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April Showers Cake

My friend Taryn (also know as @missladyfinger) and I joined forces again to create this adorable, spring-themed cake. When we were trying to come up with an idea, we both loved the concept of an April Showers-themed cake!

April Showers Cake Design

We were inspired by all the rain we’ve been getting in New York lately, and wanted that to be the inspiration of this collaboration! Taryn painted an amazing rainy design on our nails, which I used as inspiration for this spring cake idea.

This spring themed cake is made with marbled blue cake layers, and is decorated with buttercream flowers! I couldn’t resist adding on a blue ganache drip to look like rain. The cake is topped with a fluffy white buttercream cloud boarder. 

Spring themed cake, decorated with blue drips and colorful buttercream flowers to represent April showers

Coloring The Cake Layers And Buttercream

It only seemed fitting to make this cake with marbled blue cake layers! I used my favorite vanilla layer cake recipe, which is incredibly easy to make. This cake recipe uses buttermilk, which makes the layers super moist.

To color my cake layers and buttercream, I simply used  gel food coloring! Liquid food coloring can work too, but you won’t be able to get as strong of a color.

You also can throw off the consistency of the cake batter or frosting if you add too much liquid food coloring. Gel food coloring is incredibly concentrated, so it allows you to use less.

Creating That Rainy Day Drip Effect

What was my favorite part of this spring themed cake? The blue drips!! I could not get over the way they look just like rain drops.

I use my colorful drip recipe to create this spring-themed, rainy drip look. It’s made using just three ingredients.

MVI_7120_Moment (2)

All you need is some heavy cream, white chocolate, and blue food coloring.

To make sure you nail this drip look, it’s imperative that you chill your cake, and do a test drip. This helps ensure your ganache is the right temperature.

For all of the visual learners out there, you can also check out my detailed drip cake tutorial for more tips.

Share Your Creations With Me!

Nothing makes me happier than when I get emails or DMs with photos of your amazing cakes. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with your triumphs, or questions <3

April showers cake with blue drips to look like rain

If you try this April showers cake recipe, please tag me @chelsweets. Also use the #chelsweets so that I can see your amazing creations!

Yield: 24

April Showers Cake

image of spring themed, april showers drip cake made with colorful blue white chocolate ganache drips

Whether you're celebrating a baby shower, a spring birthday, or just love the rain, this April Showers cake is a cheerful way to brighten up any party!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Additional Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

Blue Vanilla Cake Recipe

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (390 grams)
  • 3 cups granulated sugar (600 grams)
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder (10 grams)
  • 1 tsp salt (5 grams)
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (226 grams) - 2 sticks
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract (9 grams)
  • 1 cup egg whites (or about 7 egg whites) (244 grams)
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature (360 grams)
  • 1/8 cup vegetable oil (28 grams)
  • blue gel food coloring

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

  • 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature (434 grams)
  • 7 cups powdered sugar (907 grams) - or a 2lb bag
  • 1/2 tsp salt (3 grams)
  • 2 Tbsp heavy cream (or whipping cream) (30 grams)
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract (12 grams)
  • Blue, green, purple, yellow, orange, and red gel food coloring

Blue White Chocolate Drip Recipe

  • 1/3 cup heavy cream (77 grams)
  • 1 cup mini white chocolate chips (175 grams)
  • blue gel food coloring

Instructions

Blue Marbled Cake Layers:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line four, seven-inch pans with parchment rounds, and grease with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined.
  3. Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.
  4. Pour in egg whites, and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk in two installments, on a low speed. Add in vanilla and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on low speed for about 15 seconds. 
  5. Pour half of the batter into a separate bowl, and color blue with gel food coloring.
  6. Alternate spoonfuls of the uncolored cake batter and the blue batter into the prepared cake pans. Once the batter has been evenly split between the pans, use a butter knife or offset spatula to swirl the batter together in each pan.
  7. Bake for 34-36 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean). Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run an offset spatula around perimeter of the pan to separate the cake from the pan. Place cake layers into the freezer for 45 minutes, to accelerate the cooling process.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

  1. Beat the butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a paddle attachment, until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with small splashes of cream.
  2. Once fully mixed, add in the vanilla and salt, and beat on low until the ingredients are fully incorporated, and the desired consistency is reached. 
  3. If the frosting is too thick, add in additional cream (1 teaspoon at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add in more powdered sugar (quarter of a cup at a time).
  4. Wait to color the buttercream with gel food coloring until you've filled and crumb coated the cake. The white buttercream will create a beautiful contrast against the blue cake layers.

