Autumn Painted Buttercream Cake

Learn how to make this insanely beautiful Autumn Painted Buttercream Cake. 

Painted buttercream has to be my newest cake obsession. This cake trend is so beautiful and fun to make at home. 

Painting with buttercream is impressive. It gives your cake this unique and excellent texture; you’ll use the thick buttercream as paint and spackle it with a palette knife (or, in this case, an offset spatula).  

This Autumn Painted Buttercream Cake is made with light and fluffy vanilla cake layers and creamy vanilla buttercream. 

This cake is perfect for fall as the fall leaves inspire the colors. I’ll show you how to make the burgundy, beige, brown, orange, and yellow frosting, which you will use to “paint” or spackle on the cake. 

I’ll then show you how to use a rounded offset spatula and tapered palette knife to get the beautiful effect on the cake. 

Finally, you’ll use edible gold to paint on a little shimmer. 

Tips for Success: 

• Read through all the ingredients and instructions so you can get a better idea of how much time and what you need to make this cake.
• A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three 8-inch cake layers.
• In this cake recipe, you need 1 cup buttermilk; if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can easily use 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar to make your own. 
• To make cake flour at home, mix 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch. Sift or whisk together to get rid of any lumps. 
• Be careful not to overmix this cake batter, or else the cake will come out dense. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
• You can bake the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month. 
• You can make the buttercream a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. Then take them out to come back to room temperature. Make sure the buttercream is at room temperature before re-whipping.
• Something to remember when coloring the buttercream, the food color will get slightly darker when it sits.
• Serve at room temperature and use a hot knife to get clean cake slices! 

What Tools You’ll Need to Make This Cake: 

• 5-quart, Stand Mixer with mixing bowl & paddle attachment
• 3, 6-inch cake pans or 2, 8-inch cake pans
• Offset spatula and tapered offset spatula 
• 8-inch or 10-inch white cake board 
• Serrated knife or cake leveler 
• Turntable 
• Cake scraper or bench scraper
• Whisk or sifter
• Rubber Spatula
• Non-Stick Cooking Spray and Parchment Paper
• Ice Cream Scooper with Trigger Release (for dividing cake batter evenly)
• Piping Bags (I use reusable silicone bags)
• Cake Stand, optional
• Brown gel food coloring
• Ivory gel food coloring 
• Lemon Yellow gel food coloring 
• Orange gel food coloring 
• Super Red gel food coloring 
• Gold luster dust 
• 1-ounce Clear alcohol like vodka or lemon extract 
• Small paintbrush 
• 5 small mixing bowls 

Here’s how to make this Autumn Painted Buttercream Cake! 

Let’s Get Baking!

How to Make Vanilla Cake Layers

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, and spray again. Set aside.
2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.
5. Turn the mixer on low and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until fully incorporated. 
6. Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix on medium for another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
7. Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Remove cakes from the oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place them into the freezer to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

How to Make Creamy Vanilla Buttercream 

1. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Turn the mixer to low and add the salt and vanilla. 
3. Next, gradually add powdered sugar, followed by the cream. Mix on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
4. Before using, turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles or use a rubber spatula to push out the air bubbles. (You may need to repeat this step when frosting the outside of the cake). 
5. In 5 small mixing bowls, add 3-4 Tablespoons of buttercream to each bowl. 
6. In the first bowl, add ivory gel food color to make ivory buttercream. 
7. In the second bowl, add lemon yellow gel food coloring to make a light yellow buttercream. 
8. In the third bowl, add brown gel food coloring to create a brown buttercream. 
9. In the fourth bowl, add orange, super red, and brown gel food color to make a burnt orange buttercream. 
10. Finally, in the fifth bowl, add super red and brown gel food coloring to create a burgundy buttercream. 

Putting It All Together

1. Remove the cake layers from the freezer and unwrap the cake layers. Next, use a serrated knife to cut off the cakes’ dome to make the layers flat and even. 
2. Add a small amount of buttercream onto the center of the cake board. Layer one cake layer, cut side up onto the cake board. Pipe ⅔ cup of buttercream and use an offset spatula to smooth the buttercream layer.  
3. Place another cake layer cut side down over the top. Repeat the process for another layer — Crumb coat with white buttercream and freeze for 30 minutes. 
4. Add a thicker layer of buttercream to the cold cake. Use an offset spatula and cake scraper to make the sides and the top as smooth as possible. Place back into the freezer for 30 minutes. 
5. On the cold cake, scoop the burgundy buttercream with the offset spatula, put the spatula onto the cake at a diagonal, and then pull the spatula back to create a pulled dot or petal effect. 
6. Next, use the tapered offset spatula with the burnt orange buttercream and place onto the cake and pull the spatula back; it’ll look smeared. 
7. Repeat this technique with alternating colors on a diagonal around one side of the cake. Then create a straight line from the top to the bottom of the cake where the smears will end. 
8. To complete the cake, mix the gold dust with the clear alcohol and paint the burgundy smears’ ends with the edible gold paint for a little glitter. 
9. Serve at room temperature and enjoy!

You May Also Enjoy: 

• Common Baking Mistakes & How to Avoid Them (free training)
• Cake Planning Checklist (freebie)
• How to Decorate Your First Cake (free course)
• Cake Decorating for Beginners (online course)

I’m so excited to see your Autumn Painted Buttercream Cakes. Please feel free to email me here at xokatierosario@gmail.com with any questions you may have; I’ll be happy to help! 

Happy Decorating! 

P.S. Hey, if you liked this tutorial, you really should check out Cake Decorating for Beginners, my online cake program. I coach you on everything I teach on these cake tutorials so that you can uplevel your baking and decorating skills. We 10x it so you get the results you want most. Like any new skill, it’s important to learn from the ground up to build a foundation so that you can take on any cake challenge. It is an investment your future self will thank you for. Check it out at XOKatieRosario.com/online-cake-course. I will see you there!

Watch The How-to Video Below: 

 

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