I played with buttercream and a paper towel cardboard core and ended up with this Painted Tulips Cake. I saw a similar technique used for acrylic painting so I wanted to give it a try on a cake.
Do you like the look? I think the tulips turned out pretty and each one is unique in its own way. I wasn’t looking for perfection especially because I’m not great at painting details but I’m happy with the result ☺️.
The cake in this post is a 15.5 cm (6’’) vanilla cake with 5 layers of cake. It’s filled with mascarpone mousse and strawberry mousse and frosted with Swiss meringue buttercream.
I posted these recipes before on my blog so here are the links in case you want to make the same cake:
- Perfectly Moist Vanilla Cake
- Mascarpone Mousse
- Strawberry Mousse – Check the strawberry mousse filling section of this Ghost Cake
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients/Tools
- a store-bought or homemade cake covered in buttercream (or any other frosting that is stable); the taller the cake the better the tulips look – my cake was around 18 cm (7’’) tall
- a paper towel cardboard tube
- some press and seal or plastic wrap to cover the pieces of cardboard
- 3-4 tablespoons of buttercream per colour – the buttercream should be slightly softer than at room temperature (once at room temperature, microwave it for 2 seconds)
- a small paint brush
Directions
Cut the paper towel cardboard core in 4 cm (~1.5’’) pieces. Wrap them in press and seal or some plastic wrap.
Place the coloured buttercream in bowls and microwave it, one at a time, for about 2 seconds so that it becomes slightly softer. You might need to pop it a few times in the microwave as you work on your cake.
If you make it too fluid, it starts dripping on your cake, although it’s probably easier to paint with. I tested several consistencies and microwaving it for 2 seconds only seemed the best.
The only thing you need to do is dip the cardboard piece in buttercream and press it slightly onto the cake. You do this 3 times for each tulip to get the look in the picture below.
Then, use your brush to make the stems and the leaves and colour the tulip petals more.
Here’s one look:
Here’s another look with the petals fully painted:
Which one do you like more?
Here’s one more picture of the cut cake:
Video – Painted Tulips Cake
