Speckled Egg Cake

http://thecakeblog.com/2013/02/speckled-egg-cake.html

SPECKLED EGG CAKE
a DIY by Carrie Sellman

Supplies
cake of choice, assembled and crumb-coated
food coloring
1 T cocoa powder
1 1/2 T vanilla extract
clean paintbrush
wax paper
paper towels, for clean up
speckled eggs
buttercream icing

Spoiler:

STEP 1: Color your buttercream frosting with a few drops of food coloring. I used 2-3 drops of Americolor Sky Blue gel. When tinting buttercream, I like to add one drop of color at a time until I reach the right shade. If you’ve ever ruined a batch of icing before, you already know the benefit of adding color gradually. And when in doubt, I like to error on the light side. Buttercream naturally darkens slightly as it sets.

STEP 2: Frost your assembled and crumb-coated cake with your pretty blue buttercream. Smooth and shape to your liking. It does not have to be perfect. We’re about to splatter it up!

STEP 3: In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla extract. Stir well until cocoa is completely dissolved and you have a thin, chocolate paint.

STEP 4: Cover your work area with wax paper. Lightly dip your new (or totally clean, never used for paint) paintbrush into the chocolate. Holding the paint brush with one hand, gently flick the bristles with your other index finger to splatter the chocolate paint. Practice first onto your wax paper until you get the hang of it. No need to move on to the cake until you master the flick. When you’re ready to start speckling, hold the paintbrush fairly close to the cake and start splattering.

NOTE: A little chocolate paint goes a long way. So dip your brush lightly. If your paintbrush becomes ‘clogged’ with paint and is no longer splattering nicely, rinse it with water. Dry with a paper towel. And start again.

STEP 5: Keep splattering away! Move up, down and all around to completely cover the cake.

NOTE: As you work, you will undoubtedly get a splatter that is bigger than you would prefer. Or accidentally get carried away and bump the cake with your paintbrush. (Don’t ask me how I know this!) You have two options here. Either embrace the imperfections and let it go. Or wipe it off quickly with a light dab of water and paper towel. Then go back to speckling. If you look closely, you can see where I wiped one of my oh-no-it’s-too-big splatters. Left-middle. Not too bad of a correction and I think it adds to the speckled egg charm.

STEP 6: Now that you have the hang of splattering, you’ll also speckle the eggs you previously made. While you wait for the cake and the eggs to dry, now is a good time to wipe off any stray splatters on your cake pedestal. Once both the eggs and the cake are completely dry, arrange eggs on top of cake. Use a dab of buttercream to hold them exactly where you want them.

STEP 7: Cut, eat and enjoy!