I've been dying to share this cake with you for a few weeks, but I was determined to post them in the order that I made them and I was am still waaaay behind! But anyway... I finally caught up to this cake! I've told you before that I love all things rainbow and I loved the idea of rainbows combined with the chevron pattern.
I used the wax paper transfer method by Jessica Harris (in her Clean & Simple Cake Design class) for the pattern but I ended up using a tiny square cookie cutter to cut the pattern (thanks to a suggestion from my husband - yay for creative hubbys!) and finally got it done! UDPATE: I highly recommend the Chevron Cutter from Not Just Cakes by Annie for doing chevrons!!
For the name, I used the Fox Run Alphabet cutters and I cut tiny dots using a number #12 round tip to trim out the plaque.
And for the bunting... those are shish kabob (or kebab?) skewers, bakers twine... and guess what for the flags? Bright/Bold Post It Notes! They come in so many bright colors these days... they perfectly matched the other rainbow colors!
I also did a small matching smash cake. She wanted it really simple and not too much fondant, so I did 3 stripes for it on top of vanilla buttercream.
Overall... I was in love with this cake!! It was just so bright and happy and colorful and fun!! Dontcha think?
This cake was (3) 9" layers of vanilla cake on the bottom and (2) 6" layers of strawberry cake on top. Both were filled with vanilla frosting and the decorations were homemade marshmallow fondant.
Do you have any questions about these cakes? Please leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer and help out!
Yaneri -Sweet Baker
LOVE LOVE it!!! Love the bold bright colors!!! I was reading the blog how she made the Chevron pattern but still I was confused!!! Was it hard to do this design?? Overall you did outstanding!! Love the banner...tooo tooo cute!!!
Rose
Thank you!! It wasn't really "hard" so much as it was just tedious and time consuming! I ended up cutting long ribbons of each color and then using the tiny square (turned to use the corner) to cut a zig out of the top, then the bottom, then the top... It probably took me close to 2 hours to do the ribbons! Everything else was super easy 😉
Dawn
I love the post it notes! Brilliant idea! Very fun cake!
Rose
🙂 Thanks Dawn!! I really planned to do it with fondant but it was just too heavy! The Post-Its worked so much better!
Ashlie
Super cute cake. I discovered Jessicakes cause someone in town is friends with her and she lives in Oregon like me. Fun you found her site too. I didn't quite get her directions either. I can see it probably takes some time to do this one. Great job on getting it done even so...Your husband is multi talented to looking cool driving with fuzzy pink steering wheel covers to suggesting some creative techniques to your cakes! lol
Rose
Thanks Ashlie =) He is very talented!!
Megan
I love the bright colors on this cake, and way to go to your husband for coming up with a great alternative idea to get the pattern! My husband's the mastermind behind a lot of my cake projects, too. I love having his support and help!
Rose
Thanks Megan!! I absolutely couldn't do what I do without my hubby!!
Cheyenne Renard
Rose you are so talented i just love your cakes . I cant believe you have 6 babies how truly blessed you are. I would love to learn to make the LSU cake with the gold and purple and the cake on your fb with ruffles on it . Please let me know if you would be willing to share how u do them. Id love to talk with you. I live for now in Henderson Nevada im from Ca. I hope one day to move to Utah . Thank you again Cheyenne
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust
That is so adorable!
Rose
Thanks Dorothy!
