This cake was extremely therapeutic to make and I just love how it turned out! It would be so cute for a baby shower, for a friend who loves tapestry, or simply because you need a fun piping project. 

It only took 5 colors (plus white) and 6 piping tips – Wilton Tip 3 (x3), 5, 10, and 233. You can use any round tip sizes to recreate the look and I do recommend having a little size variety to break up the pattern. Aside from the shag piping along the bottom of the cake, you’ll basically be doing the same piping technique over and over again: a braiding motion that ends up looking like knitting. 

What Kind of Buttercream to Use

Technically, you can use any kind of buttercream that is easy to pipe and will hold color well. My go-to is this vanilla buttercream, which is an American buttercream recipe. It’s super easy to color and pipe using a medium consistency. If meringue based buttercream or something else is your go-to, feel free to pair it with this tutorial!  

You Will Need

• A chilled, crumb coated cake (mine is three 6” layers)
• 3-4 Cups of vanilla buttercream (about 1.25 batches)
• Cake turntable
• Toothpick
• Food color gels of your choice 
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• Wilton Tip 233
• Wilton Tip 3 (x3)
• Wilton Tip 5
• Wilton Tip 10
• Piping bags

Step 1: Color the Buttercream + Prepare the Piping Bags

To create this exact color palette, divide the buttercream evenly between six bowls and set one aside since it will be kept uncolored. The colors I used for the remaining five bowls are as follows: AmeriColor Tulip Red, Egg Yellow, Wedgewood, Dusty Rose, and Peach (with just a hint of Dusty Rose added). 

Fit one piping bag with Wilton Tip 233 (the shag tip) and fill it with half of the white/uncolored buttercream. Fit another bag with Wilton Tip 5 and fill it with the other half of the white buttercream. Prepare the rest of the piping bags with the remaining tips and fill them with the colors of your choice. I used Wilton Tip 10 with the Tulip Red buttercream, Tip 5 with the coral orange buttercream, and the rest of the colors with Tip 3. 

Step 2: Mark the Sections

Place your chilled, crumb coated cake on the turntable. Either use the bottom layer of the cake that peeks through the crumb coat as a marker or use a toothpick to mark the bottom third of the cake by holding it in one place while you rotate the turntable. This is where the shag piping will go. 

Continue rotating the turntable as you mark random, wavy portions on the top two thirds of the cake. These will create the sections where each color will go, so feel free to mark a lot of them. The bigger the section, the more you’ll have to fill in with one color. 

Step 3: Add the Shag Piping

Hold the bag fitted with Tip 233 pointed at the line that marks the bottom third of the cake. Hovering about ⅛ inch from the surface, put pressure on the bag as you draw it down quickly to create long pieces of shag all around the bottom third of the cake. 

If you have some patchy areas, you can always go over them again with more shag. You really cannot add too much here. 

When you’re finished adding the shag piping around the bottom third of the cake, use the other white/uncolored bag fitted with Tip 5 to pipe a braided border along the top of the shag.

For the braided technique, simply criss cross the buttercream diagonally to create little overlapping x’s. Step 4 of this buttercream sweater cake tutorial shows the technique in detail (look at technique 2, aka the middle row). 

Step 4: Fill in the Sections with Knitted Buttercream

Using that same braided technique, fill in each of the wavy sections with different buttercream colors. It helps to follow the wave formations while you pipe instead of trying to keep every line straight. 

Tip 10 will give you the chunkiest braids. Be sure to place them sparingly since they stand out so much. 

Step 5: Decorate the Top of the Cake

Once you’re finished filling in all the wavy sections around the sides of the cake, fill in the top of the cake using the same piping techniques. 

And voila! A woven tapestry cake that will turn all the heads! The textures going on here are just so eye-catching and the process of creating the cake is honestly so therapeutic. So much easier than it looks! 

I’d love to see this cake design in more color palettes and I’m sure you couldn’t go wrong with whatever colors you choose. Let me know if you make it in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me! I love to see what you create.

