How to Create Marbled Frosting on a Cupcake or Bundt Cake
Most good ideas start with a challenge. I had two. First, I needed to figure out how to frost some mini bundt cakes. Unless you’re planning on doing intricate piping, they are difficult to frost while maintaining the detail that makes them so pretty. Second, I had two bright and pretty frosting colors that I wanted to use together. The last thing you want at a birthday party is kids arguing over who gets what frosting color!
The solution? Melted frosting marbled together. I had seen examples of melted frosting in the clever book Hello, Cupcake!
This technique works with your regular canned frosting. Homemade, whipped, and specialty frostings may not hold up properly. You’re going to want to work quickly as the frosting will start to cool and be difficult to work with.
- Choose 2-3 frosting colors/flavors that will blend well together. The colors (and flavors) will blend so it’s important that the resulting color/flavor is just as appealing as the originals. I went with Hot Pink and Hot Purple, but they were both vanilla flavored.
- Decide how much frosting you need, remembering that you’ll use less than you would on a piped cupcake. You don’t have to melt the whole can unless you need it all.
- Scoop frosting into microwave safe bowls. You’ll need one bowl for each color, plus one for the blended colors. Make sure the blended bowl is wide enough to accommodate the cupcakes you’ll be dipping.
- Microwave one bowl at a time. A full canister of frosting should take about 30 seconds to melt properly, but you’ll want to adjust for your microwave. It should drizzle off a spoon, but not be totally runny. Add another 5 seconds at a time if it’s not quite warm enough. Do not overheat! Overheated frosting melts right into the cake.
- Scoop some of each frosting into the “blended” bowl. Add each color in its own space, making sure the frosting is deep enough to cover the top of several cupcakes.
- If you’d like, gently swirl the colors together using a knife. Don’t over mix because the colors will continue to blend as you dip.
- Dip each cupcake or bundt cake top down into the frosting. Carefully pull it out with a gentle swirl. If you’re dipping bundt cakes and have areas uncovered, drizzle a small amount of melted frosting over exposed areas. If you do it right away, it should blend with the rest of the frosting.
- The frosting will “dry” glossy. It will still be soft, but it should firm up a bit within a few minutes. The frosting in the picture above is set, so you can get a sense of the final results.
- If your frosting gets too stiff to dip, reheat for a few seconds to re-melt.
The bundt cakes were cute, although you still couldn’t really see the detail. I’m glad for a solution to frosting them, though, because I love using those fancy pans!
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I love this idea. I am going to try it with my daughter. She is obsessed with cupcakes. Thanks
It’s so easy and fun! And, while the bundt cakes were somewhat fragile, the cupcakes I dipped (which I didn’t get a picture of) were even easier.