If you love to decorate cakes but aren’t quite sure how to jazz up your creations, look no further! Buttercream roses are a beautiful addition to any cake and will make you look like a professional whether you’re a beginner or an expert. They look amazing, and the best part is they’re not as hard to make as you might think! You’ll need a 12-inch pastry bag, a #127 rose tip—the narrower end of the tip should always point up when piping a rose—and a #7 rose nail.

There are three things you should be paying attention to when doing any type of piping with icing. The first thing to be mindful of is the consistency of the icing. You should also be paying attention to the angle at which you are approaching the surface, and the pressure you are exerting with your decorating hand. With those three things in mind, you’re ready to follow these simple steps to piping a beautiful cake art buttercream rose.

  1. Pipe some foundation onto the center of the rose nail, with the tip at a 90 degree angle to the surface.
  2. With the tip at a 45 degree angle, pipe around that foundation. Do not move the tip; instead, rotate the rose nail so you are piping in a circle around the center foundation. When you have made your way all the way around the foundation, move the tip up and do the same thing—you want a tall base for your rose. All of your petals will be attached to this base.
  3. Clean your tip with a paper towel—not a cloth—when necessary.
  4. With the tip at a 90 degree angle, start at the top of your foundation and squeeze to create a rounded shape, releasing as you move down. You should have what looks like a petal at the top of your foundation. Turn the rose nail and do the same thing again, starting where your first petal ended. Turn and repeat again; when you’re done with this petal you should have a triangle of petals at the top of your foundation.
  5. At a 45 degree angle, with the lower end of your top dragging lightly across the middle of the foundation, start just below where your first line of petals ends—at the intersection of the petal and the foundation. Using the same squeeze and release technique, create five overlapping petals in this next level of your rose. Turn the rose nail as you go to make sure the petals are all the way around your cake art rose.
  6. Open a pair of scissors and place them at the base of the rose, where it meets the rose nail. Close the scissors slightly—you don’t want them all the way closed, just enough to grab the rose—and slide the rose off of the nail and onto a plate.

There you have it: a quick, easy and beautiful way to make your cakes stand out with some creative cake art.

Chef Susan Holtz has taught professional Cake Art and baking for over 30 years. She has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Home and Garden magazine, and on Fox News Television. If you want to learn more about cake art visit: BakingandCakeArt.com

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