Ombre Wedding Cake Tutorial

I had the exhilarating task of making my SECOND wedding cake this year for my dear friends, Darcy and Elyse. The Bride sent me some inspirational photos of soft iced cakes and a colouring concept that I wasn't familiar with - ombre. While the faded colour of this cake may look challenging to achieve, it was actually really easy to pull off. Just make sure you do some bicep exercises leading up to the task because all that icing killed my arm!

Soft Iced Ombre Buttercream Wedding Cake - How to.

What you'll need.
2 x batches of butter cream icing (divided into 5 batches)
Bowls
Large flat blade cake spatular
Gel colouring in your chosen colour

Start by filling and stacking your cakes, then cover in a thin crumb coat. Use uncoloured butter cream for this. Pop in the fridge to set.

While your cakes are in the fridge, start colouring your icing. I used four colours for my cake, fading from an off-white on the top down to a bright pink on the bottom. The best way to achieve the faded colour range is to work from the top/lightest colour down. You can always make you're icing darker, but it's harder to fix/lighten the icing once coloured. Don't start colouring the next batch of icing until you've managed to get the colour before it right. Try not to make the shades of icing too far apart, as they will blend and mix into each other once you put them on the cake. Also, don't forget that you will need more icing for the darker/base colours as there is more surface area to cover!

I'm trying to achieve a soft and textured look, so I don't have to worry about evenly icing the cake. Start by applying a thick layer of icing in your darkest colour to the bottom half of your base cake, I used a small butter knife to do this. Repeat with the second colour. 

Once the cake is covered in both colours, start to even out the icing with your large flat blade spatular. You will notice that once you start to smooth and even out the icing, the two colours will blend together slightly which makes the colours look as though they're fading into each other.

To achieve the rustic, soft iced look, I take my large flat blade spatular and hold it at a slight angle so the tip of it cuts into my icing as I spin my cake turntable.

I'm really happy with how this cake turned out - and so were the Bride and Groom, which is the most important part! It can be a little bit fiddly, but the overall look is so romantic and rustic. Well worth the effort!

And because it was by far the most beautiful wedding I've ever had the pleasure of attending, there is a lil' video I put together (all shot on my iPhone, hence the crappy quality!) But you get the idea - this video DOES NOT do the wedding justice, it was absolutely stunning!

Congratulations, Darcy and Elyse!! xxx



Darcy & Elyse's Wedding from Kimberley Burrell on Vimeo.