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These Fondant Skills 101 Kits come with everything you need to create fondant decorations for cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and cookies. Inside, you’ll find some basic instructions on working with fondant and so many tools and supplies for getting artsy with it. There’s a paint palette, paint brush, and food color that you can mix with water for painting on fondant. A geometric-textured mat for embossing the fondant. And even a piping tip with a circular opening that you can use to create fondant sprinkles. I wanted to try it all, so I made some painted decorations, used the texture mat, and made my own sprinkles. So fun!

I think adding fondant accents to buttercream cakes can be such a fun way to mix mediums and achieve some really artistic looks. The best thing about using fondant decorations is that they’re 100% edible, fondant dries firm in about 24-48 hours, and it’s really easy to work with. This Fondant Skills 101 Kit is perfect whether you’ve never worked with fondant before or you want to try a variety of fondant techniques in a cost effective way (only $10!).

I’m walking you through the different types of fondant decorations I created with this kit below, but first, here’s a quick video of all three to show you in action:

You Will Need:

• Tasty by Wilton Fondant Skills 101 Kit
• Cornstarch or powdered sugar
• Vegetable shortening 
• Small rolling pin 
• Sharp knife
• Circular cookie/fondant cutters
• Wax or parchment paper
• Buttercream frosted cake, any size (mine is a 4” round)

How to Make Watercolor Fondant Decorations

Open one of the fondant packages and knead it until the consistency is moldable and even, similar to Playdoh. You can add a little vegetable shortening to your hands if you find they are sticking to the fondant.

Place a little cornstarch or powdered sugar on a flat surface to prevent the fondant from sticking, then use a small rolling pin to roll the fondant into about an ⅛ inch sheet.

Let the fondant sit while you mix up your paint colors. On the paint palette, add a few drops of whatever blend of colors you’d like, then mix a few drops of water into each color. The kit comes with primary colors (red, blue, yellow), so I created some pinkish reds, purples, and blues. Mix it with just a little bit of water for a stronger color, or a lot of water for a softer hue. When your colors are ready, use the paintbrush to paint them onto your fondant canvas.

I added broad strokes of each color and splattered a little extra water over the top of the canvas to let the colors bleed a bit.

When you’re satisfied with how your painting looks, cut the fondant into shapes. I used a sharp knife to cut the painted fondant into isosceles triangles, but you can create any shape you want with a knife or cookie cutters!

Once your shapes are cut out, place each one onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper to dry. I recommend allowing them to dry for 24 hours, then flipping them over and allowing the other side to dry for at least 12 more hours. 

How to Make Geometric Print Decorations

To make the geometric printed circles, open the second package of fondant and follow the steps in the previous section to knead the fondant and roll it into an ⅛ inch sheet. Then, take the geometric texture mat, place it on top of the fondant sheet, and roll over it with the rolling pin a few times.

Peel off the texture mat to reveal a glorious geometric pattern.

You can cut this fondant into any shape you want, or even paint over it at this point using the steps in the previous section. I chose to keep these decorations white and used these cookie cutters to cut out circular shapes.

Place your geometric print decorations on a sheet of wax or parchment paper, then allow them to dry for 24 hours on one side before flipping them over and drying for another 12 hours.

How to Make Fondant Sprinkles 

For this technique, I colored the remaining fondant with the food colors from the kit, then rolled all of them out into an ⅛ inch sheet. Using the small end of the green piping tip, press into the fondant sheet to cut out small circular sprinkles of each color.

Using the wide end of the green piping tip, cut out larger circles from each color. Then, roll each large circle into a ball.

Fondant sprinkles are so easy and I love how customizable they are! Imagine all the color palettes you could create.

Allow the fondant sprinkles to dry for about 24 hours, or until they’re firm. 

Decorating The Cake

All that’s left to do is add your fondant decorations to your buttercream cake and make a mixed medium masterpiece! To add my decorations, I simply stuck the watercolor triangles and geometric print circle decorations into the top of the cake. It’s easy to stick them straight into the buttercream and they’ll stand on their own (they weigh barely anything). Then, I added some fondant sprinkles around the toppers.

