This flower pot cake looks so realistic that it could fool all your family and friends into thinking that it’s the real thing.

This cake was inspired by an idea for my husband’s birthday.

He loves gardening and actually grew the marigolds you see on the cake.

View the video below to see how I made it.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

• Crumb coat and chill a cake
• Prepare and color fondant
• Roll out the fondant 
• Cut fondant 
• Cover cake in fondant
• Smooth fondant
• Add flowers and dirt

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Here is a list of some of the tools and supplies you may need to make this cake below:

Wilton white fondant 

Fondant roller or rolling pin 

Fondant smoother 

Bubble straws 

Measuring tape and or ruler 

Wilton Gel food Coloring: red, orange, brown

Fondant cutter or pizza cutter, Knife or exacto knife 

Edible flowers, crushed Oreos, Powdered sugar 

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Crumb coating and chilling cake

Prior to beginning the fondant preparation, you should have your cake crumb coated and chilled.

If you don’t know how to crumb coat a cake, head over to this blog post, How to Crumb Coat a Cake.

The second thing is that once your cake is crumb coated, you want to make sure it’s chilled.

A chilled cake will make it easier to cover with fondant.

Looking for an easy, smooth, and creamy buttercream recipe?

Grab your class below and get started.

Buttercream Tutorial: Enroll here!

Step 2: Preparing and coloring fondant

To prepare the fondant, I used a box of Wilton pre-made white fondant.

When the fondant first comes out of the box, it’s stiff and hard to work with.

To make it soft and pliable, knead the fondant

Cover the surface, fondant, and your hands in powdered sugar or cornstarch to keep the fondant from sticking to the surface, to itself, and to your hands.

Coloring fondant:

To color the fondant, I used red, brown, and orange gel food coloring to achieve a terracotta look to make it look like a real flower pot.

Tip: Before coloring all of the fondant, test out the colors on a smaller piece of fondant. This will give you an idea of what to expect.

Next, knead the colors into the fondant and add more as needed to get the color as close as possible to terracotta.

Step 3: Rolling out fondant

Determine the width and height of the cake. I did this by using measuring tape.

Once I knew my measurements, I went ahead and covered my surface and fondant roller (a rolling pin works too) in powdered sugar to avoid the fondant sticking.

I started by rolling out the fondant into a rectangle shape. It should be about 1/4 in. thick.

If air bubbles appear on the surface, take a pin, pop it and smooth it out.

Use the fondant smoother to remove any dents or imperfections on the fondant.

Step 4: Cutting fondant

Once the fondant is rolled out, it’s time to cut it to fit the cake.

Always add an extra inch or inch and a half to the measurement so there is some wiggle room.

It’s a good idea to keep a ruler nearby to help guide you while cutting the fondant so it’s straight. 

Step 5: Covering the cake in fondant

Before covering the cake in fondant, I took a paintbrush and lightly brushed water on the sides of the cake.

The water acts like glue, so the fondant sticks to the cake.

Next, I took my fondant piece and rolled it up on my fondant roller to make it easier to apply to the cake.

Once on my roller, I unrolled it onto the side of the cake while pressing and smoothing it with my hand to ensure that it’s sticking to the cake.

Once it was on the cake, I cut the excess fondant and connected the seam so it looked like one piece.

6. Smoothing the fondant

As soon as the sides of the cake are covered in fondant, I immediately take the fondant smoother and start smoothing the sides of the cake in an up-and-down motion all around the cake.

I then cut the top layer of fondant sticking up over the cake so that the cake and fondant are flush to the cake.

Creating the top lip of the flower pot:

To create the top lip of the flower pot, measure the length around the cake and roll out another piece of fondant about 1-1/2 inches wide.

I used the width of my ruler to give me a guide for how thick I wanted the strap to be.

Once rolled out and cut, I added water around the top of my cake so the fondant would have something to stick to.

Next, I rolled the fondant onto the fondant roller and applied it where the seam begins and carefully rolled it out onto the cake.

Cut the excess and smooth the seam together.

Step 7: Adding the flowers and dirt

To insert the flowers, I used regular-sized straws, but if you are using flowers with thicker stems, I suggest using bubble straws since they are bigger.

I began by inserting the straw inside my cake, pulling it out, cutting where the buttercream meets the straw, and pushing it back in.

I’m using real marigolds. You can always use fake flowers. Make sure the flowers are edible before inserting them into the cake.

To avoid flower secretions from getting into the cake, roll the stem in flower tape before inserting it into the cake. I then inserted the flower into the straw.

I repeat this process until I am satisfied with the number of flowers. 

Adding dirt:

To make the dirt look realistic, I took oreos and crushed them up until they resembled the size of dirt, then filled the top of the cake until it looked like the flowers were sticking out of it.

And there you have a garden flower pot cake!

If you liked this post you may also like:

How to Make a Mickey Mouse Ears Hat Cake

How to Make a Melting Ice Cream Cone Cake

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