How to Make a Teapot Cake (Full Tutorial)

A teapot cake is such a great “go-to” cake design and perfect for a little girl’s birthday, bridal tea party, or even Mother’s Day.

This teapot cake is made a little easier by baking a ball-shaped cake and is easily customized table with your own unique pattern or your favorite flower. The possibilities are endless.

Note: The gum paste we used took about two days to dry, but still left the inside of the spout soft enough to pierce with a bamboo skewer. Adjust the drying time of your accents depending on what gum paste recipe you use.

What You Will Need?

• 2- 1/2 BALL CAKES BAKED IN A BALL-SHAPED PAN
• SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
• 1 – 3″ ROUND CARDBOARD CIRCLE
• 1 – 4″ ROUND X 1″ THICK STYROFOAM CIRCLE
• 1 BAMBOO SKEWER
• TOOTHPICKS
• HOT GLUE GUN
• PENCIL
• 1/2 SHEET TRAY COVERED IN PARCHMENT
• 10″ ROUND SILVER DRUM
• BLUE, YELLOW AND PINK FOOD COLORING PASTE
• 1 LB. GUM PASTE
• 1 LB.  WHITE FONDANT
• 5 PETAL FLOWER CUTTER
• ROSE LEAF CUTTER
• WHITE CANDY COATING
• PAINT BRUSHES
• ROYAL ICING
• CRAFT KNIFE
• POWDERED SUGAR
• PIPING BAG WITH #2 TIP
• GINGHAM RIBBON (OPTIONAL)

Steps in Making Teapot Cake

STEP 1: TINT FONDANT AND GUM PASTE

Start by tinting the fondant with blue paste and a touch of yellow to create a light aqua blue. Next, tint 1/4 of the gum paste aqua to match the fondant, 1/8 dark pink, and 1/8 green, and leave the remaining gum paste white. Keep everything tightly wrapped in plastic and inside a tightly sealed container and set aside.

STEP 2: PREPARE THE BASE AND BOARD

Glue the styrofoam circle in the middle of the silver baseboard. Then, attach the 3″ round cardboard with glue, centered in the middle.

Next, use a knife to shave and angle the styrofoam, starting at the cardboard circle and ending at the bottom of the styrofoam circle. This will be the base of the teapot. Set this aside.

STEP 3: FORM THE ADDITIONAL DECORATIONS

On a 1/4 sheet tray covered with parchment, trace a 6″ circle in pencil. (This will be the rough size of the iced cake, so it will give you a layout for making the spout and handle)

Divide the aqua gum paste into 4 equal parts. Use 1/4 of the paste to create the handle by rolling it into a thin worm and then use your finger to flatten both ends.

Coat the edges of the traced circle with some powdered sugar and then place the handle on the tray. Create the handle shape that looks best to you and then line the edges up with the curve of the circle. This will ensure that the handle attaches fits the curved edge of the cake.

Next, take two toothpicks and dip them in water to moisten them. Insert them halfway into each end of the handle. It’s really important to make sure that both toothpicks are perfectly parallel, this way when you insert the handle it won’t break.

To make the spout of a teapot cake, knead 2 of the gum paste portions together and start by forming a cone. Taper the cone and flatten it on both ends.

Curve the gum paste into the shape of a spout and then place it on the other side of the traced circle to dry. Once again, make sure that the end that will be attached to the cake is curved to match the curve of the circle so that the spout fits well when it’s attached to the cake.

Roll the remaining bit of aqua gum paste into a thin layer. Using a craft knife, cut a 3 1/2″ circle and place it on the same tray to dry.

To make the basic roses: Roll some pink gum paste very thinly on a lightly powdered surface and use the 5-petal cutter to cut out a flat flower shape. Intertwine the 1st and 3rd petals to create a bud.

Then wrap the 2nd petal around the bud. Repeat with the remaining petals until you have a simple rosette.

(You may need a dab of water to get the petals to stick if your gum paste is dry). Create multiple roses for the teapot of different sizes using the various 5-petal cutters. Make one rose with some additional petals added for the top of the pot.

Set these on the same tray to dry. Set the entire tray aside to dry for two days.

STEP 4: ICE THE CAKE IN BUTTERCREAM AND COVER IT IN FONDANT

Remove the half-ball cakes from the fridge and slice off the top of each cake to create a 2 1/2″ diameter flat area.

Spread some buttercream on the base, position one-half ball, sandwich it with more buttercream, and then place the second-half ball on top.

Ice the cake with a layer of buttercream and refrigerate it until the icing is firm, about 30 minutes. Remove the cake, and with clean hands, lightly rub the exterior of the icing to remove any bumps.

The warmth of your hands will help create a smooth surface for fondant rolling. Place the whole thing back in the fridge.

Cover your fondant rolling surface lightly with powdered sugar, and roll the aqua fondant about 1/8″ thick. Lift it and drape it over the cake and immediately gather the excess fondant on opposite sides of the cake, while simultaneously rubbing the fondant onto the ball to make it stick to the buttercream.

Use scissors to trim the excess fondant down to 1″ or so, following the curve of the ball cake. Then dip your paintbrush in water and moisten the inside of the seam. Close the fondant back together and gently pinch the seam with your fingers to make it stick together.

Then use your scissors again to trim the ridge of fondant closer to the shape of the cake. Use your finger to rub the seam to make it as flat as possible.

Roll out strips of gum paste and attach them to the display board with a little bit of water, trimming around the cake base as necessary.

STEP 5: ADD DECORATIONS TO FINISH

To attach the spout: Hold up the spout against the cake in order to figure out what angle the skewer should go in at, to both pierce the styrofoam and also hold the spout in place.

Trim the skewer if necessary and then tap the bamboo skewer through the teapot cake and into the styrofoam base at the angle that you determined.

Place a handful of white candy coating discs in a microwaveable bowl and heat on half power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until melted.

Using a dry paintbrush, dab some melted coating on the bottom of the spout and pierce with the skewer while adhering to the edge of the cake. Hold in place for a few seconds for the coating to dry.

Do the same thing all over again with the handle, putting a little melted coating on both ends.

Brush a little coating on top of the pot and add the aqua disc. Use some extra fondant to create a bulbous lid in whatever shape works and attach it to the disc with more coating. Place the large rose that you created earlier on top, adhering with a dab of coating.

Roll the green gum paste into various thin ropes and attach them to the front of the tea pot using a very light coating of water.

Attach the roses at the end of the vines with some melted candy coating.

Roll some green gum paste thinly and cut out leaves using the leaf cutter. Attach them using a touch of water.

Fill a piping bag or squeeze bottle with royal icing and fill in the blank space around the flowers and at the edge of the lid and the base.

Glue the gingham ribbon around the edge of the board to finish.

Suggested Read: Snow Angel Cake

Final Thought

It’s not every day that you’ll see a fancy cake like this teapot cake. Guests will surely mistake this one for a real teapot. So, do you want to make one? Or do you have another personal design to it? Share it with us in the comments below!