Little white, red, and pink sprinkles cover my Valentine’s Day sprinkle heart cake – but with a few little pockets of white buttercream showing through in the shape of a heart. It seems a little daunting, but it’s actually SUPER easy to pull off, and pretty fun, too!

We’ve all heart of using our hands to carefully press sprinkles into the sides of our freshly frosted cakes – I do it all the time, and it works wonderfully. However, when covering a cake head-to-toe with sprinkles, using a little trick can get the job done in seconds. That’s right, seconds! No hand-placing sprinkles, just one simple technique.

ROLL THAT CAKE.

Yep, that’s right. ROLL IT in the sprinkles.

Most new bakers are terrified of moving their cakes, let alone picking them up and tipping them sideways to roll into a tray of sprinkles, but I promise if you follow my simple tips/steps, it will be a breeze. You’ll be looking for reasons to roll your cakes in sprinkles at any chance you can get!

Let’s jump into how it’s done, shall we?

STEP 1: Frost your cake on a cardboard round the same size as your cake. So if you’re frosting a 6″ cake, make sure to frost your cake (stacking, filling, crumb coating, frosting, etc, all of it) on a 6″ cardboard round. This will help you be able to pick up the cake on that one side without damaging the actual bottom layer of the cake. I usually frost my cakes by taping a 6″ board to a 8″ board to ease the decorating and storing process. If you’re frosting an 8″ cake, use a 8″ board underneath, etc. FROST YOUR CAKE COLD/FROZEN for a less stressful experience, haha.

STEP 2: Once you’ve frosted your cake in an even layer (I’m talking the final layer, not the crumb coat layer – and it doesn’t have to be perfect, just even. You’re covering it in sprinkles, remember?), place a 6″ (for a 6″ cake) or 8″ (for an 8″ cake) on the top of your cake. I usually already have one on there already for a clean edge.

STEP 3: With a cardboard round on the top and bottom of your cake, you are ready to go! First, spread out your sprinkles in a flat layer on a cookie sheet. I usually use 1 1/2 – 2 Wilton bottles of sprinkles. You can do other kinds of sprinkles, but I’ve noticed that nonpareils work best. If you have a sprinkle mix with other sized sprinkles in it, pick out the bigger ones and you can add them on the cake later. The smaller the sprinkle, the better. Make a flat and even layer in your cookie sheet.

STEP 4: Hold your cake with one hand on each of the cardboard ends (cake is sideways). With your frosting wet (meaning you just frosted the cake without letting it sit to harden or refrigerating it), roll your cake in the sprinkles starting at the cookie sheet end closest to you. Pull the cake up, shake the pan a little with one hand (major balancing act here) for an even sprinkle layer again, and then roll again to completely cover the cake.

…next steps below…

STEP 5: Freeze your cake for 5 minutes, then with a sharp paring knife, slice off the TOP cardboard cake board. Add more buttercream to the top (just enough to have sprinkles stick), and add on a layer of sprinkles on top (pressing them in to stick).

THAT’S IT! That’s really all it takes.

If you’d like to have the hearts all over the side of the cake as I did, you’ll need some parchment paper and scissors. Cut out small hearts, and BEFORE you roll the cake in the sprinkles, and after you’ve frosted your cake, place the hearts directly onto the side of the cake. Make sure all the edges are pressed on the cake so no little sprinkles sneak through. Roll the cake following the directions above, then after you freeze the cake (step 5), you should be able to easily pull off the heart shapes (might need a knife to get under that little heart parchment edge), revealing heart shapes. If any buttercream is coming off with the parchment hearts, you need to freeze it longer. It should peel right off.

I’m a pretty visual person, so if the directions were confusing, I have a video for you of me making this cake:

The tip I used is a Wilton 8B tip and I used my almond cream cheese buttercream.

Hope you have as much fun making this cake as I did! I can’t wait to make a few more with other designs and techniques I’ve been thinking about – it’s such a versatile little trick, isn’t it? As always, if you make a cake inspired by one of my creations, I’d love to see it! Tag me on Instagram at @bakingwithblondie or #bakingwithblondie.

xoxo,

Mandy