Water Lily Cake

White chocolate wafers and tinted buttercream come together to create an easy Water Lily Cake!

I had a Monet in mind when creating this cake… although clearly, this is nothing close to that! lol But the idea is that it’s an impressionistic cake and a simple enough design for anyone who wants to try.

To make this cake you will need:

2-layer cake, any recipe (I used this WASC cake recipe)

whipped vanilla buttercream

blue, green, black, and yellow food color (black is used to dull tones)

white chocolate melts (about 1 1/2 cups)

rotating cake stand

pastry bag

#5 piping tip (see all my tips here)

small offset spatula

parchment paper cut into squares

sharpie

scissors

large round bowl (and/or several smaller bowls)

tape

Prepare cake; cool and level. (there is a video below of how to make this)

Prepare whipped buttercream. Cover cake with a crumb coat. Divide remaining frosting into 5 bowls. Tint one light blue, one a little darker blue, and then dark blue. You need very little of the dark blue so about 1/4 cup is plenty. The frosting in the last bowl will be used for the yellow petals and the white as filler between the petals.

Divide remaining frosting into 5 bowls. Tint one light blue, one a little darker blue, and then dark blue. You need very little of the dark blue so about 1/4 cup is plenty. The frosting in the last bowl will be used for the yellow petals and the white as filler between the petals.

Place light blue, blue, dark blue, green, yellow, and a little white in pastry bags.

Pipe out the darkest blue on the bottom, then the blue, then the light blue on top. Use a small offset spatula to smooth out frosting. Go back and dab color around the cake very sporadically. Cover top in a light layer of green and then dab green around sides as well.

Set cake aside.

To prepare the white chocolate petals:

Cut out 6-7 squares that are 4×4 inches. Cut out 6-7 squares that are 3×3 inches. Cut out 6-7 squares that are 2×3 inches. Draw a pointed petal in the squares with a sharpie. Here is an example of a water lily. I tried to mimic it, but you can see my petals are not quite right! If you want your petals perfect, I recommend practicing the flower a few times.

Melt chocolate according to package instructions in the microwave. Pour into a pastry bag. When ready to pipe the petals you will cut a tiny tip off the bag.

Grab a 4-inch (the largest) parchment square with a petal drawn on it. Flip it over so that the marker is on the back and then pipe chocolate over the design and fill in. Use small offset spatula to smooth.

Immediately set the parchment square in a bowl with a very gentle curve (you don’t want the largest petals to curve too much) and tape to the side. Repeat this with all the squares in all sizes. You may need several bowls.

Set aside and allow the chocolate to harden. (By the time you are done with the small squares the largest will be set.)

Grab your cake. Starting with the largest petals, place them around the edge of the cake allowing a bit of the petal to extend over the edge. When you set the petal down, gently press it into the cake so that it will stay in place.
Pipe out a little white buttercream in the center, your next level of petals will be built on that. Start placing the next smallest size, being careful to cover any gaps. Repeat with smallest petals.

Pipe out a little yellow buttercream. With the #5 tip, pipe out little stems (stamen). The actual water lily has long stamens, I chose to pipe mine shorter.

When you want to cut the cake, run sharp knife under very very hot water. It should cut through the chocolate easily.

I followed this tutorial on The Cake Blog and just adapted it slightly for my Water Lily Cake design.

Here is a video on how I made this cake: