We are excited to share our latest video tutorial for elegant watercolor buttercream. This surprisingly simple technique is as beautiful as it is versatile.
I love colorful cakes and the style of these watercolor buttercream designs often involves subtle variations in shades as one color meets another. White the unique effect looks like it would be difficult to achieve, I’m happy to tell you that it is actually very simple!
We hope that you enjoy it!
Materials:
In this tutorial we’ve frosted a 8 inch and 6 inch tier with our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream recipe. Any recipe will do although I recommend a crusting buttercream if you plan to smooth it with a Viva paper towel. Each tier rests on it’s own cardboard cake circle, and 4 bubble tea straws were used beneath the top tier for support.
Buttercream
Coloring Gels: We used Americolor Deep Pink & Teal.
Fondant (we kneaded tylose into ours) for ribbon roses
Gold Luster Dust- we used Rolkem Super Gold edible dust
Wilton tip 3 for bead border
Vodka (or lemon extract)
Miscellaneous: Small offset spatula, Sharp knife or xacto, shortening for prepping surface for fondant, plate/palette for mixing colors & frosting, and a turntable.
*If you are not a fan of smooth buttercream, this would also be very nice with one of the textured buttercream methods in our buttercream section.
Very nice.
Very pretty! Gave me an idea for an upcoming cake. Love the plate idea – I was going to mix up colours – but no more, I’m converted to a plate girl :) Simple and gorgeous as always! :)
Thanks Tammy!
@MsGF- Lol, that is too funny- I’ve never used a plate to mix buttercream colors before but it just kind of happened that way! haha It’ll save you a few minutes! ;0) xo
Love this! Thank you for posting :)
Love this look and the colors too. Question about cutting – I hate to ask this here, so maybe you can point me to another location if it’s been addressed elsewhere. I’m a hobby baker so I rarely do a tiered cake. My question is, if I brought a 2-tiered cake (like this one) to someone’s house, what’s the best way to cut it? Keeping the top tier on and cutting it? Or removing top tier and cut? Also, if traveling with this cake, would you use a center dowel? If I served it at home I wouldn’t center dowel, but if traveling I’d be afraid!!! Thank you so much. Again, love this cake.
Very pretty and simple – love the gold leaves. Thank you.
Gorgeous!!
I had to do a cake for a Paint Ball lover and was puzzled on how to get the effect and I just sat down and started doing what you were doing! He was blown away…. Love your tutorials!!
Thank you all for your nice comments!!
@Collen- that’s perfect for paintball! ;0) xo
Love it…. As usual simple and elegant.
I love painting with watercolors, and I think this icing technique looks so beautiful on this cake! I’m going to try it soon.
So pretty. Can you comment on your choice of colors?
Love it!
Loved making this cake. I made it for my daughter’s graduation from high school. I think it would be a lovely wedding cake. She loved the decor. I made hydrangea petels for the accent flowers because I have a garden full of them. Thank you for this idea.
Beautiful job, Miranda!! Thank you so much for sharing your cake! xo
Hi Melissa. Your creations are always beautiful you are a very talented lady, well done x?
@an1t4 Thank you!! xo
Melissa, I love your work; you are an inspiration. You make it all look so simple. Love your classes
From Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Thanks so much, Deloris!
Hi Melissa, this is a beautiful cake! I got my first large order today. I’m a little scared. I’m doing an 8” on a 12” for about 40 people (large slices). The bottom tier will be white almond (not sure what flavor buttercream, maybe plain). The top tier will be lemon with lemon buttercream. Any advice as far as delivery, or anything else? This will be the first time delivery and I’m nervous. Thank you.
Also, I was thinking about doing an edible image with the writing “Best Wishes…” and her logo. There’s a store nearby that does edible images. What are your thoughts/advice?
Hi Debbie, congrats on your first large order! I always refrigerate buttercream cakes before transporting so that they start out nice and firm ..of course add your supports as usual as well as a smear of buttercream beneath the top tier to make sure that it is secure. Make sure that you place the cake on a nice level surface – you can put a non-slip shelf liner beneath-Some people like to hammer a sharpened (1/4 inch) wooden dowel through both stacked tiers and into the cake drum/stacked cake boards for extra insurance. I don’t always do this for two stacked tiers but it’s an option for you.
I think edible images are always a good option, you could make a plaque if you’d like by adhering it to thinly rolled gum paste or fondant. Let us know if you have any more questions!
Thank you!