Flamingo Cake with Ombre Buttercream
Today we're sharing a pretty Flamingo Cake for your beach parties, luau parties, or just for fun!
In the tutorial, we demonstrate three techniques: the tri-colored buttercream stucco texture of the bottom tier, a nice and smooth buttercream ombre on the top tier, and of course, our sweet flamingos!
Table of Contents
Materials:
In the tutorial, we are working with a 6" double barrel tier and an 8" standard sized tier. These are actually dummy tiers, but if you have questions about creating a double barrel (tall) cake, we demonstrate in our Carousel Cake Video (9:40 mark)
Crusting Vanilla Buttercream frosting of choice (We used our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream recipe from the recipes section. Our Classic Vanilla Buttercream is a good choice also.)
Viva brand paper towels (if smoothing the ombre top tier as we did)
Fondant for the flamingos
Coloring Gels: Americolor Teal, Wilton Rose, Americolor Super Black, Bright White (optional- for marking on beak)
Black Food Coloring Pen (for eyes and Beaks)
Piping Tips: Wilton 2 for legs, 3 for top bead border
Small rounded spatula (or similar utensil) for spackled look
Bench Scraper
Clay Extruder (Mine is a Makin's Ultimate Clay Extruder -aff) -- If you don't have one, just roll snakes of fondant by hand for a similar look!
Gum Paste or Fondant with tylose kneaded into it for the plaque, along with two circle cutters in the desired size.
FMM Funky Alphabet Tappit Cutters
Miscellaneous: Turntable, cake cardboards cut to size for each tier, appropriate supports/bubble tea straws, ribbon for the plaque, piping gel
Cake Notes
*At the last minute before photographing, I added a small bead border to the top tier. I did this with a Wilton 3 piping tip. I liked it with no border at all also ;0)
-In the video, I attach the birds' bodies and necks separately. This is mainly because I did not allow them to dry in advance. If you'd rather attach the necks to their oval bodies with a little tylose glue and dry overnight, you could go that route as well!
-I piped the flamingos legs with a Wilton 2 piping tip. If you aren't a fan of piping straight lines directly onto the cake, you could also use either extruded fondant, or pipe lines of chocolate onto waxed paper, chill until firm, and then apply your favorite legs to the cake.
- I always chill my tiers before stacking.
More Flamingo Cakes!
We have a few more flamingo cake tutorials on our site! Make sure to check out these fun cake designs, they would make great summer cakes or birthday cake ideas!
We also have a really fun mermaid cake which features a homemade mermaid tail cake topper!
Cake Recipes
There are so many cake recipes that would be perfect for this cake design! Some of our favorites are our almond cake, strawberry cake from a mix, lemon cake from scratch, and orange cake recipe! Or, consider our Pink Velvet Cake to go along with the flamingo theme!
Enjoy the Video!
Thanks so much for stopping by! If you give this flamingo cake a try, we would love for you to leave a comment or photo below! Don't miss our full collection of free cake recipes and cake decorating tutorials!
Great cake. I really like the way you did both tiers. The water affect on the bottom and the ombre on the top. Great combination. The flamingos are really cute and I also like the person's comment above about making them storks for a baby shower. Very creative.
Melissa is so creative and has so much talent.
Thank you all so much for your comments! xoxo I'm so happy that you like the video & design of the cake-- also... nanajane, I LOVE your stork idea!!
I have the Tappit cutters and have difficulty with them, do you have or plan on making a quick tutorial on them? I'm ready to give up on them like I did with the Cake Cricut ?
Hi-- I really like tappit cutters but they take some getting used to. Maybe we can make a quick little tutorial this week as we don't have a tutorial that is just on tappits.
I've tried a couple of different methods but what works best for me is to roll the fondant (with tylose) or gum paste very thin...then wait several minutes until it begins to set up a bit & isn't so soft. Then make your cut, sliding the tappit cutter back and forth to get a clean edge before lifting it away. If the fondant letter becomes lodged in the cutter, tap it against the counter to pop it out. If that doesn't work, take a soft dry paintbrush and poke it out. ;0)
Hi.. Melissa.. Very cute thank you... a question for the dummies... if I use buttercream.. can I use them again?...
Hi Claudia, Yes, we do reuse the dummy cakes after covering with buttercream. We scrape off as much as possible and put them in the dishwasher and they come out fine. We order ours from http://www.guildcraftfurniture.com. Yes, it is a furniture company that also sells cake dummies.
Love this cake! Here's a smash cake I did
Heather- it's SO cute!! xoxo
Hi Melissa, I think this cake is so cute! I am in the process of making it now. Cake tiers baked and frozen, flamingos and name plaques drying. I have a question regarding the double barrel tiers. I watched your double barrel video and you used a dowel through them. Since the double barrel is on top in this cake would I use a dowel through all the six inch and through the 8" into the cake board at the bottom? Or just through the top 4 tiers. And I want to say I am so thankful I found your site. The accessibility to you and your moms knowledge is sooooo helpful! And the videos are terrific. Thanks so much.
Hi Terri! If you are traveling with the stacked cake, I would hammer a long (sharpened) dowel straight through both tiers and into the cake base. There's no need to hammer one in the top tier and another through both tiers. I don't always hammer a center dowel into my double barrel cakes, but it just gives a little peace of mind, especially when the cake needs to be transported. And in this case, since it is on the top tier, it's a good idea. Just one dowel through both tiers. Hope this helps, glad that you are making it!
Thanks very much for your response. I really appreciate your input. :)