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Sprinkle Fault Line Cake Tutorial

May 30, 2019 · In: Uncategorized

There’s a serious sprinkle trend happening on Instagram, and I’m not even sure who came up with it! I’ve been marveling over sprinkle fault line cakes for weeks now, and I finally got the chance to try it for myself. I was so excited to use the technique with the Vintage Rose Gold sprinkle mix by SprinklePop because the sprinkles alone are stunning, but the fault line style really makes them pop! I just love the way they look peeking through that buttercream:

sprinkle fault line cake tutorial
sprinkle fault line cake with sprinklepop sprinkles

Pretty, right? Before I act like an expert and show you how to create this sprinkle fault line cake, allow me to admit that this was my second attempt. The first go at this technique did not end well at all. The sprinkles got in the way of my smooth buttercream, my fault line was too tiny, and I basically ended up with a ripply, sprinkled mess. Thankfully, I learned some valuable lessons in my first attempt and I can tell you how to avoid cake tragedies like that!

vintage rose gold sprinkles by sprinklepop
fault line cake decorating tutorial

Now, I can confidently say I’ve got all the details of how to make a failproof sprinkle fault line cake below. Here’s a quick video of the process before you read all about it:

You Will Need

  • A 6-inch cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled
  • 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
  • Food color gel of your choice (optional)
  • 4 oz bottle of Vintage Rose Gold sprinkles (or any fave SprinklePop mix)
  • Icing smoother
  • Angled spatula
  • Gold Edible Art Paint (gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka works too)
  • Small food-grade paintbrush

Step 1: Separate The Sprinkles

To prepare for your beautiful sprinkle fault line cake, first divide the sprinkles into two separate bowls: one for the jimmies and smaller sprinkles, and one for the large spheres and dragees.

rose gold sprinkle mix by sprinklepop

If you’re planning on coloring your buttercream, now is a good time for that too! For this rustic rose color, I used a combination of Americolor Dusty Rose, Peach, and Maroon.

Americolor Dusty Rose buttercream

Step 2: Frost Only The Middle Of The Cake

Place your crumb coated cake on a turntable and frost a thin layer of buttercream around only the middle of the cake. Then, smooth it with your icing smoother.

frosting a fault line cake

This will become the middle of the fault line, where the sprinkles go.

Step 3: Apply The Small Sprinkles

Place a baking sheet underneath your cake turntable to catch any sprinkles that fall (this part can get messy!). Then, add only the jimmies and smaller sprinkles to the newly frosted portion of your cake.

creating a sprinkle fault line cake

By leaving the larger sprinkles out of this part, you will prevent them from getting in the way once you frost the buttercream fault line. That was the biggest takeaway from my first time trying this technique. Smaller sprinkles make it easier to achieve a smooth, flawless fault line. Don’t worry though, we’ll add the larger sprinkles in toward the end!

Step 4: Frost The Fault Line

Frost and smooth the top of the cake, then add buttercream to the top third and bottom third of the cake, making sure you stop wherever the sprinkles begin. Feel free to overlap the sprinkles in some areas, but try to keep most of the sprinkles exposed. Also, make sure that the layer of buttercream you add is thicker than the layer of sprinkles. This way when you go to smooth it, your icing smoother will glide over the buttercream without dragging the sprinkles along with it.

buttercream fault line cake

Next, smooth the buttercream with your icing scraper to create even sides without touching the sprinkles.

smooth buttercream cake with sprinkles

When your sides are looking smooth, use your angled spatula to create sharp edges around the top of the cake by swiping any buttercream from the outer edge toward the top center of the cake.

sharp edges buttercream cake

Once your fault line is looking perfect, chill the cake in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to let the buttercream firm up before moving on to the next step.

Step 5: Add In The Large Sprinkles

Now that the buttercream is nice and set, it’s time to add in the rest of this beautiful sprinkle mix! Add all of the large sprinkles you separated out in Step 1 to the sprinkled portion of the cake.

Adding sprinkles to fault line cake

Continue adding sprinkles until the fault line looks dazzling.

Step 6: Paint The Edges (Optional)

To complete the look, use a small food-grade paintbrush to paint some Gold Edible Art Paint onto the edges of the fault line. As an alternative to Edible Art Paint, you could use gold foil, gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka, or whatever your jam is when it comes to an edible gold look!

