Fall Wreath Cake

This simple cake lesson will show you how to create the ideal autumn cake. It’s a simple floral wreath cake to create, and you don’t need much cake design knowledge. The buttercream ribbon flowers are more simpler to pipe with the appropriate tips than they seem.

I adore autumn. I’m sure everyone says that. But I like it, and I enjoy decorating for the autumn season. I had planned to construct a wonderful wreath for my front door, but instead I produced this autumn wreath cake. You can, after all, eat a wreath cake.

Psst: This article will provide screenshots of each individual step, but don’t forget to watch the video at the conclusion to see how everything is done.

I was looking for autumn ideas online and came across a guide for a very gorgeous fall wreath. I liked the simplicity of it, as well as the colors. I had an epiphany and realized I had to turn my own version of this wreath into a cake.

By the way, to view the wreath that inspired me, see Crafting Moms’ instructions here: Wreath for Fall with Felt Rosettes

I didn’t want to make your usual buttercream flowers when I designed this guide. Many people struggle with them; they need a lot of effort, and if you’re preparing this cake for Thanksgiving or another autumn event, you definitely don’t want to spend a lot of time honing your buttercream rose skills.

I settled on buttercream ribbon flowers. They’re lot simpler to make, and I really enjoy the way they appear. They also look more like the inspiration wreath than standard buttercream roses.

There are no really difficult piping procedures to master for this session. The grapevine wreath is just a spherical tip, and the more haphazard you make it, the better it appears.

Then there are the berries, which simply employ a bigger spherical tip. (You may even go with m&ms if you dont want to pipe them).

Of course, the ribbon roses aren’t difficult to make once you’ve mastered the process. You’ll be astonished at how simple these are to create. You’ll simply need two different sizes of petal tips, which I’ve linked to in the supply list below.

One thing to keep in mind: I went with deeper autumn colors for my wreath, but you can alter it up to whatever hue you like.

I’ve provided images with thorough explanations below, but there’s also a video at the conclusion of this page.

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Supplies Needed for this Cake:

• Cake Base (I taped together multiple cardboard cake rounds and coated it in scrapbook paper and then transparent contact paper.) If you’re looking for additional cake foundation inspiration, check out this post: Cake Board Suggestions
• Round Cardboard Cake (This will be placed right underneath your cake layers.)
• Three 8-layer baked cakes (I used chocolate.) Here are some alternatives: Easy Double Chocolate Sour Cream Cake (a cake mix recipe) or Chocolate Butter Cake (from scratch)
• Here’s my recipe for chocolate buttercream: Chocolate Buttercream Double
• Dark brown, dark crimson (burgundy), dark orange, and yellow buttercream On the blog, here are several nice buttercream recipes: Vanilla Bean Buttercream (made entirely of butter) and Heat Stable Pipeable Buttercream (made entirely of shortening). The buttercream made entirely of butter will harden up more in the fridge, while the buttercream made entirely of shortening will pipe better. To divide the difference, you may use half butter and half shortening.
• Small Icing Spatula
• Large Icing Spatula
• Cake Decorating Turntable
• 2 Inch Flower Nail and Regular Size Flower Nail
• It’s useful to have some styrofoam on available to put your flower nail into while you fetch the second piping bag, but it’s not required.
• Parchment paper or wax paper squares
• 103 Petal Tip (which I used for the dark orange)
• 104 Petal Tip (which I used for the dark red)
• Ice couplers These are useful since you can rapidly swap out the icing tips and you don’t have to put buttercream to another icing bag.
• Tip #5 (for the grapevine wreath and yellow berries)
• For the orange and dark red berries, as well as the bottom cake border, use Round Icing Tip #12.
• Piping Bags

Making the Fall Wreath Cake:

The first step is to construct your cake. I made three 8-layer cakes and two layers of filling.

Once your layers are all piled, put a small layer of buttercream on top, followed by a larger coating of buttercream on the exterior.

Allow your cake to rest between icing it the first and second time to avoid icing ridges on your cake.

Set your cake aside after it has been coated in buttercream to begin on your flowers.

A little and big floral nail will be required. The big one is approximately 2 inches long, and the tiny one is about an inch and a half long.

