Birdhouse Cake- A Cake Decorating Video Tutorial
In this free cake decorating video tutorial, we'll show you how to make a CUTE Birdhouse cake!
I just love bird themes- they make the most wonderful centerpieces for springtime showers & birthdays! Our design today has a fairly simple construction, and although we are using ganache & fondant as our medium, you can easily adapt to buttercream!
Enjoy the tutorial, and make sure to check below for additional notes and materials!!
Materials:
We used a total of four 6" layers and one 4" layer. (there were three 6" layers on the bottom tier, and the roof tier was made from one 6" & one 4" layer.)
Fondant: Appox 36 oz. (1020 g)
White Chocolate Ganache: Approx. 1898 g/66 oz total (This means a 3:1 ratio of white chocolate to heavy cream. We used approx 1424 g (50 oz) white chocolate to 474 ml (16 fl. oz) heavy cream. ***We based these amounts on the ganacherator amounts for two six inch tiers (4 inch height). Since our bottom tier was over 4 inches height and our top tier was carved and shorter, it seemed to be a good middle ground.
Buttercream: We used our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Recipe from our Recipes section (crusting) For our misc. piping and flowers.
Coloring Gels: We used Americolor Lemon Yellow, Sky Blue, Super Black, Avocado Green, and Wilton Rose & Wilton Leaf Green. (Our shingles and buttercream leaves were tinted avocado green with a touch of leaf green.)
Food Coloring Pen for birds' eyes (You can pipe on buttercream if you'd rather)
Tylose (optional) I like to knead tylose into my fondant for modeling the birds to make them set up faster & firmer. You could also use gum paste.
Piping Gel or your "glue" of choice
Misc: Cake cardboards, bubble tea straws for supports (we used 4 in the bottom tier and 1 in the top tier)
Rice cereal treats (Three 22g. treats) for the point
Circle cutter/piping tip for shingle cut-outs
Heart cutter for topper
Lollipop sticks for perch and topper
Ruler for marking your lines
Cutting wheel or your tool of choice for creating impressions
Long rolling pin for applying fondant to tier
Misc: Shortening, small paint brushes, piping bags, couplers, waxed paper
Piping Tips: Small round tips 3 or 4. Petal tips (crescent shape) 79, petal tip 104, 10, leaf tip 352
Love Bird Themes? You may also like our Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Its SOOOOO CUTE :)
Melissa, how would you cut and serve a cake such as this? I'm thinking this would be beautiful for the top tier of a spring garden wedding!
Stunning Melissa x
Thank you all so much for your comments!! xoxo
@Bobbye- I would treat this like a double barrel cake and serve from the top first. Then, remove the middle cardboard and bubble tea straws & serve from the bottom tier. Since there is a cereal treat at the very top, you can slice just beneath it and lift it up and off of the cake before making your slices.
Love, love! Hope to be able to make one day. Thank you for all you do!
Thanks Colleen!! xo
Beautiful cake, love the scroll work and the cute birds. Congratulations
This is one of my favorites of yours! This is SO beautiful! THANK YOU for your excellent tutorial.
One general question: for these tiers, you have 6" and 4", but are they 2" high or 3" high? Sometimes it's difficult to tell. I'm thinking they are all 2"....??
Thank you!!
Hi Kay, Thank you so much for your nice comments!! We bake our cake layers in 2" deep pans so each layer is usually just under 2inches.
Hello ladies, I wasn't sure if you mentioned if the scroll work and flower work and dots around bird hole is royal icing or buttercream? I'm sorry if you mention it, but I went back twice to listen and still missed it. You very well could have said it. Its such a beautiful cake, i want to make for this weekend. Thanks ladies! You do a great job!!
Forgive me ladies...you did, in fact mention that for the misc piping, you used buttercream. I didnt read the notes until just now! Sorry for missing that. I'm really looking forward to making this cake!!
Did you still have to settle the 6 inch layers even though it's small, or is it OK to skip that part?