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hello I'm going to show you how to make
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a super fun and colorful easy graduation
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cake And the best part you don't need
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any fancy tools This design uses
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homemade cake stencils bright
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buttercream and just a little bit of
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patience It's absolutely perfect for a
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preschool graduation and end of year
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party or really any joyful celebration
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Let's get started First bake your cake
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using whatever flavor you like This is
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my very vanilla cake recipe Adding
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sprinkles into the batter for fun
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colorful slices Assemble your cake by
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layering the cake layers and filling I'm
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using my 4-minute buttercream for the
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filling and frosting here because it's
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easy to make and tastes amazing And it
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works like magic for this design You
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will need to use a crusting buttercream
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like this for the frosting And all that
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means is that the buttercream gets firm
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when it sets which makes it possible to
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add the colorful buttercream silhouette
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cake design later This is called a crumb
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coat and it's a very thin layer of
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frosting that completely covers the cake
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to trap any loose crumbs It doesn't need
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to be perfectly smooth It just needs to
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cover up all of the naked cake So after
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you've scraped around the cake once or
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twice using a cake comb or icing
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smoother or frosting scraper and leveled
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off the top using an offset spatula or
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angled pallet knife put this into the
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fridge for about 30 minutes to set
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Meanwhile tint the buttercream for your
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final layer of frosting I'm using neon
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blue gel food coloring When the crumb
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coat has set so it's firm to the touch
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not sticky use this to frost your cake I
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like to start with the top spreading it
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out to the sides and then smoothing it
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by holding my offset spatula at a 45
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degree angle while I spin the cake until
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it's smooth For the sides spread the
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buttercream so that it sticks up above
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the top edge And this will give you nice
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sharp angles later And after covering
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the whole cake scrape around a few times
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with a cake comb This one is plastic and
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you can see this trail it's leaving
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around the middle of the cake And that's
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because the cake comb is dinged from
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dropping it or knocking it at some point
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I prefer using a metal cake comb because
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the material is much stronger so it
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doesn't get dinged as easily Another
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reason I love using metal is that you
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can heat the edge using a hair dryer or
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a blowtorrch or hot water and then rub
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it with a towel or paper towel until
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it's warm not hot And then scrape around
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the cake and you'll leave super super
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super smooth frosting behind For the top
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edge swipe sideways with your offset
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spatula or angled pallet knife making
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sure you're only pushing sideways not
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down at all because that will cause a
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bulge around the rim of the cake Now
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this cake needs to go into the fridge
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for at least an hour or ideally
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overnight Cover any leftover buttercream
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with cling film or saran wrap so it
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doesn't dry out and crust and you'll be
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able to retent this for the decorations
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later While the cake is in the fridge
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make some DIY cake stencils These are so
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easy to make but so effective Search
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online for celebrating children
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silhouettes and print out a few on a
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piece of paper Black and white is fine
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Cut pieces out of parchment or wax paper
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so that there's about an inch of paper
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surrounding each figure Then use a
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pencil to trace over each figure along
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the outline And keep in mind that the
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more detailed this outline is the neater
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your final shape will be So take the
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time to follow all of the little details
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like creases and clothing and fingertips
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You can reuse these stencils but I
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actually find it's quicker to just make
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one for every figure you want to put on
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the cake After you've traced around them
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use scissors to cut them out by snipping
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into the middle of each child That
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sounds crazy And poking scissor blade
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through and then cutting around the
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outline And again the neater you do this
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the neater the edges of your design will
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be While your cake is chilling tint your
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buttercream colors I've made six but
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quick tip instead of using lots of
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little bowls which will take forever to
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clean Mixing the colored buttercream in
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a cupcake pan is a great time-saving
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idea Once the frosting on your cake is
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really firm wrap a stencil around it to
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position the figure where you want it to
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be and spread buttercream to cover it
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Use your left or non-dominant hand to
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press the stencil firmly against the
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cake And then spread the buttercream
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from the edges to the middle of the
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shape If you push in the other direction
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you can force buttercream underneath the
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stencil and smudge the design Scrape
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over the stencil a few times with a
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small offset spatula or angled pallet
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knife to leave a thin smooth layer of
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buttercream behind Then gently peel the
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stencil away from the cake If there are
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any smudges on the cake use a toothpick
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to gently scrape them off Since the
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frosted cake is cold and firm you won't
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damage it as you scrape Repeat with the
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rest of your stencils but space these
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far enough apart so that each stencil
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doesn't touch any of the previous
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buttercream figures otherwise the
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stencil will damage it We'll fill in all
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of the gaps on the cake later Once
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you've worked your way around the cake
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pop it back into the fridge for at least
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30 minutes to set this first part of the
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design before continuing If you want to
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scrape the buttercream off your stencils
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and use them again now's the time to do
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that When you take your cake out of the
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fridge you can place the stencils in
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between the figures you've already
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stenciled onto the cake It's fine if the
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stencil touches that buttercream now
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because it's cold and firm I'm trying to
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space these evenly around the cake but
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if you want to overlap them you can Just
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make sure none of the stencils touch any
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buttercream that hasn't set yet That
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might mean putting the cake back into
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the fridge again before finishing up
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with the final stencils This is such a
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fun and colorful design perfect for a
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graduation or even for back to school
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Subscribe to my channel for more cake
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decorating techniques that don't require
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a lot of fancy tools And visit my cake
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school for online courses and
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memberships teaching hundreds of cake
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decorating techniques and designs Thanks
