I baked this spring bouquet of cupcakes for my Weekend Baker post on the Cooking Channel blog. I was limited in space in that post, and wanted to go into a bit lot more detail on how to pipe the icing roses, so I am sharing the expanded version here. Creating these flowers is not at all difficult, but it helps to have some simple tricks of the trade. With a little practice and the right tools you can easily recreate these flowers. The contrasting color that tips the petals is one of those easy tricks that takes them from ordinary icing roses to extraordinary. Here is how I did it:
How to Pipe Icing Roses
You can find my recipe for the cupcakes on the Cooking Channel
Icing (This recipe is easy to pipe with and it has lots of body, so the flowers will have structure and not flop over. Once it sits for a minute it has a crisp exterior and a creamy center. It is delicious with a 1/2 teaspoon of extract added to it.)
(makes about 8 large icing roses. It can easily be doubled):
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons shortening (This gives a little insurance that it won’t melt in your hands as you are piping)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
Pinch salt
4 to 6 tablespoons cream (you can also use sour cream, which cuts the sweetness a bit)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon extract (use an extract that is clear, so it won’t interfere with the colors you are piping)
Gel Food Color (I prefer gel or paste for intense colors)
To make the icing: In a mixer combine the butter, shortening, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Mix on medium-low speed for about 1 minute. You don’t want to mix too fast or you will incorporate air bubbles into the icing. Add the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until it is smooth, but still stiff.
You will want several little bowls to mix the individual colored icing.
You will also need:
Piping Bags: Disposable 16-Inch Decorating Bags – the cloth bags work too, but they tend to be stiff when you first buy them and are some work to keep clean. If you will be doing a lot of piping, then it is worth investing in some high quality Featherweight 16 Inch Decorating Bag.
Large Rose Tip: Ateco Decorating Tip 128
Extra Large Flower Nail: Ateco Flower Nail, Extra-Large Rose, 3″ Diameter
Large Leaf Decorating Tip: Wilton No. 366 Leaf Decorating Tip
Kitchen Shears – These are used to lift the flower off the nail and place it on the cake.
Create the color icing you want for your icing rose. You can do them all the same color or have several different ones. Start your colors light and add more color until it is just as you like.
Place the rose tip in the pastry bag. Line the narrow end of the tip with the seam of the bag.
Along that seam you will drip a thin stream of the food coloring, trying not to get it on the rest of the bag. This line of color will come out as the contrasting color on the tips of the petals.
Fill the bag with the icing so that it is about 1/3 full. You don’t want to over fill the bag or it will be difficult to manage as you are piping.
Squeeze the icing out until the contrasting color is coming out clearly.
Hold the rose nail between your fingers and thumb, you should be able to easily twist the nail. Now pipe a nice wide blob of icing onto the nail. This blob will act as the base of your icing rose, so you want it to be large enough and wide enough to support the rose. The larger the rose (more petals) the larger the base.
Now we will pipe the bud of the rose. Start by holding your rose tip strait up and down, with the narrow end of the tip up. The wide end of the tip will be touching the icing blob.
Squeeze out a ribbon of frosting and turn the nail, holding it between your thumb and forefinger, counter clockwise;
swing the rose tip up, around the top of the mound and back down to the starting point. This creates the rose bud.
Now make the first row of petals. Hold the tip so the wide end is touching the mound about half way up, starting right where the bud finished off. Tilt the narrow end of the tip slightly away from the center.
Squeeze out the frosting, turning the nail counterclockwise and move the tip up (increase the pressure) and then down (decreasing the pressure) in an arch.
Form the first row of petals in this way, starting each one where the last petal finished.
I usually do 2 or 3 petals in this row.
Pipe a second row of 5 petals, under the row you just finished. Tilt the tip out even more with this row so the petals appear to be opening up. Overlap the petals to hide any openings between them.
You can stop at any point. You may want just a few petals for a young rose or you can continue on for a more mature flower.
Once you have piped as many petals as you like, you will need to lift the rose off the nail and onto the cake. I do this by using a pair of kitchen shears.
You will want to cut only part way through, so you can lift up the rose on the blades of the shears.
Carefully place it onto the cupcake and slide the shears out from under the rose. You will need to make sure it is well anchored so it will not move around.
Using the leaf tip and green icing pipe a few leaves around the base of the rose. This is a wonderful way to hide any imperfections in your flowers.
For more fun cupcake ideas, see my Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
those are lovely and beautiful and thanks for sharing the technique how to make an icing sugar rose flower!
Amazing! Thank you so much for the step-by-step.
Great tutorial, Zoë. It’s funny, with everyone into cake decorating these days, you don’t see many roses anymore. Yours are perfect on top of those cupcakes!