Gold edible art paint

And voila! This sprinkle fault line cake is so eye-catching. I love this technique now that I know a few tips and tricks to getting it just right!

fault line cake with sprinkles
Rose gold cake by Sugar and Sparrow

I hope you feel a little more confident with your sprinkle fault line cakes now that you know a thing or two. Be sure to try it with your fave SprinklePop mix! And if you found this tutorial helpful for your cake decorating session let me know by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see what you’re caking šŸ™‚

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

By: Whitney Ā· In: Uncategorized Ā· Tagged: americolor, cake decorating, cake tutorial, edible art paint, fault line cake, pink buttercream, rose colored buttercream, rose gold sprinkles, smooth buttercream, sprinkle cake, sprinkle fault line cake, sprinkle gap cake, sprinklepop, vintage rose gold sprinkles

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Comments

  1. Michele Mallory-Davidson says

    May 30, 2019 at 10:40 am

    Ahhhh, I never would have thought to separate the big bits out, brilliant! Beautiful cake, love the color and the sprinkles are amazing!

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      May 30, 2019 at 3:53 pm

      Yes, Michele! That was the biggest lesson I learned in my first attempt. Thanks for the kind words about my cake and I hope you get a chance to try this!

      Reply
  2. Michelle Groenewald says

    May 30, 2019 at 9:12 pm

    Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial. I am going to attempt this soon

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 4, 2019 at 9:03 am

      Yay, Michelle! Can’t wait for you to try this technique!

      Reply
  3. Ivette says

    June 1, 2019 at 4:11 am

    I love it. It’s classy and fun

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 4, 2019 at 9:03 am

      Thanks so much, Ivette!

      Reply
  4. Susie says

    June 2, 2019 at 10:22 pm

    That looks amazing!! You are a wizard of all things beautiful!
    I’m inspired and need a piece RIGHT NOW!!

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 4, 2019 at 9:03 am

      Aw thanks so much, Susie!

      Reply
  5. Shevon says

    June 3, 2019 at 8:37 am

    Awesome! I must try this one. Thanks for the tips.

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 4, 2019 at 9:04 am

      Thanks, Shevon! Can’t wait for you to try this!

      Reply
  6. Jeanne says

    June 3, 2019 at 11:27 am

    This is so pretty and festive. Thank you for all the tips and tricks. ordering my sprinkles today šŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 4, 2019 at 9:04 am

      Thanks so much, Jeanne! Can’t wait for you to try this!

      Reply
      • Lina says

        October 29, 2019 at 10:27 am

        Amazing thank you for the tips

        Reply
  7. Anna says

    June 9, 2019 at 4:19 pm

    Wow, this cake is beautiful, and the instructions are really easy to understand. Thanks for including the bit about making the buttercream thicker above and below the fault line – I never would have thought of that šŸ™‚ If I ever try a fault line cake, now I’ll know where to go!

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 10, 2019 at 9:50 pm

      Thanks, Anna! I hope you try this some time. Such a fun technique!

      Reply
  8. Jan says

    June 11, 2019 at 8:45 pm

    Thank you so much, Whitney! I’m giving this a try tonight! First time…lol

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 12, 2019 at 8:59 am

      Yay, Jan! I hope you have fun with your fault line cake and find the tutorial helpful! Cheering you on šŸ™‚

      Reply
  9. Caroline says

    June 12, 2019 at 7:46 pm

    So glad there is no Fondant or gum paste. Love buttercream!

    Reply
  10. Maritza says

    June 17, 2019 at 3:00 pm

    Awesome Whitney, thanks for sharing. I am going to try it this week.

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 17, 2019 at 4:29 pm

      Yay, Maritza! Let me know how it goes!

      Reply
    • Shulamit says

      June 22, 2019 at 2:20 am

      Beautiful ā¤ā¤

      Reply
  11. Rahela says

    June 25, 2019 at 5:28 am

    I also didn’t know fault line cakes were a thing until this weekend. I made one following another recipe but yours looks so much simpler! well done

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      June 25, 2019 at 1:52 pm

      Thanks so much, Rahela!

      Reply
  12. Mishael says

    June 26, 2019 at 11:14 pm

    Very nice

    Reply
    • Charla says

      July 21, 2019 at 6:49 pm

      Hi , I will be making a fault line cake for my anniversary this Wednesday.i love your tutorial thks.

      Reply
      • Whitney says

        July 22, 2019 at 9:16 am

        Yay, Charla! Happy anniversary and hope the fault line cake turns out perfect!

        Reply
  13. Toyin says

    July 10, 2019 at 10:15 am

    Thanks so much for this, it seems the easiest so farā€ā¤ļøā€ā€

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      July 11, 2019 at 9:21 am

      No problem, Toyin! Hope you give it a try!

      Reply
  14. Ava says

    September 6, 2019 at 7:02 pm

    What size are the cakes and how many did you use? I’m planning on making this for my birthday.

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      September 7, 2019 at 10:09 am

      Hi Ava! These are three 6-inch cake layers. Excited for you to make this!!

