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Ready to add lots of color to your
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cakes? In this tutorial, I'm going to
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show you eight colorful cake decorating
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techniques that are fun, eye-catching,
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and surprisingly easy to do. First up is
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a sparkly homemade stencil design. Write
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a message or number on a piece of
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parchment or wax paper and cut it out.
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Poking the scissors into each letter and
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cutting around so that the rest of the
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paper is left intact. Wrap this stencil
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around a cake after the cake has been in
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the fridge for at least an hour to chill
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so that the frosting is firm. with
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another strip of parchment to cover up
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the bottom of your cake if your stencil
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doesn't go down far enough to protect
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the frosting from jumping sparkles
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later. Then spread buttercream over the
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stencil. You can use the same color or
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something different. And then press
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edible glitter or colorful sanding sugar
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onto the buttercream on the stencil so
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that it sticks. Peel the stencil off and
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you'll have a sparkly colorful message
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left on your cake. Watercolor frosting
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is probably the quickest way to add lots
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of color to your cakes. Spread a few
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colors of frosting around the cake
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randomly, choosing colors that mix
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nicely because these will blend
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together. Scrape around the cake a few
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times to smooth these colors over the
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cake and then spread any of the frosting
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you scraped off back onto the cake to
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fill in any gaps. The more times you
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scrape around the cake, the more the
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colors will blend together. Watercolor
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cakes are striking just like this. But
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to take them to the next level, you can
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carve the buttercream to show off the
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color or colors underneath. And I teach
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this technique in my free course on 10
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frosting techniques. The link for the
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course is in the top of the screen and
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in the video description or go to
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britishgirlbakes.com.
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Instead of blending colors together,
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create buttercream stripes using any two
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colors you like. With this technique,
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spread the first color all over your
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cake and use a striped cake comb to
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imprint stripe grooves into the
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frosting. Using this just like you'd use
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a regular cake scraper, pressing down on
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the cakeboard to line it up straight for
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each scrape. Put the cake into the
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fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for
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15 minutes to set this first color. And
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then spread or pipe the next color into
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the grooves. Scrape around the cake. And
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don't worry, the first color is cold and
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firm, so you won't damage it. But you
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will smear the second color all over the
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cake, and that's fine. Just keep
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scraping again and again with a
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straightedged cake comb or icing scraper
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or frosting smoother to take off all of
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that excess color, and eventually you'll
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be left with perfectly neat, colorful
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stripes on your cake. A checkerboard
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cake is a really fun way to add color to
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the inside of your cake using two
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flavors or two different colors. This is
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my very vanilla cake recipe, which is
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the perfect size for a checkerboard
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pattern baked in four 6in pans. But
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first, we need to make sure that the
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cakes are the right height by using a
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serrated knife. Trim off any domes, and
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you can trim off the bottom if you want
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to take off the darker colored edge. The
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cake layers should be as tall as they're
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going to be wide. You'll see what I mean
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in a minute. Use cookie cutters 2 in
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apart in size. These are 2 and 4 in. And
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the cake is 6 in wide. So when you cut
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the cake with the cutters, you'll make
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three rings of cake that are 2 4 and 6
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in wide. Now alternate the colorful
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rings to assemble your cake. So the
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colors change with each ring, but also
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alternate as you go up the cake. So pink
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is on top of white and white is on top
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of pink or whatever colors you're using.
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This tall 6-in cake will serve 12 to 20
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people depending on how you slice it.
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Look at this gorgeous colorful
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checkerboard pattern. If you enjoy
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piping or want to practice, a vintage
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cake is a great option for lots of
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color. Choose a color scheme or go for a
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full rainbow using as many piping tips
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as you have and then play around
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layering different shapes and textures
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and colors and having lots of fun. I
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have a very detailed tutorial on this
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style and the link is in the top of the
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screen. A much quicker way to add lots
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of color to your frosting is to pour
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multicolored sprinkles into your
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frosting before you use it. Set aside a
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few spoonfuls first without sprinkles
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and then spread the sprinkled frosting
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onto your cake as normal. And when you
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smooth it, don't worry about any trails
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left in the frosting by sprinkles
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dragging around with your cake comb.
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Just use the plain buttercream you set
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aside to spread over those trails and
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then scrape again and again until it's
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all smooth. The sprinkles look really
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bright and fun embedded in the frosting
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like this. One more idea for sprinkles,
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and this one is perfect for birthdays.
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Start with chocolate chips and melt them
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in the microwave at 50% power for 30
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seconds at a time, stirring between each
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interval until the chocolate is smooth.
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Spoon it into a Ziploc bag, squeeze it
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into one corner, and snip off the tip.
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Level your sprinkles on a plate and pipe
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your letter or number directly onto
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them, but in mirror image since you're
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looking at the back right now. Start
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with a thin outline and then trace over
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it to build up the shape so it's thick
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enough to hold together. While the
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chocolate is still melted, press a
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toothpick into the bottom so it will be
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easy to attach to the cake later. Leave
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it to set for an hour at room
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temperature or chill it in the fridge or
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freezer for 15 to 30 minutes. Once it's
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firm, lift it up and you've got a
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sprinkled covered chocolate topper ready
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to push into your cake. Ta-da! Homemade
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stencils are so easy to make and so
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versatile. It's easy to add lots of
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colors by tinting a few small amounts of
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buttercream. I like to do this in a
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cupcake pan for quick cleanup instead of
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lots of little bowls. And then just
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spread two or three colors over each
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stencil and scrape over the stencil a
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few times to blend the colors and to
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take off the excess to leave a thin
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smooth layer of colorful buttercream
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behind when you peel off the stencil.
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Tell me in the comments which colorful
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cake decorating techniques were your
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favorite and ask me any questions you
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have. And visit my cake school on
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britishgirlbakes.com to take my free
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course or choose any other course or
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membership to learn hundreds more cake
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decorating techniques and designs. See