Rustic Wedding Cake Frosting Technique

This rustic wedding cake frosting technique is beautiful and easier than it looks. Whip up your favorite batch of buttercream and get to work!

As a part of my practice for the perfect dessert table (see here and here), I attempted my first rustic wedding cake frosting technique.  Luckily, it was Pat’s birthday – what better excuse to have a bunch of friends over to eat another demo cake!  I let Pat choose the inside of the cake and he picked my carrot cake recipe without hesitating.  That left the design of the cake up to me.  I really love the slightly haphazard look of this technique and think it fits well with the rest of our wedding theme, which is woodsy and rustic.

To create the rustic cake frosting technique you see in the photos, it’s actually quite simple!  Even as a relative cake decorating beginner, I was able to accomplish this technique without too much time or effort!

Frosting a Rustic Wedding Cake

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This rustic wedding cake frosting technique is beautiful and easier than it looks. Whip up your favorite batch of buttercream and get to work!

• Author: Kelly Egan
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 0 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 1 cake
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Decorating
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• Assembled layer cake – Mine was three 9-inch layer cakes with a cream cheese filling
• Buttercream frosting – I used this recipe
• Small offset palette knife
• Large offset palette knife
• Piping bags
• Piping tip – I used the Wilton 1M large open star tip

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Instructions

1. Crumb coat your cake and place it in the fridge for at least an hour or freezer for at least 30 minutes.
2. Use the large offset palette knife to slather your cake with a thick layer of buttercream. Mine was about 1/2 inch thick.
3. Starting at the base of the cake and moving upwards, use the small offset palette knife to draw vertical lines in the cake without scraping off enough frosting that the cake shows.
4. Place the Wilton 1M piping tip into your pastry bag and fill with buttercream. To get the design I used, I used quite a bit of continuous pressure on the bag and held it at a 45 degree angle, gently lifting and lowering the tip to get the “canned whipped cream” appearance.
5. Top with your favorite cake topper, sprinkles, candles, or anything you can think of!

I can’t believe the wedding is only six weeks away!

See more of our wedding photos & DIYs:

DIY Hanging Twine Balls
First Look Wedding Photos, Part I
First Look Wedding Photos, Part II
Wedding Dance Party Photos
Wedding Details – Dessert Table & Table Decorations
Wedding Updo – How to Chalk Your Hair
Wedding Ceremony Pictures
Wedding Getting Ready Pictures
Vintage Drawer Pulls as Placecard Holders DIY
DIY Wedding Photobooth Setup with Printable
DIY Gilded Upcycled Plastic Cups
DIY Glitter Upcycled Silverware
DIY Honey Jar Wedding Favors
Rustic Wedding Cake Frosting Technique
Stuffed S’mores Cupcakes Recipe
DIY Glitter Swizzle Sticks
DIY Embossed Envelopes
Engagement Photos, Part I
Engagement Photos, Part II