Today I’m going to share an adorable Bicycle with Balloons cake tutorial!
I wanted to take a little break from fondant today and so we are working with two of my FAVORITE cake decorating mediums–buttercream & chocolate candy coating! ;0)
How to Make a Bicycle And Balloons Cake
I started out by frosting a six inch cake with Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (tinted Americolor Sky Blue). Then…the fun part…
The main focus of our cake will be our chocolate bicycle. Use whatever colors you’d like–our bike is piped with pink, black & white candy coating.
You can find colorful bags of candy coating (Wilton Candy Melts for instance) in your favorite cake supply shops–but for our bike, we deepened our shade of pink candy coating with Wilton Pink Candy Coloring.
(*You cannot tint candy coating/candy melts with the ordinary coloring gels that you would use with frosting or fondant. The chocolate will seize. It needs to be candy coloring, which is oil based.) –
For your template, you can draw your own bicycle, print one off of clip art online, or Click HERE to use mine. You’ll want to tape your template to a cake board or cookie sheet, and then tape a piece of waxed paper or parchment on top of it.
Next, melt your candy coating & put into your piping bags.
Ready? Here we go!
Here I am, tracing my bicycle. I’m using a Wilton 4 tip. (If you’d rather skip the piping tips altogether, you can just snip the ends of your piping bags. The tips ensure a nice round opening, the only drawback is cleaning out the chocolate later ;0)
After outlining the bicycle once, I went over it once again. This is optional, but the thicker your chocolate decoration, the more sturdy it will be.
I used silver dragees in the center of each wheel. You can see that my bicycle is not perfect…but still very lovable ;0) — I did mine all in one sitting, but if you’d rather chill the cookie sheet/bicycle in the freezer for a few minutes in between color changes, that works very well too.
Once your piping is finished, place in the freezer for a few minutes or just until firm. (It would firm up at room temperature too, but it would take longer & would be more fragile when placing on the cake. 
Once the bicycle is nice and firm, run your hand gently beneath the waxed paper to release it.
You’ll notice that your bike has a smooth side and a bumpy, more textured side. Choose your favorite and then flip it over to apply dots of buttercream here and there to the back. It’s best to handle your chocolate pieces while still cold.
I decided that I wanted a chocolate present for the back of the bike. Since I didn’t think of this earlier, I’m going to have add it to the bike later with a bit of chocolate…but for you, I’ll go ahead and incorporate it into the template ;0)
Now, let’s talk balloons! We considered tinting buttercream lots of different shades so that I could pipe on buttercream balloons.
Tinting buttercream is not my favorite though, and it just so happens that I have several different shades of Wilton Candy melts. These became my balloons–hooray! Of course, if I didn’t have these on hand, I would have made them in buttercream.
I used a dot of buttercream to apply the chocolate balloons to the cake. Some balloons had more buttercream on the back than others, to add a little depth and movement.
While most of my balloons are candy melts, I snuck in a couple of hot pink buttercream ones too. These are piped with a Wilton medium sized tip-12.
I added buttercream strings using my Wilton Tip 1… Things are starting to come together!
I added a few puffy clouds with my Wilton 12 tip and some grass with my Wilton 21 star tip (grass is tinted with Americolor Electric Green.) –
That’s all there is to it! I think that the cake turned out really simple & sweet. The chocolate present on the back is decorated with buttercream dots & bow. I hope you like it– if you ever give it a try, we would LOVE to see.
Another Bicycle Cake Tutorial!
**Update Jan. 2018: We’ve recently added a Valentine’s Day Bicycle Cake to our Member Cake Video Section! We used the same template, only with fondant instead of candy coating. We love this look also! Feel free to take inspiration from this version whether working with fondant or candy coating ;0) —
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So cute. Thanks
Wonderful! Thanks for the tutorial :-)
I love it ,that very cute thank you for sharing tutorial
Really cute! Thanx =)
Love it so much! Thanks for the tutorial, Melissa!
So adorable! Thanks!
Thank you so much. I love all the different techniques used. Just might give it a try!
Very clever to use the colorful chocolate wafers for balloons. I also love the bike.
Just amazing !
Thank You for the AMAZING cake tutorial. I LOVE all your work that you have done and hope to see more? Have a sweet and wonderful day :)
Cute!
Looks amazing! I am definitely going to attempt this one!!!
that is too cute. thanks for the tutorial. i will have to try it.
Very lovely.
Adorable!
Thanks, Melissa. So simple, but very sweet. I really must try this.
It is really a fresh and happy cake : ) I have a suggestion…you know how the candy melts have that little bump? why not just turn the bump side toward the cake and use the flat side out for the balloons. It might even add a little “stand out” from the cake.
I get so excited when I see you in my inbox! Great ideas!
So cute and a different way of decorating using choc. melts. You are so talented. Love my cake school!!!!
Hi can i make the bicycle with royal icing ?
What a cute idea..thank you Melissa
Such an adorable design! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks so much for sharing, this is a very nice design. :)
I love your chocolate / butter cream videos – they are my favorite – thanks
So cute!
Thanks so much for your comments!!
@Aarti- Yes, you could make the bicycle in royal. I would make it a few days in advance to be on the safe side, and apply to the cake close to the time of the event. (I would make an extra just in case!)
This cake as lovely as well as so many others I’ve been exploring today! I love your style. :)
The cake is darling. Thanks for sharing with us!
How tall is the cake itself? How many layers? I am making this for my daughter’s birthday this weekend. Thanks!
