Peach Watercolor Cake

Layers of fluffy cake and fresh peach mousse, artistically frosted in silky smooth buttercream!

While cake decorating has never really been one of my strongest suits, this week I discovered a fun frosting trend that’s very simple yet looks super impressive.

It’s known as the buttercream watercolor technique, and it’s now my new favorite way to frost cakes! It’s a lot like painting a canvas in that you’re creating a smooth blend between colors. Sounds a little artsy fartsy I know, but the great thing about using this technique is that it’s really hard to mess up. Any flubs or mistakes can easily be corrected just like you would with canvas painting. However, instead of using paint to cover the error, you just spread on a little frosting, then smooth away.

Like I said, the technique is simple. First, you’ll cover the entire cake in a thin layer of white buttercream, which also serves as the crumb coat. Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, or until the frosting has firmed up and is dry to the touch. Dye some of the frosting two different colors, making sure to reserve some white frosting. In this case, I used pink and peach (yellow + a little bit of red). Add thick patches of each color all around the cake, then use some of the reserved white to go over any large empty spots.

Finally, use an offset spatula to smooth the frosting all around the cake until you’ve got the look you want. You’re the artist here, so if there are any holes, dents, or areas that you’re unhappy with, just swipe on a little buttercream, and smooth it out. Easy peasy!

For that smooth, flawless finish, I went with a lighter, “whipped” kind of buttercream. Instead of the more time-consuming buttercreams like Swiss Meringue or Italian Meringue, I decided to go with a standard American buttercream frosting. To lighten it up, I used heavy cream instead of milk. And boy, did that make a MAJOR difference! It was so light, so fluffy, so creamy and it spread like butta’. It also pipes like a dream. I think I’m going to stick with this buttercream frosting from now on.

For the little dollops around the top of the cake, I ended up using the discarded frosting that I had swiped off of the cake when I was smoothing out the sides. The blending of colors looked really cool, so I figured why not?

As for the sprinkles, well, I have a little confession to make…

The sprinkles were basically the reason why I made this cake. I had been going through sprinkle withdrawal and I needed an excuse to finally break them out. Plus, my sprinkle collection has gotten a “little” out of hand…it’s like “Hoarders” meets “My Strange Addiction.”

While the peach flavor in the cake isn’t really noticeable, it still tastes bombtastic and it’s super duper moist. Yes, it does use a cake mix, but the additions and flavorings make it taste more homemade. With as many components involved in this cake, I wanted to keep things a little simpler.

Luckily, the peach mousse came out just as I had hoped–fluffy, light, moussey (so not a word), and full of that fresh and summery peach sweetness. It’s flavored with REAL peaches that were actually hand-picked from my uncle’s orchard in Hood River. Can’t get any fresher or REALer than that! However, if you don’t have an uncle with an orchard in Hood River, then peaches from the grocery store will work just fine. 

With the gorgeous watercolor effect, I’d have to say that this cake tastes just as amazing as it looks. The buttery sweetness of the cake combined with the fresh peach mousse and the fluffy buttercream is EVERYTHING.  

EVERYTHING.

Peach Watercolor Cake

Layers of fluffy cake and fresh peach mousse, artistically frosted in silky smooth buttercream!

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Chilling Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 55 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 10 Servings

Ingredients

  

Peach Purée:

• 26 ounces peaches peeled and sliced (about 3 large peaches)

Cake:

• 1 (15.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4 oz) box instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup peach purée
• ⅔ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
• Pinch of salt

Peach Mousse:

• 1 cup peach purée
• 1 envelope gelatin
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ½ cup whipped cream (or 1 cup heavy cream, whipped)

Vanilla Buttercream:

• 1 ¼ cup unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt
• 3 ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
• ⅓ cup heavy cream
• Gel Food Coloring: Pink Yellow and Red

For Assembling:

• Sprinkles

Instructions

 

Make the Peach Purée:

• Place the peaches in a food processor and blend until smooth. You should end up with about 3 and 1/2 cups of peach purée. Place the purée in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent burning, until the purée has reduced to 2 cups, about 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Make the Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF; spray four 6-inch round baking pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, stir all of the cake ingredients together until smooth; batter will be thick. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans, and bake for 23-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out with few crumbs attached. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Mousse:

• In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form; set aside in the refrigerator.
• Pour the peach purée into a small saucepan, and stir in the gelatin, sugar, and salt. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Remove the mixture from the burner, and stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Place saucepan over an ice water bath (large bowl filled with ice and cold water), and use a spatula to constantly stir the mixture until it thickens into a pudding-like texture. Fold in the whipped cream until just combined.

Make the Buttercream:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and salt together on high until fluffy and pale in color, about 5-6 minutes. Decrease speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and heavy cream and beat until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

To Assemble:

• Place one cake layer on a pedestal or plate. Spread a third of the peach mousse evenly over the cake. Place a second cake layer on top, followed by a layer of the mousse. Repeat with the third cake layer and remaining mousse. Place the final cake layer on top and make sure that all sides are straight and lined up. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
• Remove cake from refrigerator and frost the entire cake to seal in the crumbs; chill for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, tint the frosting. Remove about 3/4 cup of frosting and place in a separate bowl. Tint frosting to desired shade of pink. Remove another 3/4 of untinted frosting and place in a separate bowl. Using yellow and red, tint frosting light orange/peach. I found it easiest to first stir in a good bit of yellow, then adding tiny bits of red to achieve the peach color.
• Remove cake from the fridge, and use an offset spatula to spread thick patches of pink and peach buttercream all around the cake. Fill some of the areas with some of the white untinted frosting. Smooth the frosting around the cake as the colors begin to blend together. If there are empty patches, feel free to go over them with more frosting until you get the desired watercolor effect you're looking for.
• Sprinkle the top of the cake with pink, orange, and peach sprinkles. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip with the remaining frosting and pipe some buttercream dollops around the border. I ended up using the frosting that I had scraped off when smoothing the frosting around the cake. Cake will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.