Because I would’like to make rose but I don’t know what kind of cream use ? I would’like to make that : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCrY0hLeWyU&feature=related
THANKS !!!!!! 🙂
Is it buttercream ?
I realy appreciate the tips, you have make my day.
Hi Zoe
I loved the idea with the two coloured roses on top of cupcakes. They are so beautiful that i wanted to make them for my parent’s birthday. But my thing got waaay too liquid. What could be the problem? I didn’t have a rosenail so i had to use something else, but still it was all just melting down and not very stiff 🙁 Could you give me a hint what could’ve been the problem?
greetings from Switzerland
Hi Tiziana,
Were you using the buttercream icing? Was the butter very soft when you were mixing it up? It should be soft, but not mushy when you add it to the meringue.
Give me a bit more detail and I will try to figure out what went wrong.
Thanks, Zoë
Thanks so much 🙂
Thanks so much Zoe 🙂 Do you ever find with the gels that they come out of the bag a bit too chunky on the icing (the don’t blend very well for me)? Perhaps my technique just isn’t as good as yours haha.. You are so inspiring 🙂
Thanks again,
Elle
Hi Elle,
I often have to squeeze the first little bit out of the bag, until the icing and the gel have a nice smooth line. Use a skewer to gently create a smooth line of gel down the seam of the bag. If the gel has any lumps in it, then you may need a fresh bottle.
It does take some practice, so don’t get discouraged. 🙂
Thanks! Zoë
Hi Zoe,
These are divine and I have been practising these roses for a couple of weeks (as I have been asked to make cupcakes for a friends engagement party).
I still can’t get the 2 tone look as good as yours – should I use colour gels or liquid? If I use liquid it simply runs out the end of the piping bag? But I think the bleed-through effect would be better with liquid…
HUGE thanks,
Elle x
Hi Elle,
You want to use the gels, or paste, which are much thicker and will have a sharper edge to the color.
Hope that helps! Zoë
These are absolutely amazing.
I’m so excited! I was looking for this exact technique and the instructions are so easy to follow! Thank you!! 🙂
you make it look so easy!! I love to dual color ones, especially the purple and blue ones 🙂
Thanks for the great advice, Zoe! I’ve never used this technique before and will hopefully find some time to test it out. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Hi Zoe,
Thanks for your quick response! I’d like to make them a day or two before the party and then place them on cupcakes the day of. I’m worried I won’t have time to do it all in one day, so I’m hoping to buy some extra time :).
Thanks!
Juliana
Hi Juliana,
I think this can work, but you will have to be very careful that they don’t get damaged when you are putting them on the cake. You might want to do them the day ahead, line them up on a cookie sheet and just refrigerate them, then there will be less condensation when you take them out.
Good luck and let me know how it goes! Zoë
Hi Zoe,
These look amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. I want to try this technique for my mom’s birthday next month as was wondering – can I make these ahead of time? Would I be able to, for example, freeze these?
Thanks in advance!
Juliana
Hi Juliana,
That is an excellent question. I have never frozen them before serving them. I have frozen the leftover cake and icing, but have never worried about the flours staying in tact once they have thawed. Are you hoping to make them and freeze them on the cake or separately?
Thanks, Zoë
Dear Zoe
So looking forward to trying this skill – live in darwin Aust so not too sure how they will go in the tropics – will try and keep them in air-con. Thanks for sharing
Absolutely beautiful. The strip technique is awesome, what a wonderful idea!
Thank you for the recipe and how-to. These will look awesome on my nieces birthday cake 🙂
These flowers are simply beautiful! I’m only 16, and tried these for my mom on mothers day. She loved them, and cried! (: Anyways thank you so much Zoe. Your recipes inspire so much, I cannot thank you enough!
Laura(:
Hi Laura,
What a fantastic gift to give your mom! If my children had made this for me, I would cry too, just for the love that went into it!
Thank you for visiting the site! Zoë
this is genius, i will definitely be trying this out soon
BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for the tip on how to get your petals in the contrasting colours…because that is what I was going to ask you how to do!
Thank you so much for sharing this technique. I was always wondering how to make those pretty roses, and with the different color strike they are extra pretty.
These are just so lovely! And what a simple technique to give the little roses (not to mention the cupcakes) so much pop. The pictures really make me believe that I could replicate these in my own kitchen. Karen 🙂
I’ve always wanted to attempt these!
Thanks so much for the tips – I’ll definitely be trying these soon!
Zoe,
These cupcakes are beautiful. You are an inspiration. I have 2 sons, who love to cook, but I think to have these on my Mother’s Day table, I must enjoy the experience myself. What a wonderful gift. Thank you.