You may have seen the DIY Rainbow Sprinkle Cake that we featured last fall. Just possibly. Maybe? As it made its way around Pinterest and back. In case you missed it, let’s just say it was absolutely fabulous and one of the top posts from 2012! So needless to say, we’re quite excited because the talented baker behind the sprinkle cake tutorial… is back again today! With another straightforward and totally achievable DIY. Kate Wagner of The Greedy Baker is using everyday items to decorate a spectacular rainbow cake, perfect for any celebration. It’s vivid, bright and has us cheering for a supply list including zip lock bags and spoons. And once you see how easy it is, you’ll be cheering too! It’s a DIY Rainbow Petal Cake!
This style of cake decorating is super simple yet incredibly effective. Most importantly it doesn’t require any fancy decorating equipment, just every day items found in most kitchens. So grab a spoon and let’s get started!
RAINBOW BUTTERCREAM PETAL CAKE
a DIY by Kate Wagner
Materials:
- 6″ crumb coated cake, chilled.
- Cake board or plate
- Skewer / Toothpick
- Ruler
- 3 cups Buttercream
- Icing / Frosting food color
- 6 zip lock bags
- A teaspoon
- Paper towel
- Scissors
- Turntable (optional)
- 6 glasses/cups
STEP ONE: Take your chilled, crumb coated cake and place on your turntable. Measure the height of your cake and using the skewer or toothpick mark mid height all the way around, holding the skewer against the ruler for a guide. This cake was exactly 4″ therefore the marking is at a height of 2″. This marking will be your guideline to help keep you piping dots in a consistent and even manner.
STEP TWO: Divide the buttercream into 6 x 1/2 cup amounts. Tint buttercream as desired. For this tutorial the ‘Electric’ range of gel colors by Americolor were used. Fill the zip lock bags with each individual color and snip off roughly a 1/4″ from the tip of each bag.
STEP THREE: Place each bag of buttercream into a glass and line them up in the order you wish to pipe. This simple tip will keep your workspace tidy as well as helping you keep track of the color order.
STEP FOUR: Pipe your first row of dots onto the cake. Use the guideline to help get even sized dots by piping 3 dots above the line and 3 dots below.
STEP FIVE: Take the teaspoon and using the back gently swipe each dot evenly to the right or left. Using the paper towel clean the teaspoon between each swipe so that the colors stay separated.
STEP SIX: Continue to pipe and swipe rows of dots. Stop and check that you’re keeping a nice vertical line every few rows.
STEP SEVEN: When you have reached your starting point finish up with a row of unswiped dots. This will be the back of the cake.
STEP EIGHT: At this point chill the cake for 10 minutes before starting on the top. Once chilled, pipe a circle of dots around the outer top edge and swipe into the center.
STEP NINE: Continue in this manner until finishing with a single dot of color right in the very center. Alternatively you might like to finish the top in a snail style, swirl pattern. In this case you would start again from the outer edge, pipe a single dot, swipe and repeat until you’ve reached the center. Again finish with a single dot.
STEP TEN: Step back and admire your rainbow creation. Then serve and enjoy!
Have fun with this simple buttercream technique by changing up the colors and patterns – there are so many design possibilities!
VENDORS & CREDITS:
Cake & Tutorial: Kate Wagner of The Greedy Baker
Find more cake projects and tutorials in our DIY Section!
thank you for the amazing tutorial..
Totally mesmerizing!! I wouldn’t be able to cut into this beautiful cake. Ever 🙂
This is beautiful!! I agree, I dont think I would be able to cut in to it!! Beautiful!! Wonderful Imagination!!
This is darling. My daughter’s 24th birthday is this week and I would love to try this. It’s so colorful I know she would love it. So you simply cut off the tip and then use the back of the spoon to smooth the icing? No special tip needed?
Beyond stunning!
Hi,
Fantastic cake and photography. I did a rainbow inside out cake and did the petal pattern and it got a lot of praises…please have a look. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=431658903582465&set=a.292534144161609.71197.292144254200598&type=3&theater
Hope you like my version 🙂
This is so clever Kate, fantastic!!
Wonderful tutorial for a gorgeous cake!! I wish I had this tutorial when I tried to use this method to ice my daughter’s 25th birthday cake in May! It really is easy to do with the correct directions. 🙂 The one comment I would add is that it is important that the buttercream is thick. Mine was not thick enough and drooped on the cake. I made the inside polka dotted to match the frosting and it was a huge success (despite the droopy frosting). 🙂 I am pinning this!
What do you mean by a crumb coated cake?
Amy, a crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting you put on the cake first. As in step one. You then put the cake in the refrigerator to harden up a bit. Depending on where you live, and your frosting, that could take 30 mins. The “crumb coat” helps prevent any crumbs from getting into your frosting when you are decorating. There are tutorials online. I hope this helped.
simply the best rainbow cake I have ever seen
Beautiful!
Stunning and beyond adorable! I’d love to try this. I wonder if this will work with any other frosting apart from butter cream?
Beautiful. I always wonder how were they able to design the top in photo 8. Thanks
Amazing tutorial and absolutely gorgeous cake – looooove!
Hi,
This is AMAZING!! So amazing that I want to try make it this weekend.
Just wondering… what actual cake would you suggest for this? Thanks heaps!
Diana – inside was a funfetti cake. But any flavor you choose would work equally as well! Happy Baking!
I was just wandering could just simply use a rectangular cake and frost the top like that?
Just used your cake decorating style to make my youngest child’s first birthday cake! It’s not as darling as yours, but so very sweet! Excited to cut into it tomorrow. Thank you:)
Hello!
That’s a really cool looking cake. I was planning to do this for my friend’s birthday cake, but do you think this would work with store bought frosting straight from the container? Or would I have to thicken it somehow? Thanks.
Making this for my 5 yr old grandaughters rainbow birthday party this weekend!
wow .. amazing
I would use it to decorate cakes in my cake shop
thanks
wiehoeee i’m making this now with my best friend:)
but we have 4 colors…..
muhahahhaha
My daughter made a 6-inch Bride and Grooms cake for my sons wedding this past weekend using this method. A simple white cake with layers of lemon crud and raspberry jam. She used a normal buttercream recipe and put light purple and white roses on top. It was beautiful and only took about 10 minutes to decorate. This will definitely be the way we go when making fancy or fun cakes! Thanks.
Would cream cheese frosting work? I’m making this for my friends birthday as a surprise and I’m practically ripping my hair out not knowing how the frosting will work, if at all :/
Its too simple to make and seems yummy to eat.
Great post.
Hello there,
I cannot believe my eyes ! So beautiful and simple to do ! Thanks a lot for this tutorial :o)
Amazing cake and tutorial, thank you for sharing your talent!!
The 6inch cake, how many layers of cake did you use and what was the depth of the cake pans? Hope to make this for my daughter’s 6th painting birthday party, and plan to do a test cake before party day.
Many thanks.
Stunning Cake!! Thank you for such simple and clear instructions. This will be the cake for our daughter’s first birthday. It will be beautiful in her photos and (once she gets her tiny hands into it) a beautiful mess!
Thanks so much!