If you are looking for a fun and pretty way to decorate a cake, this marble drip cake is for you! Follow this decorating tutorial for and easy drip cake with a marble effect, and you’ll have a stunning cake in a matter of minutes!
We’re sharing a deliciously easy way to create a marble drip cake! Drip cakes can be so intimidating to make, but to be honest, they’re actually a fairly simple way to frost a cake!
As long as you’re comfortable using fondant to cover the cake, the frosting part is easy peasy! Fondant isn’t difficult either, it just takes some strength and time to roll it out!
We used a simple icing recipe and added a little corn syrup to keep some of the shine.
How to make an easy Marble Drip Cake – step by step
Bake a vanilla or chocolate cake in a standard 8″ round cake pan. Lightly frost the cakes before adding the fondant.
Knead and roll out the fondant to about 1/4 inch thick. Then place it over a lightly frosted cake. The reason you frost the cake is so the fondant will stick to it and hold. Frost all the way down the sides, top, etc.
Place the fondant on top and then smooth it out to remove any bumps, it doesn’t have to be perfect!
Place a rack on a rimmed cookie sheet and place the cake on top. This way the frosting will fall beneath.
Make the frosting (recipe below) and add in drops of desired food coloring. Don’t stir it, it will marble as you pour. Since we love blue so much, we did different shades of it to create our marble effect.
Pour the icing over the top of the cake and watch it drip down the sides. It’s awesome to see the colors blend together and make such stunning patterns!
In about 30 minutes, your marble drip cake will harden and keep its shape!
A Marbelized Cake is an easy way to make a decorative cake for a special occasion.
This cake is perfect for any occasion, especially if you are short on time.
This is great for a birthday cake, and you can make it with the person’s favorite color, or how about a baby shower cake and you can do blue for a boy and pink for a girl!
Drip cake without chocolate
To make this marbelized cake as easy as possible, (and with the least mess!) opted to create the drip with icing.
There are a lot of chocolate drip cakes out there, but if they get too warm you have a mess on your hands! By making this with icing, was able to achieve the beautiful marble effect.
Cake decorating tools to make a marbleized cake
The great news is that you don’t have to be an expert cake decorator to make this show-stopping cake!
The only tool I would recommend is a fondant smoother so you can get the cake nice and smooth, you can pick these up fairly cheaply at most stores.
Top tips for decorating
- Make sure your cake has cooled to a warm temperature before decorating.
- Remember to place the cake on a rack over a cookie tray before pouring over the icing so you don’t end up in a mess!
- Finish decorating the cake with fresh fruit or edible flowers.
- For the marbling, try to stick to different shades of the same color. It will give the marble drip cake a marble look.
Be sure to check these other occasion cakes and decorating ideas
Momufuku Milk Bar’s 4th of July Cake
A Delicious Spring Coffee Cake Recipe
Pumpkin Spice Sunflower Cupcakes
How To Make A Watercolor Cake by Style Sweet CA
Striped Buttercream Balloon Cake by Sugar Hero
If you have tried this marble drip icing recipe, please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
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Marble Drip Icing
Ingredients
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- food coloring
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients, except the food coloring, in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Add in drops of food coloring, or use a wooden popsicle stick to add drops of gel food coloring to the icing. Do not mix it. It will give it’s own marbling effect when it’s poured.
- Place the fondant cake on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath.
- Pour the icing over the top and let it dry.
Natasha says
Wow – this is so beautiful! {And so is your rolling pin!}
Eden says
Thank you Natasha!!!
Karen Simon Peterson says
Will this work over buttercream? We HATE fondant.
Thanks!
Eden says
We didn’t try buttercream, but maybe if you get the buttercream nice and cold it might work? I’m not sure!
Belinda says
Why pour over fondant? Can this be poured on buttercreame?
Eden says
I think it would melt buttercream, but you can put buttercream under a thin layer of fondant.
Heather says
Will the drip on top harden? Or will it continue to slide? Im looking to cover a dome shaped cake. Thanks!
Shabnaz says
Can this drip icing recipe be used over whipped cream frosted cakes?
Eden says
Hi! It wouldn’t work over whipped cream. It has to have a fondant seal. That would look cool though!
Georgie says
Hi there, you don’t say how big a cake this amount of icing will cover and also no mention of how much food colouring? How do you know how when there’s enough colouring in the mixture? Once you start pouring it’s too late to add more… Are we talking 10 drops per colour maybe?
Brycie says
For those who would rather use buttercream with this, the warm water would definitely melt the buttercream. However, I’m assuming the warm water is to help incorporate the corn syrup properly. If you mixed it all first, and then chilled a little, I wouldn’t think it would make the corn syrup seize up since it is already well incorporated. I think I will definitely try this with buttercream, make the glaze mixture and chill until it is totally cool as to not melt the buttercream (without food gel of course).
Eden says
Let me know how it works with buttercream, I love buttercream more than fondant but didn’t think it would work. I will be interested in hearing!!!
Brycie says
I tried it, and I was surprised at how well it worked! No melted buttercream over here! I mixed the warm water and the corn syrup together first, and then I let it chill in the fridge. It didn’t take long to cool. Then I added the rest of the ingredients, added my food coloring and drizzled away. Although, here are a few things I would definitely do differently next time.
1) With the cooler corn syrup/water mixture, the mixture had thickened quite a bit since it was cold, making it not as pourable. Next time I may try just having the corn syrup mixture slightly cooled as to where it isn’t cold, or just warm enough where I know it wouldn’t melt the buttercream. That or I would add less powdered sugar (probably my preference) so it wouldn’t be nearly as thick.