I also placed some of the fondant decorations to the side of the cake with a few dots of buttercream and added even more fondant sprinkles.

These fondant accents ended up making this cake look super abstract and I am so into it!

I love that this Fondant Skills 101 Kit comes with all the supplies you need for these three techniques and so much more – you can easily combine the techniques for even more decoration styles! Wilton’s new Tasty line has even more fun kits like this for cake decorating and they’re available now at JOANN. Go check them out at your local JOANN or in their online shop. I have a feeling you’re gonna have so much fun with these kits no matter what your cake decorating skill level! 

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 3 Ways to Make Fondant Decorations with a Tasty by Wilton Kit appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I first created a cake with this approach for New Years Eve and the process was so freeing that I knew I had to try it again. It’s basically edible art therapy! After posting it on Instagram I got so many requests for a video that I decided to film this one, and I hope it’s as therapeutic to watch as it was to create. If you’re more of a visual learner, this video shows the techniques in action for you to reference as you create one yourself:

The only real decision that’s important to make before you start decorating is choosing your color palette. Each time I’ve used this technique to decorate a cake, I’ve chosen four different colors to make it come to life. I usually start by mixing up one bold mid-toned color, make a darker color to contrast it, then pair those with two lighter pastel colors to use for the spatula painted portions.

It will work with any color palette, so just choose four colors that you’re crazy about and run with it!

You Will Need:

• A frosted cake that’s been chilled
• ½ batch of vanilla buttercream (or other light colored buttercream)
• Food color gels of your choice
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• A cake smoother or bench scraper
• A small icing spatula
• Edible Art Paint in Glamorous Gold (optional)
• Food-grade paintbrush (optional)

Step 1: Mix Up A Color Palette

Divide the buttercream into four different bowls, reserving a bit of white buttercream just in case you need to lighten a color. Then, use your food color gels to create the color palette of your choice.

The color gels I used for this specific color palette are all Americolor: Eggplant mixed with Regal Purple for the darkest color, Fuschia for the mid-toned color, Peach and Lilac for the lightest colors.

Step 2: Create Bold Color Swatches

Make sure your cake has been chilled for at least 30 minutes and is firm to the touch before starting the painting process (aka where the fun begins!). Choose two different colors to use as your big, bold swatch colors. I always pick the darkest color and the mid-toned color, but you can use any colors you feel would be the most fitting. One by one, use your small icing spatula to apply color wherever you want on the cake, then use your bench scraper to scrape off the excess and create smooth color swatches.

It’s best to have a few paper towels handy throughout the process, because you’ll need to clean your bench scraper every time you smooth out a color to get a clean finish.

Repeat the process until you’re happy with how many swatches are on your cake, remembering to leave enough blank space for spatula painting.

Step 3: Spatula Paint

Wherever you feel like, use your icing spatula to apply the final two colors, spatula painting them on in strokes. There’s no right or wrong here, so feel free to overlap your color swatches and go with the flow on how long or short your spatula painted strokes end up.

Make sure you clean your icing spatula when switching colors, unless you want the strokes to end up with colors mixed together.

Step 4: Splatter Paint

I absolutely love splatter painting cakes, so I chose to finish the design by splattering some Edible Art Paint in Glamorous Gold all over my colors. You can use any kind of edible paint or luster dust mixed with alcohol for this part, but I love Edible Art Paint because it’s already pre-mixed and ready to go. Just pour a little bit into a bowl, dip a food-grade paintbrush into it, and splatter until you love what you see.

And that’s it! Three different cake decorating techniques combined to make art. The best part is that every cake design you create with this approach will look totally unique, and it’s so easy that you can just relax and enjoy the creative process. I hope painting with buttercream is as therapeutic for you as it is for me!

If you create a cake with this tutorial, I’d LOVE to see your artwork. Be sure to tag me on Instagram to show me!

Disclosure: this post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you click them and purchase items I’ve recommended. Clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, but they do help to keep Sugar & Sparrow up and running. Thank you for your support!  

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