A step-by-step tutorial on making a sprinkle cake with a fondant-covered base, plus how to create custom-coloured sprinkles.
Sprinkle cakes have been trending for good reason: they’re joyful, colourful and instantly festive. If you love sprinkles as much as I do, this tutorial will show you how to coat a fondant-covered cake with sprinkles and how to tint plain white sprinkles to match a custom palette.
For my niece’s Tumblr-inspired birthday, I leaned heavily into the sprinkle theme across the whole table. We made donut-shaped cookies that the birthday girl helped decorate, white chocolate-dipped strawberries and marshmallows covered in sprinkles, sprinkle macarons, and jars rimmed in candy melts and sprinkles filled with white chocolate mousse. Leftover mousse got a touch of freeze-dried raspberry powder and was piped into tiny chocolate cups.
I also made a giant donut cookie to act as a candle holder since the cake board was small. For the cake, I covered the bottom tier in sprinkles, then topped it with a watercolour top tier and a custom gumpaste name topper.
Most sprinkle cakes are done with buttercream or ganache, which makes applying sprinkles easier. In my case I needed to cover the cake in fondant to keep it fresh for travel and storage, so I used candy melts to adhere the sprinkles to the fondant. It’s a little trickier because candy melts set quickly, but it’s entirely manageable with the right prep and a few helpful tools.
Key tip: work fast. In my kitchen at roughly 20°C I found I had about eight minutes before the candy melts began to set. If parts set too quickly you can gently re-soften them with a hairdryer and diffuser attachment so you don’t blow sprinkles everywhere.
About the sprinkles: I created a bespoke colour palette for this cake, so I bought white sprinkles and coloured several batches myself using gel food colouring. It’s simple and much easier than trying to make sprinkles from scratch.
To dye sprinkles you only need white nonpareils and jimmies, gel food colour, a resealable plastic bag and a baking-paper-lined tray. Add sprinkles to the bag, squirt in a little gel colour (start small), seal and gently massage until evenly coloured. Avoid crushing the sprinkles. Spread them on the tray to dry—if you’re impatient you can place the tray in the oven with the fan on and the heat off for about 20 minutes, otherwise leave them to air-dry for roughly an hour. Stir a few times while drying so they don’t clump.
If some dye transfers or appears a little wet, a small pinch of cornstarch mixed into the sprinkles can absorb excess colour. You can also rub them lightly with a paper towel. Mix your finished colours together until you achieve the desired blend.
The colours I used for this cake were: Americolor Yellow for yellow; Chefmaster Tropical Fuchsia for pink; Americolor Peach with a touch of Tropical Fuchsia for peach; and Americolor Turquoise plus Progel Sea Green for teal. I also used pre-coloured Twinkle Delights 100s and 1000s for some round elements.
Although I made almost a kilogram of sprinkle mix for peace of mind, the 8″ cake actually used only around 150g. Sprinkles are lightweight but you’ll want plenty on hand to fill in gaps and use across party foods.
Notes before you start:
- If you’re stacking tiers, avoid covering the top of the bottom tier in sprinkles until the top tier is ready to avoid getting sprinkles stuck under the next layer. For a single tier you can do the sides and top at once.
- You can use white chocolate rather than candy melts if you prefer the flavour. Candy melts stay a whiter white and melt easily, but taste is a personal choice. You can also colour white chocolate with oil-based colouring if desired.
- I added a small amount of cocoa butter and shortening to the candy melts to thin them slightly and ensure a firm set. If you don’t have cocoa butter, extra shortening will work—your coating will set a little softer but still hold sprinkles.
- Expect sprinkles to get everywhere. They find their way into every nook and cranny, so plan for a colourful cleanup.
What you’ll need:
Fondant-covered cake; sprinkles; setup board; non-slip mat slightly smaller than the cake; waxed paper; candy melts; shortening (Crisco recommended); cocoa butter (optional); spatula; icing scraper; piping bag; fondant smoothers; large rimmed baking tray; hairdryer with diffuser (optional).
Set up: cover your setup board with waxed paper (tape it underneath), place the non-slip mat on top, then set the cake on the mat. The waxed paper prevents melted candy from sticking the cake to the board.
For my 8″ cake I melted about 200g of candy melts with 25g cocoa butter and 1 teaspoon Crisco, aiming for a thick but spreadable consistency. Place the cake setup inside a rimmed baking tray and position a bowl of sprinkles nearby. Have everything ready—this is the fast part.
Spread a generous layer of the melted candy evenly around the sides using a spatula and icing scraper. If you’re covering the top at the same time, add it there too. Work quickly: pick up handfuls of sprinkles and press them into the melted candy while spinning the turntable. Scoop more sprinkles up from the tray and press them up the side as needed. Use a fondant smoother to press sprinkles into the surface and keep the sides straight.
If the candy hardens before you finish, use the hairdryer with a diffuser on medium heat held 20–30cm away to soften it until it becomes shiny again, then press more sprinkles into that area. Alternatively spoon some melted candy into a piping bag, snip the end and pipe sparingly into gaps, then press sprinkles on. Avoid metal tips as they cool the candy and can clog.
If sprinkles stick up above the top edge, scrape gently with a spatula to keep a clean, sharp edge. Once the sprinkles have set fully, carefully lift the cake off the setup board and move it to your display board. For transport, secure the cake with a centre dowel if needed.
To finish the top edge: protect any lower board or neighbouring tiers with waxed paper. Pipe candy melts along the top edge, spread evenly and add sprinkles, pressing them gently with a fondant smoother and pinching with your fingers to keep the edge sharp. Let the candy harden fully, then brush away excess sprinkles with a soft pastry brush.
Once everything is set, decorate as you like. I finished mine with a chocolate drizzle, a gumpaste name topper and a couple of rock candy sticks. The result is a bright, fun cake perfect for a party table.
Happy sprinkling!
~Natalie
xx