Hi Keri, this cake would be very cute using the standard 4 inch high cake. Ours is 6 inches tall, we used 6 inch cake pans, 4 layers. It is a double barrel construction and Melissa demonstrates how to do this in the Cookie Jar tutorial, here is a https://www.mycakeschool.com/blog/cookie-jar-cake-with-cookie-monster-cupcakes-blog-tutorial/
Beautiful Ladies!!!! What a great summer cake!!!
Thanks so much!!!!
sooooooooooo cute!
This was so great and beautiful! You made it look easy and fun to do!
Can you add melted Wilton Candy melts to buttercream to colour it? I have problems achieving rich pinks and purples with even Americolor gel food colouring. It makes my buttercream very bitter at the slightest overdose which is the amount I need to get a true pink / purple.
i made this tnx very much
@Tamarah- Sorry for the delay! I’ve never heard of coloring buttercream with chocolate candy coating. I’m not sure that you could get the intensity that you are looking for going that route. I haven’t noticed the bitter taste with Americolor Coloring Gels…but I use my deep shades mainly for small accents. Americolor is also highly concentrated, so you should be able to use less dye & let it sit for several hours to give it a chance to intensify a few shades.
@khatereh- I’m so glad that you made it!
This looks wonderful – I would love to make it for my husband who runs a bicycle shop. I live in the uk and I don’t think they sell candy melts here, do you have any idea what the equivalent would be? Thanks
Hi Fiona, I have read that you could use Dr. Oetker’s Scotbloc. If it does not come in various colors, you could use oil based candy coloring to achieve various colors.
Do you have Candy Bark, also known as Almond Bark or Candi Quick Bark available to you? In the US it is sold in grocery stores. It could also be used with oil based candy coloring. White chocolate chips (Nestles or Ghirardelli) could be used but I don’t know if the bicycle would be firm enough using the
chips.
Thanks Bebe, I’m quite new to all of this so am not very familiar with what products are available, perhaps I’ll ask in my local cake craft shop. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! Can’t wait to try this cake with whatever I manage to find, it’s gorgeous!
Very sweet design – thanks for sharing, Melissa.
~ marie, the EpicureanPiranha
Hi! Just found your blog, amazing!, thanks for the tutorials!,,
I have a question, how do you get that perfectly smooth buttercream frosting on the cake? I don’t know much about frosting a cake but would love to learn more!
Thanks!
Fabiola
Great idea and beatiful cake.
wow… that is the most easier to make bicycle.. thanks alot!
Hi Love the bike :) super duper cute
@Fioana: U will find wilton candy melts at http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/advancedsearchresults.aspx?query=candy-melts
(online and store both) in UK
i love this cake so much. can’t wait to try it some time.
Thank you for the detail tutorial. Simple but elegant and cute. Can’t wait to try it this summer!
Beautiful, fun cake. Thank you for sharing.
fantastic work I will like to learn more
I am not a big fan of buttercream. Can I frost the cake with colored pastry pride whipped cream instead but keeping the rest of the decorations with buttercream and candy melt?
MUY LINDO TUTORIAL SOY DE PERU Y GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR SON UDS. MUY AMABLES GRACIAS.
I love this cake! I used your template to make my own bicycle cake for Valentine’s Day and linked back to your tutorial. Piping the candy melts and not having them run all over the place was harder than I thought it was going to be, but I think it turned out really cute. Thanks for a great idea!
http://www.curlygirlkitchen.com/2014/02/bicycle-and-balloons-valentines-cake.html
So cute;) I`m goimg to try to make this for my birthday;)
Adorable!! My birthday is the 14th. I’m gonna attempt this. Thanks again you’ve been very sweet by sharing.
This is just what i was looking for! I tried making this using stiff buttercream but before I saw your tutorial! But now Im sure it will work using your method.
Thank you. Its lovely.
Wow I LOVE this!!! Do u happen to have a tutorial or blog about how you make the cake? I’ve tried making a layered cake before and can never get it to stack correctly and definitely can’t frost it like that…please provide the link to a cake recipe/frosting tutorial if you’ve got one!!! Thanks so much :)
I love this cake and am hoping to make it for a benefit that I have been asked to donate a cake or two…thank you so much for posting and especially for including the printable pic of the traceable bike….I am also happy to see that I can use some of the choc disks for this…
Ok. So I made the cake. It was a challenge. I’ve learned I have a long way to go with my chocolatiering skills. The bike was a real struggle, but I got there..sort of.
I just have to say, I realize this was 3 years ago that you posted it, but this was a great cake idea! I made it today, mine had 4 bikes around the base and balloons out of each one, and it was so simple! Thanks for the tutorial and the inspiration for our bike birthday party!
Hi Sarah- Thank you for your feedback! I’m so happy that you made the cake, and love that your version had four bikes! I’m sure it was adorable, and a bike party sounds like so much fun. xoxo ;0)
Beautiful work. I lovely. Sorry, I’m brazilian e i don’t speak english. Kisses for you.
Hi! I’m wondering how far in advance these decorations can be made and how to properly store them?
Hi Danica, The bicycle is made from candy melts. To make in advance, keep the bicycle out of heat and sunlight and it should be fine for a long time. The balloons are also candy melts, a few of the smaller balloons are buttercream.
I’m wondering if I can put the bike and balloons on the cake two days in advance. I won’t have time at the last minute to play with it. Will the candy melts decor be ok? I’m worries they may go soft.
Hi Iwona, Since the bike is just leaning onto the cake for support and the balloons are whole candy melts, then there should be no problem. I would feel comfortable placing on the cake 2 days in advance.
I made it last night for my daughter’s 22nd birthday, and I couldn’t be happier.
Oh Yay! You did such a fantastic job!! Thanks so much for sharing. Hope your daughter has a great birthday!
Thank you so much.