You’ll also need to cut some parchment or wax paper into squares. These squares are available for purchase, but are they really necessary? I’m cheap, so I simply cut my own and have wax paper or parchment paper on hand.

You must now fill your icing bags. For the ribbon flowers, you’ll use dark orange and dark red. If you have icing couplers, use them since you’ll be able to swap out the frosting tips for round tips later when you’re ready to pipe the berries.

For the dark orange, I used tip 103.

For the dark red (burgundy) I used a 104 tip.

Here’s the trick: You’ll need to spin your flower nail between your thumb and fingers as you pipe. You want your petals to go as long as possible without stopping, so roll the flower nail all the way back so you may spin it up as much as possible. (This is clearer in the video.)

Now all you have to do is add a little buttercream to the top of your floral nail. It doesn’t matter whatever color you pick, however I chose dark orange since it is the color of the rose’s inner.

Simply flip it upside down onto a piece of parchment or wax paper to ensure it’s secure.

When piping flowers, make sure the slender part of the petal tip is facing up.

Start in the center of the floral nail and pipe a swirl by holding your piping tip straight up and down but with a tiny tilt to the inside. It does not seem to operate effectively if you move too slowly. Simply commit and go for it. While spinning the flower nail, pipe the swirl.

It may take a few tries to get the feel of it, but it will come to you soon.

Twirl the nail back to its starting place and repeat the dark orange buttercream swirl. Pipe and twist till the flower nail is as far as your fingers can twirl it in.

You’ll want to swirl the orange one or two times before switching to the dark crimson for the outer petals.

You’ll do the same with the deep red. Simply spin your floral nail back to its starting place and pipe on the red swirl.

Return the flower nail to its original position before adding another swirl of buttercream.

Depending on how large you want your flowers, you’ll paint two or three rounds of the outer color.

After you’ve piped your rose, remove the wax paper square from the flower nail and place it on a tray or cake board. Once you’ve completed all of them, chill them.

You’ll want to make several little and medium-sized roses so you have a variety to pick from.

After you’ve completed a few little and medium-sized ones, you’ll go to the bigger flower nail and create several huge ones.

This is the same procedure as before; you will just add extra rows of the outer color.

Once you’ve done them all, place them in the fridge to harden up while you start on the wreath portion of your cake.

I used chocolate buttercream in a piping bag equipped with simply a coupler for this, but it isn’t strictly necessary. Simply pipe a ring around the cake’s top. But don’t go too near to the brink.

Once you’ve got the ring pipe, go ahead and smoosh it down a little. Smoosh isn’t a real word, according to spell check, but I’m going to use it anyhow.

Simply place your dark brown buttercream in a bag fitted with a round tip #5.

Simply pipe lines all around the icing ridge on the cake.

Just keep piping to hide the ridge. You should pipe some on both the inside and outside of the ridge.

After you’ve finished covering the ridge, you’ll pipe some squiggly lines here and there.

Now we’re in the home stretch. Remove the roses from the fridge, take off the wax paper, and place them on the cake. I simply placed mine to one portion of the wreath, but you may arrange it wherever you like.

If your roses start to soften as you’re adding them, simply put them back in the freezer to cool some more.

You could use one of those buttercream flower-specific scissors, but I don’t like them because I can’t use them and it messes up everything around and beneath where I’m putting the flowers. However, it is all up to you.

Continue to layer the flowers until you like what you see.

You may then add your berries after they’re all in place. Using a #12 round piping tip, I piped dark orange and dark red berries at random.

Then, using a #5 round tip, pipe on the yellow berries. I’m not sure whether yellow berries are naturally occurring, but I adore yellow and wanted to add some color diversity.

Finally, pipe a border around the bottom. I just used a circular #12 tip.

Okay, well done! You’re finished! You now have a buttercream centerpiece for your autumn or Thanksgiving party with no fondant in sight.

So what variation will you try?

Video on How to Make the Fall Wreath Cake:

Other fall cake tutorials you might like:

• Gilded Leaf Cake Tutorial
• Scarecrow Fondant Cake Tutorial

Dont Forget to Pin it for Later!