2) Don’t use food coloring gel. I think I’d rather add liquid as the gel was difficult to really get in the mixture without slightly stirring.
3) Research what the heck I’m doing! ???? While the method I used did work, mine did not look nearly as pretty as yours because I just winged it lol. I should have watched videos or something on the technique first.
The glaze also tasted so phenomenal with buttercream! It was a surprisingly nice compliment. Thanks for the awesome idea! I 100% will try this again to hopefully perfect it!
Eden says
Yay! Thank you so much for sharing all of your tips for this! I love buttercream WAY more than fondant so now I’m going to try this!! I am so happy it worked for you!
Brycie says
I also should add that my cake was completely chilled in the fridge for a good bit before I poured the glaze on. That way the buttercream was totally set and hard, just in case it may have made the buttercream run or something.
Whitney says
will the marble effect still come it right if I use regular, store brand food coloring? I’m trying to make the drip frosting pond for an alligator cake
Lisa Valles says
I saw a few comments asking about using buttercream instead of fondant and wanted to share my experience.
I used a standard buttercream frosting recipe, used half in between my layers, then very slightly thinned the remainder with +/- 1 Tablespoon of milk (amount may vary depending on your recipe and humidity). I then microwaved it on 50% heat for about a minute to make it pourable. I poured this mixture over my cake and let it cool and dry for about 30 minutes. This created a soft “shell” that allowed the top swirl frosting to go on and look smooth.
I used the recipe above BUT used hot water instead of warm and mixed it with the corn syrup separately to fully dissolve the corn syrup, let that mixture cool to room temperature, THEN added it to my powdered sugar. I also don’t care for almond extract so used vanilla. I used Wilton Color Right food coloring, then poured.
OMG, I wish I could share a picture. It looked amazing. Like Italian glass. It had a beautiful sheen and tasted just like “regular” frosting. My buttercream “shell” did not budge.
Cyd says
Hey, I’m attempting this effect with buttercream tomorrow and was wondering if there was any particular reason you choose to air-cool your “shell” instead of putting it in the fridge for a bit? Thanks!
Mark Ullmann says
WHERE IS THE ACTUAL FONDANT RECIPE?
Eden says
We bought the fondant at our local craft and baking supply store. Much easier!
Alva says
Hi! Is the almond extract onlyfor taste or does it have another purpose?
Eden says
For taste 🙂
Kristina Aitken says
Can someone clarify ‘pouring’ to get the swirling river look please. Did you start at one side & pour in a zig zag across the cake?
Kathleen Mclean says
I just did it on buttercream and it did melt it. had the cake in fridge for 2 hours prior.
Kathleen Mclean says
ugh- did NOT melt it. typo sorry- was just so excited it worked! lol
Eden says
So it did work for you?! It’s the coolest cake!!
Neha says
What method did you use for buttercream to not melt the butter?
Rachael Yerkes says
This cake is gorgeous! I’ve always wanted to make one of these and I love your how to!
Kara says
Wow, your cakes are stunning! I’m glad other readers have shared tips for pouring it over buttercream. We aren’t big fans of fondant, so I am going to try that method.
Lisalia says
I’ve always loved the look of this kind of cake! I can’t believe how simple you make it seem. I’m excited to try this for EASTER. So pretty with springtime colors and some candy eggs (I have some gorgeous ones from Williams Sonoma!). Thank you. I LOVE your website!
Sandy says
Is it okay to use homemade marshmallow fondant?
Eden says
We haven’t tried it with homemade marshmallow fondant but I think it could work. Just make sure to put the covered fondant cake in the refrigerator before so it’s cold too.
Georgie says
Super excited to try this! Has anyone tried it without corn syrup (which doesn’t seem to be available in the UK?) I suppose it won’t be as shiny, which isn’t the end of the world, but I’m wondering whether it will create issues with consistency and pouring.
Cade says
Living in IRE here and the syrip isnt popular here either try mix the cornstarch with the cold water; place in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring while cooking. When it becomes clear, add the sugar. Boil down until it is the thickness of prepared corn syrup. It will thicken some as it cools
Mel says
Same in Australia – here it is called glucose syrup, which may be similar to the UK??
Lester says
I used Lyle’s syrup instead of corn syrup and it worked so well!
Eden says
Oh!! Great to know, thank you!!
Katelyn says
I had to add WAY more water than the 1/4 cup to get it runny enough to pour!
Kelli says
Hi I was wondering what is the experience with using this method on a wedding that will be stacked. My bride wants the marble look but no fondant. Does this stiffen into a regular buttercream or does it stay liquid/sticky?
Eden says
Hi Kelli – I would recommend trying this first. To be honest, we’ve never done it on buttercream so I can’t say if it will work or not. There might be some comments from others you have, you can read through and see. I’m sure it would be fine stacked with fondant.
Sarah says
Hi i am making this cake this weekend and was wondering if you need to use gel food colouring and if so how did you get different shades thanks
Eden says
You can use gel and you can mix the colors to make different shades or leave them and they will blend together as you pour.
Kayla says
This is amazing! First time I’ve baked a proper cake, and I couldn’t be happier with the end product. I used teal, royal blue and sky blue for the icing and it almost looks like a gemstone, so gorgeous!
Eden says
Thank you Kayla! Love hearing that!!
Heather says
HI i have to make the cake 2 layers i was wondering if i would be able to double the recipe will it still work thanks
Eden says
Yes try to double and that should cover it!