Easter Cake

Our Easter cake is the very definition of a pretty pastel spring! Let us show you how to use your frosting to create a simple but gorgeous watercolor effect on the outside of the cake.

How could we let our parade of Easter treats pass by without talking about Easter cake? With all its lovely colors, it’s the best way to top off an Easter dinner or Easter party. And the best part? It’s oh-so-easy to make, just like the rest of our cakes.

This is a simple vanilla cake with simple buttercream frosting. All you’re doing differently this time around is coloring the frosting and using your spatula to blend those colors together on the side of the cake. We talk more about the watercolor effect down below, so don’t feel overwhelmed: it’s truly drama-free, even for beginners! We promise!

Enjoy this Easter cake! (And save some for the Easter Bunny!)

Easter Cake Recipe: Ingredients & Supplies

To make this colorful cake, you’ll need…

Ingredients:

• Everything in our vanilla cake recipe: The best base for this cake, in our opinion, is vanilla cake! You can make it from a box mix, of course, but we also include instructions on how to make it from scratch at that link. Go ahead and read more on that post, but you’ll essentially need:
  • Flour, generally all-purpose, as the base for your cake
  • Baking powder and butter, for a fluffy cake
  • Sugar, vanilla extract, and salt, for flavor
  • Milk, for moistness
  • Eggs, as a binder for your batter that holds the ingredients together
• White buttercream frosting, as in our recipe: Once again, this is something you can get from the store if you so desire…but it’s just as easy to make it at home, in our opinion! Click on that post to read up on what you’ll need specifically, but in short, grab…
  • Vanilla extract, for flavor
  • Butter and whipping cream or milk, to make it nice and fluffy
  • Powdered sugar, for texture
• Sprinkles: We recommend them in Easter colors, of course! To make a cake similar to the one in our pictures, use our Easter mix sugar rods and our Sunday Best sprinkles mix. 
• Gel food coloring: In pastel colors, preferably, to create that dazzling watercolor effect you see on the cake! 

Supplies:

• Anything you’ll need to make the vanilla cake and/or buttercream frosting: This will depend on whether or not you make these two items homemade. If you do make them homemade, we can say for sure you’ll at least need:
  • Bowls, for mixing various ingredients
  • Two 8” cake pans, to bake the cake, of course
• Wilton 1M decorator tip: To help you frost the top of the cake.
• Offset spatula and cake comb/scraper: These are tools you’ll use to get the watercolor effect (see next section!).

Easter Decorated Cake Idea: How To Get A Watercolor Effect!

We know what you’re thinking…

“That cake looks so gorgeous…I’m just a beginner! I don’t think I can make something like that.”

But the blended watercolor effect is 100% foolproof and incredibly simple! To create the watercolor frosting, follow these steps:

1. Frost your cake first with white buttercream. Don’t worry about getting it perfect, since this is just the first layer!
2. Separate your buttercream into individual bowls and use the gel food dye (or another kind of food coloring) to create a few pretty pastel colors.
3. Grab your offset spatula and randomly add the colors around the cake, then…
4. Use your cake comb/scraper to smooth out the colored buttercream. It’ll start to blend!
5. Be sure to go around the cake a few times with the scraper to ensure everything is nice and flat.

That’s it! It’s never been easier to make a colorful cake.

Easter Cake Recipe: FAQs

We’ve gathered up a few questions we’ve gotten about this recipe right here!

How many servings does this cake recipe create?

You’ll make two 8 inch round cakes, which when cut evenly serve about 10-12 slices more or less. Of course, this will vary depending on how much cake you make, how big the slices are, etc!

Can you dye the buttercream with fruit or other natural ingredients instead?

Absolutely! You don’t need to use gel coloring if you have allergen/dietary issues. It should still result in a perfectly pretty watercolor effect when you follow our directions. Experiment and find out what works for you!

What other Easter-themed sprinkles do you recommend?

Turns out, we have a whole shop category dedicated to Easter sprinkles! (And Easter party supplies, too.) They’re all super adorable, but we’d love to point out our Natural Rainbow Jimmies, our Basket Case mix, and our Spring Sugar Pearls.

Did you enjoy our tutorial for Easter cake?

Isn’t it positively gorgeous? And everyone’s sure to admire that watercolor effect, too, so try not to leave it out if you can! Comment down below with any questions or stories you have about our Easter cake recipe. Did you have trouble with any part of it? Or did you switch out any ingredients or use a different method of decorating the cake? We love to hear from everyone!

Other Easter recipes here on Sweets and Treats…

Here at Sweets and Treats, we feel sometimes like Easter needs to step its sweets game up…and so we love posting about new, unique Easter treat ideas! Here are a few others you’ll love:

• Bunny Bait
• Easy Swirly Pastel Easter Cupcakes
• Easter Cakesicles and Cake
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes
• Gift Basket Ideas
• Chocolate Easter Eggs