula to swipe that buttercream toward the top center of the cake to create sharp edges all around.

If you want to improve your cake frosting skills, check out this guide that shows everything you need to know about creating a smooth buttercream finish. 

Step 2: Color the Buttercream

Divide the excess buttercream into bowls, one for each color you’re planning on mixing. Add your desired amounts of food color gel to each bowl and mix it up until you’ve got the color palette you’re imagining. 

I mixed up four different colors using AmeriColor Fuchsia and Orange. The lighter pink is just a tiny amount of AmeriColor Fuchsia, while the darker pink is a little more of that added. I did the same with the Orange color – added a tiny amount for the light orange and more for the dark orange. If you want to learn more about buttercream color mixing, here is a post on how to get the colors you’re going for.  

Step 3: Add and Smooth the Colors

I start off the traditional watercolor buttercream way by adding all of the colors at once and then smoothing them with my icing smoother.

With this technique, the colors end up being pretty streaky, but make a good base for the next step where we’ll add more color and definition.

Step 4: Add More Colors One by One

To turn this streaky watercolor cake into a masterpiece, we’ll need to add the colors one by one. I like to add big blobs of one color (I started here with the dark fuchsia on top of those streaks), and smooth it all down before moving onto the next.

After smoothing down the dark fuchsia, I moved on to adding big blobs of dark orange wherever I felt like, then smoothed those colors down. Don’t even worry about mixing colors on top of one another here – blending those colors is what makes the finish look like a watercolor masterpiece.

 Next, I added the light orange and smoothed it down, followed by the light pink. 

You can continue adding and smoothing colors until it looks just right. 

Step 5: Continue Decorating (Optional)

From here, you can keep on decorating the cake however you want! This watercolor base is perfect as-is or with some simple piping on top (as shown below using Wilton Tip 4B).

Or you can go more elegant and add a chocolate ganache drip and some fresh flowers like I did here: 

It’s all up to you! This watercolor look can be dressed up or dressed down depending on what you want to do. 

Did you make this watercolor cake? I want to know how it went and what colors you used! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post Watercolor Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

The best part about this Layered Ombrè Cake is that the design is super forgiving. You start with a smooth buttercream cake, but you don’t need to be meticulous about the finish since half of the cake will be covered up with layers of color. No need to stress about this one! 

Before we get to the written tutorial, be sure to check out this video I whipped up of the process: 

Are you into cake decorating videos like this one? If so, head to my YouTube page to see even more! From decorating tutorials to recipe videos and Cake Basics, you’ll find everything you need there to grow in your cake skills. Be sure to hit the Subscribe button so you never miss a new video. 

You Will Need:

• A cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled (this one is a 3 layer 6 inch, but any size will do)
• Cake turntable
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula 
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Color gels (I used AmeriColor Fuchsia and Teal for mine)
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• Wilton Tip 4B (x4) – optional
• 4 piping bags – optional

Step 1: Frost a Smooth Buttercream Finish

With your chilled, crumb coated cake on the turntable, add buttercream to the top of the cake and smooth it down with your angled spatula until it’s level and reaches over the edges.

Add a layer of buttercream all around the sides of the cake, then use your icing smoother to smooth the sides. If you need tips on how to get a nice smooth finish, be sure to check out this Cake Basics post on how to frost a smooth buttercream cake. 

You’ll notice that a little crown of buttercream has formed around the top edge of the cake (a great sign!). Use your angled spatula to swipe the edges inward (toward the top center of the cake) so you create nice sharp edges. 

When you’re happy with your buttercream finish, pop it into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes while you move on to the next step. 

Step 2: Mix Your Buttercream Colors

Divide the remaining buttercream equally amongst four different bowls (or however many colors you want for the layers). Add your food color gel to each one and mix until you like what you see. 

For my color palette, I used AmeriColor Fuchsia in different increments for the light and dark pinks and AmeriColor Teal for the light and dark teal colors (also in different increments). If you want to learn more about color mixing, I created a Cake Basics guide here. 

Step 3: Add the First Layer

Starting at the middle of the cake, add your first color. It should have highs and lows and look perfectly imperfect. No need to add it all the way down the cake, just stick to the middle area. 

Once your color is on, use your icing smoother to gently (and slowly!) smooth it down.

Don’t worry about stopping and starting again in the smoothing process – it’s essential that you go slow for this part to maintain those highs and lows. 

Step 4: Add the Additional Layers

When the first color is smoothed down, add the next color slightly below it so that the color above is still very visible. Repeat the process of smoothing it down.