      Reply
  15. Cindy says

    September 7, 2019 at 5:01 pm

    I made the cake and it came out really nice. The tutorial was really helpful.

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      September 7, 2019 at 11:24 pm

      Yay, Cindy! I’m so happy to hear that and glad the tutorial was helpful!

      Reply
  16. Anthony says

    February 25, 2020 at 7:17 am

    Loved the way it looks, very helpful managed to get it right the first go round thanx.

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      February 25, 2020 at 8:44 pm

      Yay, Anthony! So happy these tips helped!!

      Reply
  17. Mona says

    March 8, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    This is beautiful! Thank you for the tutorial — it was very helpful. Once question — how do you get your buttercream so smooth? Mine had a bunch of air bubbles in it.

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      March 10, 2020 at 7:53 pm

      Hi Mona! To get rid of airbubbles, I mix my buttercream on low for about 30 seconds to push out as much air as possible, then follow the steps in this tutorial: https://sugarandsparrow.com/how-to-frost-a-cake/ basically, I frost the cake as smooth as possible, put it in the fridge to firm up for about 20 min, then frost another thin layer to fill in any air bubbles or imperfections.

      Reply
  18. Adegefon Oluwakemi says

    April 7, 2020 at 10:58 am

    Thanks for the knowledge.so pretty.

    Reply
  19. Amanda says

    May 10, 2020 at 11:21 am

    Did you use the entire 4oz jar of sprinkles?

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      May 10, 2020 at 3:34 pm

      Hi Amanda! I used about half of the jar for this cake (which was a 6 inch round)

      Reply
  20. Sharon Coelho says

    July 2, 2020 at 7:36 am

    Hi Whitney, This is a stunning cake. Thanks for sharing the tutorial. You mentioned you use all three gel colours together to frost the cake. How many drops of each did you use.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      July 3, 2020 at 12:22 pm

      Thank you, Sharon! I did use a combination of those three color gels to get the frosting color. It’s mostly Americolor Dusty Rose plus a little bit of Peach + Maroon to tone it just right. I don’t ever count how many drops I use because it’s really relative to the amount of frosting you’re coloring. Instead, I would just add a few drops at a time (starting with Dusty Rose, then toning with Peach/Maroon) until the desired shade is achieved.

      Reply
  21. cindie says

    August 21, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    how much gold paint do you need for this size cake? on average?

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      August 22, 2020 at 1:54 pm

      Hi Cindie! Not much, I probably used about a Tbsp? I didn’t measure it out, as I had this 15ml bottle of Edible Art Paint to work with: https://amzn.to/31iHtG0

      Reply
  22. CH says

    September 10, 2020 at 5:12 pm

    Great tutorial! Just made a blue one with silver paint, thanks for the tips!

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      September 10, 2020 at 6:06 pm

      Yay! So happy the tutorial was helpful!

      Reply
  23. Mary Beth Christie says

    September 26, 2020 at 11:40 am

    Thank you so much for posting your process. This was my first time doing this and with your help, it turned out great!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!!!

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      September 27, 2020 at 4:34 pm

      Yay, Mary Beth! So happy to hear that!

      Reply
  24. Frankeska santiago says

    November 9, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    What consistency was your buttercream ? Thin? Medium ? Or stuff?

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      November 9, 2020 at 9:49 pm

      This is thin (frosting) consistency – this vanilla buttercream recipe as-is: https://sugarandsparrow.com/vanilla-buttercream-recipe/

      Reply
  25. Faye says

    November 16, 2020 at 2:34 am

    First time doing a fault line cake and I followed your tutorial! .
    It was easier and harder than I thought : D Overall I was happy with the final result as was the recipient but I certainly felt the pressure whilst smoothing the icing !

    So glad I found your website as I have looked through the other tutorials and keen to give them a go as well! Thank You x

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      November 19, 2020 at 2:47 pm

      Yay, Faye! I’m so happy to hear that this tutorial was helpful šŸ™‚ thank you for your kind words and I’m excited for you to try more tutorials!

      Reply
  26. Kim Dunlop says

    April 24, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    Hi Whitney, If I’m decorating this cake the day before would the sprinkles bleed into the icing? Should I store it in the fridge overnight? Thank you for your tutorial, so many helpful tips!!

    Reply
    • Whitney says

      April 27, 2021 at 10:11 am

      Hi Kim! As long as you use sprinkles like the ones I use in this tutorial (ones that don’t naturally bleed), the sprinkles shouldn’t bleed into the icing. Any of the Sprinkle Pop sprinkle mixes will be perfect for this look. And yes, I usually store my decorated cakes in the refrigerator overnight to preserve all the decorating, but then bring them back to room temp before serving them.

      Reply

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