Blue White Chocolate Ganache Drips:

  1. Heat heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds, until it's just beginning to bubble. Gently pour white chocolate chips into the heavy cream, making sure they are fully covered with cream. Allow mixture to sit for 1 minute.
  2. Stir slowly until the cream and white chocolate are combined. Some bits of chocolate may not be fully melted yet. Heat the mixture again for 20 seconds, and stir. Repeat as necessary until all the chocolate bits are fully melted and incorporated.
  3. Add in the blue gel food coloring, if desired. Allow it to cool until desired viscosity is reached (barely warm to the touch).
  4. If it seems too thin or thick, you can add a touch more chocolate chips or heavy cream! The type of cream and white chocolate that you use can affect the consistency, so feel free to adjust as needed.

To Assemble The Cake:

  1. Stack and frost cake layers on a greaseproof cake board, using a dab of frosting to help stick the first cake layer to the board.
  2. Add an even layer of buttercream between each cake layer.
  3. Apply a thin coat of frosting around the the cake, to fully cover the cake layers. Smooth using a bench scraper, then chill the cake in the fridge (10 minutes) or freezer (5 minutes) until the frosting is firm to the touch.
  4. Place about 3 cups of frosting into a separate bowl and color blue.
  5. Add a second, thicker layer of blue frosting to the cake, and smooth using a bench scraper.
  6. Place 1 1/2 cups of white frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
  7. Color 1 cup of the remaining frosting green, and then color the rest yellow, orange, red, and purple. Place the colored frosting in to small piping bags, cut with a small opening (less than 1 cm)
  8. Pipe green lines around the base of the cake, to look like tall grass. Pipe colorful circles of the red, orange, and yellow frosting around the top of the "grass" to look like wild flowers.
  9. Add the blue drips to the cake using a plastic squirt bottle.
  10. Then decorate the top perimeter of the cake with a white buttercream boarded, to look like clouds.

Notes

Once the layers have fully cooled, I sometimes like to trim the caramelized bits from the sides of the layers using a serrated knife. While these layers bake pretty flat, sometimes I’ll also trim the top of the layers too.

Since this frosting will be used to decorated a cake, it is important to mix the buttercream on the lowest speed at the end of the process for a couple minutes, to get out any extra air that might have be incorporated during the mixing process.

You can also stir the frosting in a bowl with a rubber spatula, pushing it from side to side, to get rid of any air bubbles.This will make it easier to get super smooth sides on your cake!

Nutrition Information

Yield

24

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 584Total Fat 28gSaturated Fat 17gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 68mgSodium 254mgCarbohydrates 81gFiber 1gSugar 68gProtein 4g

Meredyth Sawyer

Friday 2nd of April 2021

I wish you had a photo of the cut cake, so I could see the layers inside.

bblfoodzz

Monday 8th of February 2021

woww!!!!!The flowers on the cake looks fabulosss!!!!!

Sonja

Thursday 30th of May 2019

This cake looks like a beautiful impressionist painting! Could you tell me what tips you used to create the grass and flowers?

Chelsweets

Monday 3rd of June 2019

Aw thank you Sonja! Surprisingly I didn't use any frosting tips, I just snipped small openings (about 1/2 a cm) for each of my piping bags <3

Kanthi Raja Nihalani

Monday 25th of February 2019

I loved the flowers and the grass on the sides of the cake. I used it on a cake I made. It looks fabulous. I wish I could share a pic here but I can't figure out how.

Chelsweets

Saturday 2nd of March 2019

aw thank you! and I'm so happy to hear that! Sadly you can't share photos here, but you can totally tag me in your creation on social media (i'm on FB, instagram, and YT)!! Or you can always email me a picture <3

Alexandria

Wednesday 10th of May 2017

I'm gluten free, and I've been following your wonderful cake recipes for a few months now. I'm curious to if I could easily switch out the flour for a cup for cup gluten free flour.

Chelsweets

Wednesday 10th of May 2017

I've never tried, but usually it's slightly more complicated than that, as gluten free flour is usually a finer texture than regular all purpose flour :/

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