How to Make a Watercolor Cake

Hello, friends! Today, I will be showing you how to make that painted watercolor effect on cake. When I first tried this technique, all my buttercream colors blended too much—it was such a mess and not a beautiful one.

With patience, I saw what I was doing wrong and with practice now I’m super happy with how my cakes turn out. Below are the steps.

Related: 15+ Best Cake Recipes

Supplies needed:
-pre-iced chilled cake, ready to decorate
–buttercream colors
–spatula and cake scraper
-paper towels or dishcloth for cleaning the scraper

Step 1: You’ll need your cake chilled. I put mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes so that the buttercream is solid. The reason for this is so that your new layer of buttercream won’t blend easily with the base layer.

Step 2: Take your spatula and add a swatch of buttercream against the cake. If you’re using an offset spatula, make sure you use the back part. Add swatches of your first color wherever you’d like.

Step 3: With your cake scraper, go over your swatch by pressing against it and moving it around the cake. Go as far around the cake as you’d like. I like a patchy look so i don’t move it too much.

Step 4: With your spatula, add your second color to the spots you’d like. Make sure your spatula is clean so your colors don’t blend. It’s OK to layer. Use a cake scraper to press it against the cake again—this gives it a clean look.

Step 5: Once you’ve added all the colors of buttercream to your cake, place swatches of buttercream on top without using a scraper for a bit of a natural swatch look.

Top the cake with any decoration—ganache drip, edible gold foil, or anything you’d like. I chose dried orange slices for this cake. Hope you try this technique out on your next cake! Happy New Year, friends! xo, Ren

P.S. Check out more of my posts here!

• Edible Bottle Cake Topper
• Bridgerton-Inspired Royal Icing Cookies
• How to Make Cakesicles
• How to Pipe Frosting Ruffles