The thing that I love the most about the spatula painted technique is that you literally can’t mess up. It makes my urge to be a perfectionist melt away, and all that’s left to do is have fun and be creative (a magical place to be!). If you’re bored of topping cupcakes with buttercream swirls and rosettes, this is 100% the easiest way to add some creativity and change up your look. It works in any color palette you could think of, so pick your favorites and swipe away! Here’s how to get the look:

You Will Need:

• Baked cupcakes
• One batch of vanilla buttercream (or other light colored buttercream)
• Icing color gels of your choosing
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• A small icing spatula
• Paper towels

Step 1: Mix Up Your Buttercream Color Palette

Divide your buttercream into separate bowls (one bowl per color you’re mixing). For this specific color palette I’ve gone with five different colors, which I feel is the perfect number. Add your color gels and mix away!

The colors I used for these are all Americolor: Navy, Turqouise, Orange, Fuschia, and Regal Purple. I love this brand of gels because the colors are so concentrated, you don’t need to add much to get rich colors.

Step 2: Swipe The Edges Of The Cupcakes

Dip your small icing spatula into the first color and make one swipe inward from the edge of the cupcake to the middle. Make another swipe with that same color on a different edge of the cupcake.

It’s good to have some paper towels handy for this part, because you’ll need to wipe the spatula clean before dipping it into another color. Repeat swiping the edges with all the different colors until you’ve got all of the edges covered. Just make sure you don’t place two of the same colored swipes next to one another.

Step 3: Swipe The Middle Of The Cupcakes

Repeat the same process of swiping inward to cover the middle of the cupcake. These last few swipes should just cover where the buttercream starts to thin from the previous edge swipes.

You really can’t go wrong with this technique, so get as creative as you want to be! The cool thing about these cupcakes is that no two are exactly alike. It makes for such a fun painterly look that is sure to add color to any occasion.

Did you try this spatula painted look on your cupcakes? I want to know what color palette you ended up with! Let me know in the comments or by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see your creations!

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I am absolutely over the moon for these color gel pastes and they deserve an entire post all their own. The kit comes with (you guessed it) fifty different colors, and they’re all so good that I probably will never have to spend time mixing custom colors ever again – something I had to do all the time before. Here’s a little video I whipped up to show you the color palette I chose with the spatula painted technique before you read all about it:

Disclaimer: this post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you click them and purchase items I’ve recommended. Using 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!

You Will Need:

• A cake that’s been frosted with smooth buttercream and chilled
• A few cups of tintable buttercream (like vanilla or another light-colored flavor)
• Food color gels of your choosing
• Small icing spatula (I use this one)

Step 1: Start With A Chilled Buttercream Cake

This technique looks beautiful on top of a smooth buttercream surface, especially when you’re only doing it partially down the sides like I am. If you’re planning on covering the entire cake with swipes of buttercream, you could technically start with a crumb coated cake since the entire surface will be covered. Either way, starting with a chilled cake is essential.

Make sure the cake you’re decorating has been chilled for at least 30 minutes and is firm to the touch as a starting point. This way, the swipes of buttercream will adhere perfectly without affecting the buttercream underneath.

Step 2: Mix Up Your Color Palette

Divide your buttercream into separate bowls and tint them with food color gels until you achieve the perfect color palette. The color palette for this specific cake consisted of just five AmeriColor colors that I thought would look pretty together: navy, turquoise, lemon yellow, electric purple, and fuschia. I love the way it turned out!

Feel free to get creative with your color palette, because you can’t really go wrong with this technique! I’ve seen it done beautifully with a monochromatic color palette and the first time I created a cake like this I used varying shades of terracotta, blush, cream and burgundy. Total magic.

Step 3: Apply Your Paint Strokes

One color at a time, use your icing spatula to swipe paint strokes onto the cake in an upward motion. You’ll want them to overlap some, but all in a random pattern.  

When you’re applying the buttercream paint strokes to the top of the cake, swipe the spatula from the outer edge toward the center of the cake and keep the strokes pointed toward the same direction. Like this:

In this particular cake design, I stopped my buttercream paint strokes halfway down the side of the cake with the exception of some smaller, random strokes further down. You can use this technique on the entire cake as an alternative, or just do the sides of the cake and decorate the top with other elements, like a floral arrangement. Whatever look you’re going for, this is such a fun and easy way to add an eye-catching artsy effect! It’s one of my new favorite techniques, and I can’t wait to try it in other color schemes.

Ready to give this technique a try? Tag me on Instagram and show me what you end up creating. I can’t wait to see what fun color palettes and designs you come up with!

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