Continue to add and smooth your colors until you reach the bottom of the cake. 

Look at that pretty texture you can create with buttercream layers!

Step 5: Finish with Some Piping (Optional)

You can feel free to stop the design process with the previous step, but I thought this cake needed a little something extra on the top. I prepared four piping bags with Wilton Tip 4B and filled each one with a different color. Then, I added buttercream stars along the top in a crescent shape. 

And there you have it – a totally eye-catching alternative to the gradient ombrè! This Layered Ombrè look is so much fun to create and an easy look for anyone to achieve. 

If you found this tutorial helpful for your Layered Ombrè Cake, I want to see the results! Be sure to leave a comment below and tag @sugarandsparrowco in any Instagram photos of your cake. I love to see what you create!

The post Layered Ombrè Buttercream Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Although it was my first time trying the technique, I was so pleased to find out that it was super easy to create with the right piping tips (aka a handful of Wilton Tip 233). The tips basically do all the work for you, so you only have to worry about coming up with a cool color scheme and letting your imagination for the pattern run wild. I’ve got the full tutorial over here on The Cake Blog, and in the meantime, here are some photos to inspire your next shag cake:

Coolest texture ever, am I right? I’m already dreaming about other ways I can use these Wilton Tip 233’s. Head over to The Cake Blog to learn everything you need to know about creating the perfect shag cake and be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco and @thecakeblog on Instagram if the tutorial was helpful! We’d love to see what you create.

The post Autumn-Inspired Shag Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I wrote out the entire tutorial for this cactus cake over on The Cake Blog, so be sure to head over there to see how to get the look. Although it may seem like a complicated design, it’s actually a lot easier than it looks. All you need is a few piping tips, some pretty buttercream colors, and a little imagination. Here’s some photo inspiration:

So pretty right? Makes me want to spend some time in the desert! Be sure to head to The Cake Blog for the full tutorial and let us know if you make this cake by tagging @sugarandsparrowco and @thecakeblog on Instagram! We’d love to see your take on this cactus creation. 

The post A Cactus Cake With Major Desert Vibes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This Sea Life mold made it so easy to turn gumpaste into brilliant sea shells, coral, and starfish. It will work with fondant too, but I chose gumpaste just because I wanted the sea life pieces to dry more quickly. If you make them a week ahead, fondant is a great option. But if you’re like me and wait until the last minute, gumpaste will dry much quicker (in about 24 hours!) and is still as easy to color and work with as fondant.

To supplement my pretty gumpaste sea life accents, I used some of my favorite Wilton piping tips and pearl sprinkles (also available at JOANN) to create some additional under the sea textures. And to make things even more sea-themed, I crushed up some graham crackers to create edible sand for decorating.

Before I detail exactly how to get this under the sea look, here’s a quick video to show you the techniques in action:

Gumpaste Sea Life Materials:

• Wilton Ready-To-Use Gumpaste or fondant 
• Sea Life Gumpaste & Fondant Mold
• Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System 
• Shortening 
• Small rolling pin
• Exacto knife

Under The Sea Cake Materials: 

• A 6-inch cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled
• 2 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Icing smoother
• Angled Icing Spatula 
• 8 inch cake circle 
• Crushed graham crackers
• Sea Life Pieces 
• Wilton Tips 104, 4B, 2A, and 225
• Piping bags
• Wilton Pearl Sprinkles

Step 1: Make The Gumpaste Sea Life

Separate the Ready-To-Use Gumpaste (or fondant!) into 1 inch pieces and knead each one with a little shortening until it feels uniform in consistency, like play-doh. Use the Wilton Color Right System or food color gels of your choice to color each piece. Here’s how I colored my gumpaste:

Color by color, press the gumpaste into portions of the Sea Life Mold and use a small rolling pin to flatten it out. This mold is pretty flexible, so it should be easy to release each piece by gently pulling it away from the mold. 

Cut away the excess gumpaste with an exacto knife and place each sea life piece onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper to begin the drying process.

Allow the gumpaste to dry for at least 24 hours, flipping it over once in between to let both sides dry evenly. If you’re using fondant, allow it to dry for at least 72 hours, flipping the pieces over once in between.

Once all of your sea life pieces are dry and firm, you can move on to decorating the cake. 

Step 2: Color The Buttercream

Divide the buttercream into separate bowls: divide 4.5 cups between three separate bowls for the base frosting. Since I went for a blue ombre effect on my buttercream finish, I colored one bowl a dark blue, one bowl a medium blue, and one bowl a light blue. 

