This is one of our favorite Sri Lankan desserts, right up there with butter cake, breudher cake, watalappan, falooda ice cream etc. And with a few buttercream decorations and Easter candy, this makes the perfect pastel Easter cake too! Last time I shared my classic vanilla cake recipe with plenty of tips on how to get perfect results when making homemade vanilla cake. And I did say that vanilla cake was the base for another classic Sri Lankan cake- this Sri Lankan Ribbon Cake (Swirled Pastel Cake)! Plus, I’m also sharing a simple way to decorate this cake as a pastel Easter cake! For more delicious Easter treats, check out my easy carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting, vanilla chai cake, and my classic hot cross buns and chocolate chip hot cross buns. A Sri Lankan ribbon cake is a classic that almost never fails to make an appearance at birthdays and special occasions! It’s a vanilla cake that’s been colored with pastel colors (usually a combination of pink, yellow and/or green), and the batter is either swirled together OR layered on top of each other for a layer cake. Traditionally it’s frosted with plain vanilla frosting, but you can color the buttercream frosting as well.
How to make swirled pastel cake (ribbon cake) – step by step instructions
While it’s routine to make this ribbon cake as a layer cake with a thin layer of vanilla frosting sandwiching the cake layers, I really love serving this pastel cake as a sheet cake instead! This creates the perfect ratio of cake to frosting too, and you can serve a larger crowd as well. But if you prefer to serve this ribbon cake (pastel cake) as a round cake instead, you can easily adapt the recipe for an 8 inch or 9 inch layer cake too (instructions are in the recipe).
Simple decorating idea for classic Sri Lankan Ribbon Cake
The vanilla buttercream frosting recipe here recipe here is buttery, creamy, fluffy with the perfect amount of sweetness and great vanilla flavor. I only spread a fairly thin layer of the vanilla frosting on the cake to balance the sweetness, but you can adjust that to your preference of course.
More decoration ideas for this Ribbon Cake (Pastel Cake)
This cake is so versatile when it comes to decorating. Since this cake is very frequently featured as a birthday cake or a celebratory cake, the decorating can be as simple as the one that I’ve shared here, or as colorful as you want it to be! Below are a few options for decorating this pastel colored marbled vanilla cake.
A classic plain vanilla buttercream frosting with a simple border. This is the traditional option for decorating a Sri Lankan ribbon cake. Some buttercream flowers and leaves might be added to the cake as well. Trim the edges to show off the swirled edges, OR you can cover the edges with frosting as well. Funfetti! After a thin layer of frosting, you can cover the cake with colorful funfetti. Water color buttercream – after a base color of frosting, you can dot the sides with more pastel colored frosting and smooth it all out for a water color effect. You can see this effect in this vanilla chai cake (pastel Easter cake). Use the pastel cake as a sheet cake and it would be a fabulous canvas to decorate on. Like this Easter themed pastel cake decorated with Easter chocolates!
It’s simple to turn this sheet cake into a beautiful swirled pastel Easter cake. All you need is food coloring, and some decorating tips, and your favorite Easter candy! Buttercream for the pastel Easter cake – I used yellow and pink pastel colors for the buttercream, and created a gorgeous swirled pattern on the sides and on top of the cake.
How to decorate this cake as an Easter sheet cake
Decorating the pastel Easter cake – I used green buttercream to create grass patches on the cake (with Wilton tip #234, but you can use #233 as well). The flowers were piped with the pink and yellow buttercream, using Wilton tip #18. I also used Cadbury mini eggs, and caramel eggs (for different sized eggs), as well as my MUST HAVE Easter candy – Easter Lindt bunnies! You’re welcome to use YOUR favorite Easter chocolate and candy instead. For the presentation, I placed the cake on a larger cake tray (or serving tray) and surrounded it with edible grass, and MORE Easter eggs. This is a simple yet gorgeous way to really make this cake festive, fun, pretty and most importantly, delicious!
More decoration ideas for an Easter sheet cake
This classic Sri Lankan ribbon cake (swirled pastel vanilla cake) is just as incredibly delicious, soft, light and buttery as my classic vanilla cake. It’s a simple yet colorful twist to make your vanilla cakes even more exciting! 🙂 And to make your pastel sheet cake stand out even more, you can decorate it to match any theme with simple buttercream decorating ideas. I mean, how adorable is this pastel Easter cake? 🙂
More delicious cake recipe you may like
Sri Lankan butter cake Best carrot cake Banana layer cake Coffee layer cake (Espresso cake) Mulled wine cake Ginger cardamom cake (Magnolia cake) Devil’s food cake Classic white cake White coconut cake (Winter cake)
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