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.

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.

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