Divide the remaining buttercream into a four or five separate bowls for the colors you’ll be piping. These colors will end up being your additional buttercream textures like coral and sea grass, so feel free to copy the above color palette or follow your heart on these colors. 

Step 3: Frost The Cake

With your crumb coated cake on a turntable, frost and smooth the top of the cake with the lightest blue buttercream. Then, working from the bottom of the cake up, frost the bottom third of the cake with the deepest blue buttercream, the middle third with medium blue, and the top third with the lightest blue. 

Use your icing scraper to smooth the sides of the cake, keeping the top edge uneven. I think leaving the top edge like this gives the illusion of tiny waves around the top of the cake.

At this point in the decorating process I like to chill the cake for at least 30 minutes to let the buttercream firm up.

Step 4: Add the Crushed Graham Cracker Sand 

Transfer the chilled cake to an 8 inch cake circle and place the whole thing back on your clean turntable. Fill in the top of the cake with crushed graham cracker sand, then add some more sand to the bottom edges. 

Step 5: Add The Gumpaste Sea Life

Press your gumpaste sea life pieces into the sides of the cake wherever you feel like. For the smaller pieces (like shells) you can reserve them until you pipe the additional textures in the next step. You do you!

Step 6: Pipe Additional Textures 

Prepare separate piping bags by fitting them with piping tips and filling them with the additional buttercream colors you mixed up in step 2. I used Wilton Tip 104 for the green sea grass, Wilton Tip 4B for the open stars, Tip 2A for the coral textures, and Tip 225 for some small drop flowers.

You can pipe these textures in any order, but here’s what I did: first, I piped some coral dots with Wilton Tip 2A, then piped squiggles with the green buttercream using Wilton Tip 104:

Next, I added vibrant purple and yellow open stars using Wilton Tip 4B:

Finally, I added some little pink drop flowers with Wilton Tip 225:

You’ll find that it’s super easy to pipe these under the sea textures, and the buttercream really makes everything come together. Once your piping is finished, you can add in some of the smaller gumpaste pieces like seashells, and press some sprinkle pearls into the sides of the cake to create the illusion of bubbles. So fun! 

Step 7: Decorate The Top Of The Cake 

You can choose to leave the top of the cake sand-only, but I used some of the gumpaste coral as a cake topper, piped some open stars, and added some gumpaste shells to make an ocean floor scene.

So pretty, right? This Under The Sea Cake is so much more detailed with the gumpaste sea life pieces, and I am so happy that JOANN had the perfect mold to make my oceanic cake dreams come true! Whether you live near a JOANN store or shop their website, you’ll find all the materials to get the perfect Under The Sea look with your cake decorating. Best of all, if you download the JOANN app, you’ll always have a coupon to get these cake decorating supplies at a discount. It’s just one more reason I love this store.

Disclaimer: I was compensated by JOANN 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 Under The Sea Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

In my memories of childhood snacks, Circus Animals were an extra special treat. My eyes still get wide when I see the iconic pink and white frosted cookies covered in sprinkles, so when I found out that this A Frosted Affair sprinkle mix by SprinklePop was largely inspired by them, my heart definitely soared! I just knew I had to create a fun pink and white sprinkled cake with major Circus Animal cookie vibes to celebrate my love for all of it.

Just one look at the colors going on in the A Frosted Affair sprinkle mix will transport you back to childhood. The larger pink and white spherical sprinkles are perfectly intermixed with rainbow-colored jimmies and nonpareils. It’s all the colors of Circus Animal cookies in sprinkle form and made me giddy just opening the bottle! Look at how beautiful these sprinkles are:

Going with the fun circus-inspired theme, I decided to make the cake striped with pink and white buttercream. It’s the first time I’ve ever used a cake comb for striping the cake, and I found it to be a serious hack for creating perfectly level and evenly-spaced stripes! I’ll show you all the tips I learned below, so if you’ve been dying to create a buttercream striped cake and haven’t yet tried the cake comb technique, I highly recommend it. It’ll save you so much time and stress. And just look at how pretty the sprinkles look on these stripes!

I whipped up a video of the entire process, from striping the cake to adding the sprinkles, so you can visually see the techniques before reading all about them in the tutorial below:

You Will Need

• A 6-inch crumb coated cake that’s been chilled
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream frosting
• Pink food color gel
• A cake turntable
• An icing scraper and angled spatula
• A cake comb
• 2 piping bags
• 8 oz bottle of A Frosted Affair sprinkles
• Wilton Tip 1M
• Circus Animal cookies for garnish

Step 1: Frost The Cake

With your crumb coated cake on the turntable, frost the cake with the vanilla buttercream and use the icing scraper and angled spatula to create a smooth buttercream finish.

