Nautical Ombre Cake

This vanilla butter cake and vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream cakes is decorated with a blue wave ombre, gum paste shells, graham cracker "sand", and anchor topper. 

To get this Ombre effect, add five colors from dark to light to the sides of your cake use a piping bag fitted 1M piping tip. Smooth the sides of the cake with a pallet knife or bench scrapers. Then, use and offset spatula to create the "wave effect". Gentle press the tip of the spatula into the buttercream while spinning your cake (it helps to have a cake turner or lazy Susan for this). Gradually move the spatula up the cake to the top.