It seems that I’m on a layer-cake-making frenzy lately, and you know, it kind of feels like home. So here’s what else: I’m excited to share my first cake tutorial video, as I mentioned I was working on in my “hello” video yesterday. Just a note that it’s not fancy, and it turns out I’m no cinematographer, but it was kind of fun talking to you for a change.
Back in September, I shared this cake to celebrate my blog’s 1st anniversary, and since then I’ve received several requests to explain how to achieve this sort of watercolour, pastel swirly effect, so here we are!
I came across this technique a few years ago from Serious Cakes, and it remains one of my favourite ways to whip up a super-pretty cake, and quickly. I’ve added my own twist, and what I love most about this effect is that no two cakes are the same, making it even more artful.
As I mention in the video, it really doesn’t need sprinkles, but I like to add some metallic and shimmer bits on top when I make this cake. The pastel swirling feels beachy to me, and these little decorations somehow fit (in my mind, anyway). Even sans sprinkles, the way the colours blend and change before your eyes while frosting is reason enough to give this a try. I tinted three small bowls of frosting for this version, but you can add as many colours as you wish–you honestly can’t go wrong.
This time I opted for dark chocolate cake, because I love the contrast of the pastel whipped vanilla frosting and the dark cake, but vanilla, or any flavour you can dream up, would likely be a delight. Taking cues from the cake layers for colour choices, or the other way around, works well too–a strawberry layer cake would be charming with blended shades of pink, white, red and even a hint of mint green. I personally love when a cake’s design, colours and flavours all make sense. You know?
When I look at this cake I suddenly feel an unrelenting need for a beach house, cotton candy, saltwater taffy and possibly a canvas and paint brush. Oh, and a slice of dreamy swirly pastel cake.
So, here’s the how-to video (a tad longer than the others will be) on how I frost this style cake, or how my hands do–I kept it zoomed in so you could really see what I was doing. Hopefully it helps you along!
Sweetapolita’s Notes:
- For my 8″ round cake in the video, I used 1.5 times this chocolate cake recipe and baked in 2 pans.
- I used 1 batch of this Whipped Vanilla Frosting
- For the deeper blue I used a couple of drops of Americolor Sky Blue
- For the pale seafoam colour, I used one drop of Americolor Sky Blue
- For the lavender, I used a few drops of Americolor Violet
followed by a ~2 drops of Americolor Electric Purple
- For the decorations, I used Silver Dragées (large)
, Silver Dragées (small)
and something very similar to this Blue Sparkling Sugar
- If you’re looking for some colour-combination inspiration, dive into Design Seeds–endless.
Good luck & enjoy!