If you’re looking for tips on how to get the buttercream extra smooth and level, this blog post will give you all the info you need!

Step 2: Comb The Cake

With the smooth buttercream frosting still wet to the touch, hold the cake comb at a 45 degree angle toward your body and gently indent the cake with it. Be sure to wipe the cake comb clean each time you go around the cake.

Continue the process of combing the cake and wiping the comb clean until you’ve got even grooves in the buttercream all around the cake. They should be about ⅛ to ¼ of an inch deep when you’re finished.

Step 3: Create The Buttercream Stripes

Tint all of the leftover buttercream a light pink shade using your favorite color gel. I used a tiny amount of Americolor Electric Pink to get the shade pictured. After the buttercream has been tinted, load it into a piping bag and snip off ¼ inch opening. Fill each of the grooves on the cake with the pink buttercream and be sure to overfill the grooves rather than underfill them.

When you’re finished filling all of the grooves with pink buttercream, use a clean icing scraper to smooth the cake. It will look a bit messy at first, but keep smoothing the cake (wipe your icing scraper clean in between smoothing!) until perfect buttercream stripes are revealed.

Once your buttercream stripes are looking amazing, swipe your angled spatula over the top of the cake, from the outer edges inward, to create sharp edges.

Step 4: Add The Sprinkles

With your striped buttercream still wet to the touch, add the A Frosted Affair sprinkles all around the bottom edges of the cake. The easiest way to do this is to pour the sprinkles into the palm of your hand, then gently press them to the cake.

When you finish sprinkling the bottom edges, gently place the sprinkles in a floating pattern around the top two thirds of the cake. You can use a pair of tweezers for this part, but I find that pressing a sprinkle to my finger before gently touching the cake with it is the easiest way to add sprinkles one by one without making marks in the cake finish.

Once you’re happy with the sprinkled sides, pop the cake in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to let everything firm up before continuing the decorating process.

Step 5: Decorate The Top

Prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 1M and filling it with more pink buttercream, then pipe swirls all around the top edge of the cake. Generously add A Frosted Affair sprinkles to the swirl border and fill in the entire top of the cake with more sprinkles if you’d like. Then, place a Circus Animal cookie on top of each buttercream swirl.

And there you have it: a fun, Circus Animal-inspired cake with the prettiest sprinkles ever! It’s perfect for a circus-themed party or to get a little nostalgic.

For more cake tutorial videos, be sure to follow along on my YouTube channel! And if you’re inspired to make this cake, be sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see it. I love to know what you’re caking!

The post Striped Buttercream Circus Animals Party Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

The party was for my friend Sarah, who happens love Mean Girls and is also real good at making pretty cakes. In other words, she’s very cool. To prepare for the party, me and a few other cool gals got together to watch Mean Girls for inspiration while we crafted all the party decor. Watching the movie back gave us lots of fun ideas for making it over the top. We kept track of all the best quotes and we figured out a few ways to incorporate them throughout the decor.

First, we made a glittery pink “you can’t sit with us” banner. After searching the internet for a quote banner to buy, we decided we could make it ourselves and it actually ended up being so easy! We found some glittery pink card stock, printed out some letter templates on computer paper, traced the templates onto the glitter paper, and cut them out carefully. We used a small hole punch to punch two holes at the top of each letter, then strung them all on some white baking twine.

Then, we transformed a pink notebook into a replica of the Burn Book! We printed out pictures of everyone on the guest list and wrote some quotes from the original burn book in there to really go the extra mile.

For the cake, I made sure to keep with the pink color palette and mixed vanilla buttercream with a few different shades of Fuschia and Maroon gel pastes by Americolor. After decorating with a messy ombre on the side of the cake, I used my favorite piping tips (Wilton tips 1M, 4B, and 104) to create a pretty border and sprinkled it with some pink sprinkles for extra texture.

I don’t know if you’ve ever written on a cake with buttercream before, but it was so nerve racking for me! I must have done twenty practice rounds on wax paper before mustering up the nerve to write on the cake. Wilton’s tip 3 is the perfect sized opening for writing though, so it wasn’t too bad once my hand stopped shaking all over the place.

Here’s how it all came together:

Now all I want to do is throw themed parties from here on out! 

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