If you’re into baking cakes, decorating sheet cakes for parties, or just watching satisfying videos of other people making cakes, chances are you’ve seen a video of a ‘sprinkle bath.’ Despite your wildest dreams, a sprinkle bath sadly does not involve the opportunity to dive into a bathtub full of tasty sprinkles. It’s a popular technique where bakers place their frosted cakes into a giant tub of sprinkles, and well, give it a bath. It’s certainly satisfying to watch and makes for a beautiful sprinkle cake, but this technique is both wasteful and nearly impossible to do at home.
Thankfully, there are simpler, less wasteful techniques for making a beautiful sprinkle cake, and you can do it without any cake frosting skills at all. For an easy sprinkle cake, many at-home bakers love rolling their cakes in a tray of sprinkles because it requires much less product and still yields the same results.
This method is really simple once you get the hang of it, and it is sure to become your go-to technique whenever you need to whip up a colorful, crunchy, flavorful treat to share with your loved ones. To start, you’ll need your finished cake layers, frosting, sprinkles, cardboard rounds, a baking sheet, and whichever tools you normally use when frosting a cake.
How to decorate the perfect sprinkle cake
Before you start frosting, make sure to freeze your cake layers for at least a couple hours, which will harden them up and make it easier to roll your cake. If you’re still having trouble baking even cake layers, there’s a foolproof trick that bakers recommend. For a moist cake, many people recommend wrapping and freezing your cakes before they’ve fully cooled down.
Take out your frozen cakes and apply a thick crumb coat. Once your crumb coat is on and has had a few minutes to set in the fridge, you can frost the sides of your cake. You’ll want to only frost the sides and leave the top unfrosted for now.
After frosting, place your cake back in the fridge for a few minutes. You’re looking for the frosting to firm up, but you’ll want it soft enough to pick up the sprinkles. You’ll need two cake rounds that are no wider than your cake itself. So if you baked a 6-inch cake, grab two separate 6-inch cake rounds — one for the top and one for the bottom of your cake. Next, grab your baking sheet and spread out a thin layer of sprinkles. Now, with a cake round on the top and one on the bottom, grab each side and gently roll your cake on top of the sprinkles. Pause, push the remaining sprinkles together, and roll again. Repeat until the whole cake is covered! Once the sides of your cake are sprinkled, add frosting to the top. Then, take your remaining sprinkles and pour them carefully onto the top of your cake, spreading evenly.