Michelle
Rose,
As usual you have outdone yourself! This is a beautiful and fun cake. I so with I lived closer so I could order some from you 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Creative Thursday each week. I appreciate YOU! Can't wait to see what you link up next 🙂
Michelle
Rose
Thanks so much Michelle!! xo
Lisa
Hi Rose, I just love this cake and your work- amazing! I tried to attempt this on the weekend but couldn't find jessicakes video on chevron as she has taken it off. Also when I went to cut ribbons like you did with a square cutter when I picked up the ribbons they would stretch all out of shape etc just couldn't get it to work! Did you do the ribbons in sections? Did you do the top & bottom at the same time to the ribbons? And also is it hard to get consistency with the square cutter because you would have to do it free hand. Sorry for all the questions, if you can help I would so appreciate it. Thanks so much 🙂
Rose
I think I did 2 sections for each stripe (about half way around the cake). Basically you print a template and tape it to a table. Then cover wax paper with shortening, lay it on the template, then lay the fondant strips on there and cut out the pattern (with a square cutter or an Xacto knife, etc. Then coat the fondant cake with shortening as well. Pick up the wax paper with the zig-zag stripes on it and actually lay it up on the cake, then peel away the wax paper. That way the stripes don't stretch. They go straight from the wax paper to the side of the cake. Does that make sense? It's hard to explain really. If you happen to be a member of MyCakeSchool.com, she has a great tutorial up demonstrating it on her paid site. NOW, as far as cutting the zig-zag, since making this cake I've bought THE MOST AWESOME cutters from CheapCookieCutters.com! They come in 5 sizes I think and they make cutting these SO EASY!! Let me know if you have other questions!
Lisa
Thank you so much Rose for taking the time to reply to me. And thank you so much for the website link for the cutters - wow guess I won't have this problem again - going to make it so much easier! Yes it did make sense about the wax paper, the only thing I don't understand is getting the icing onto the wax paper as the pattern. Do you put a big strip of fondant on there first but then how do you see the pattern underneath? Only thing that still confuses me! Oh well I'll use the cutters from now on! Thanks again.
Rose
I honestly don't remember how exactly I overcame that. I think I'd just cut some, then see if I was still on track by the pattern underneath and adjust accordingly!! The cutters make it SO much easier!!
Katina
Rose, what a awesome cake!! Can you please tell me which cutter you used to make the plaque?
thanks,
Katina
Rose
I used a daisy/flower cutter from the Wilton 101 Cookie Cutters set. It's round, but after cutting it out, I used my rolling pin to roll it in one direction into an oblong shape!
Maria
Rose, I love the cake! Great job! I have a question regarding the transfer of the chevron stripes to the cake. Could I use this method with a buttercream cake? If so, how would I get the chevron stripes to adhere to the buttercream as I transfer them from the cake? I read that your used shortening on your fondant covered cake...would I just use water for a buttercream cake?
Thanks!
Maria
Rose
Hi Maria! I can't say for sure, but I'd think the best way to apply the chevron on buttercream would be by putting a tiny line of fresh buttercream on the back of the chevron before applying it to the cake! That's how I handled the smash cake, but it was so small, I'm not positive it would hold on a bigger cake with lots more chevron!
Maria
Hi Rose, thank you for your reply! I think you may be right about the buttercream on the back of the chevron for a larger cake. I am doing an 8 inch double barrel next weekend for my son's first birthday. I plan to try to chevron pattern on it, but I'm a little nervous the chevrons will just fall right off when I pull the waxed paper off the cake! I was thinking maybe small dots of piping gel might work??? Not sure...
Maria
Lori
Oh! How I would love for you to live in Louisiana!! I love this cake! My daughter's second birthday party needs this!!!
Can you send me the recipe for it and I will try to attempt it myself.....very scary!!
Natasha
I love the cake and my cousin is turning three. can you send me the recipe and I will try to make it!
Paige
I read the recipes for the vanilla cake, strawberry cake and butter creme frosting. How many batches of each did you use for this cake?
Rukayat
So lovely. The colours are bright and your tips, great. Thank you for this.
Rose Atwater
You're welcome!
Joy
Hi! I love the look of this cake! I was wondering how tall the bottom tier is and also how tall are each of the strips. Thanks for your help!
Rose Atwater
It's been a few years since I made it but I think it was 6-7" tall and the chevrons are about 1" tall.
Priya
Amazing. I absolutely love how creative and fun this cake looks!
How did you use the shortening as an adhesive? Did you just add water to it?
I'm extremely new at baking and would like to learn a few new tricks.
Thank you.
Rose
No, I used straight shortening. I smoothed it onto the back of the fondant pieces with my fingertips, then just stuck it on!