
Shag Cake
Steps involved
Make cake layers
Make buttercream (no color)
Put some buttercream aside for shag colors
Assemble and crumb coat cake
Separate buttercream into 6 parts, with one smaller than the rest for the words
Color all buttercream
Pipe shag design
READ BEFORE CONTINUING: The following recipes are scaled to make the cake pictured above -- a 4 layer cake made with 6-inch round cake layers. If you wish to make a smaller cake, please scale down these recipes.
recipes used
1.5 - 2 batches Italian meringue buttercream
I made this buttercream vanilla flavored by adding 1.5 tablespoons of vanilla to my 2x batch (can add less or more to taste)
I always like to have extra buttercream rather than not enough, so if you're not sure how much to use, I would recommend 2
Colors used
To get these colors, I used Wilton's Color Right Food Coloring System.*
For the cake layers: *for tips on how to get vibrant cake layers, click here.
Yellow Layer:
Yellow: 1 drop
Pink layer:
Pink: 2 drops
Blue layer:
Blue: 7 drops
Bright Pink layer:
Pink: 20 drops
Red: 8 drops
For the icing:
The colors may differ depending on how much icing you're coloring and the starting color of your buttercream (certain butter brands are more white or yellow which can make the buttercream whiter or more yellow). These are the amounts I used and should get you close.
Pink Icing:
Pink: 1 drop
Yellow Icing:
Yellow: 5 drops
Green Icing:
Blue: 16 drops
Yellow: 4 drops
Blue Icing:
Blue: 29 drops
Yellow: 3 drops
Bright Pink Icing:
Blue: 1 drop
Red: 7 drops
Pink: 70 drops
Navy Icing (for letters):
Red: 2 drops
Pink: 10 drops
Black: 7 drops
Blue: 60 drops
Supplies/tools
To find the tools I use for almost every cake I make and decorate (including pans, cake boards, icing smoothers, etc.), click here.
The supplies/tools below are specifically for decorating this cake, which I used in addition to the ones in the link above.*
Five Wilton 233 piping tips (can also use one tip and use couplers to switch the tips between bags, but it is much easier to have a piping tip for each color you want to use)
Optional: Thick-walled cake pans (to prevent the sides of the cake from browning too much and taking away from the color of the cake layers)
*Some of these links may be affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I earn a small amount from some purchases, however, this does not affect my recommendations.
Decorating the cake
After the cake has been assembled and the crumb coat is added:
Using a toothpick write "Spring" or any word of your choice on the crumb coat to use as a template.
Set up 5 piping bags with Wilton tip #233 and one with a small round tip (Ateco 4) and fill with each of the icing colors, using the navy color in the bag with the round tip.
Pipe shag onto the cake, alternating colors frequently. Make sure to use the navy color when you reach any part of the cake where you wrote out your word.
Continue piping and alternating colors around the whole cake until it is all covered.
Slice and enjoy :)
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO