I recently had the pleasure of working with a former classmate to make this super sweet Chinoiserie-inspired baby shower cake.

The cake layers are my go-to dark chocolate layers with a nice smooth coating of vanilla buttercream. The best part? The Chinoiserie is all hand painted. No patterns, no edible icing sheets, no fondant - just tracing and painting with food coloring.

Using Americolor’s Navy Blue mixed with a bit of white, I used a super fine paint brush to add some dimension to the painting, and after I took these photos, decided a bit of gold leaf around the bird cages and branches was absolutely necessary!

This was my first go at painting such a pattern so it took a bit longer than anticipated, but I’m absolutely tickled with how it turned out.

Enjoy!