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Instantly elevate your dessert with an elegant buttercream rose. Made by layering petals on a flower nail, this blooming buttercream flower is easy to make once you get the hang of it! Use a standard petal tip and stiff buttercream frosting to make a whole garden of roses for your next baking project.

How to Make Buttercream Roses

Roses make the perfect gift, especially icing roses on top of a cake. With these easy steps and some practice, you’ll be piping roses that look like they’ve just been picked from a garden!

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Course Dessert

Equipment

12-Inch Decorating Bags
Standard Coupler
Round Cake Decorating Tip 12
Pre-cut icing flower squares (or wax paper cut into squares)
Flower Nail
Petal Cake Decorating Tip 104

Ingredients

Buttercream Frosting Stiff Consistency
Food Coloring (Optional)

Instructions

Step 1: Set Up Your Tools

Fill a decorating bag with stiff consistency frosting, a coupler and tip 12.
Attach a flower square to the flower nail with a dot of frosting.

Step 2: Make the Rose Base

Make the rose base, using tip 12 and Flower Nail #7. Hold the bag straight up, the end of tip 12 slightly above the center of your waxed paper-covered flower nail, which is held in your other hand. Using firm and steady pressure, squeeze out a heavy base of frosting, remembering to keep your tip buried as you squeeze. Gradually raise the tip, and decrease the pressure when the rose base is about 3/4 in. (1.9 cm) in diameter.
Stop pressure, pull up and lift away. The rose base should be 1 ½ times as high as the opening of tip 104, about the size of a chocolate kiss.

Step 3: Create the Center Petal

Switch out the tip on your decorating bag for tip 104.
Make the center bud, using tip 104. Hold nail containing base in your left (right) hand and bag with rose tip 104 in right (left) hand. Bag should be at a 45° angle to the flat surface of the nail and in the 4:30 (7:30) position. The wide end of the tip should touch the cone of the frosting base at or slightly below the midpoint, and the narrow end of the tip should point up and angle slightly inward.
Now you must do 3 things at the same time: squeeze the bag, move the tip and rotate the nail. As you squeeze the bag, move the tip up from the base, forming a ribbon of frosting. Slowly turn the nail counterclockwise (clockwise for lefties) to bring the ribbon of frosting around to overlap at the top of the mound, then back down to starting point. Stop squeezing and lift the tip away.
Move your tip straight up and down only; do not loop it around the base. Now you have a finished center bud.

Step 3: Make the First Row of Petals

Make the top row of 3 petals with tip 104. Touch the wide end of tip to the midpoint of bud base, narrow end straight up.
As you turn the nail, the up and down motion of the tip will make a half circle-shaped upright petal. Wide end of tip must touch the rose base so that petal will attach. Move tip up and down to the midpoint of mound, forming the first petal.
Start again, slightly behind end of first petal, and squeeze out second petal. Repeat for the third petal, ending by overlapping the starting point of the first petal. Rotate the nail 1/3 turn for each petal.

Step 4: Make the Middle Row of Petals

Make the middle row of 5 petals. Touch the wide end of tip slightly below center of a petal in the top row. Angle the narrow end of tip out slightly more than you did for the top row of petals. Squeeze bag and turn nail moving tip up, then down, to form first petal.
Repeat for a total of 5 petals, rotating the nail 1/5 turn for each petal.
The last petal end should overlap the first's starting point.

Step 5: Make the Bottom Row of Petals

Make the bottom row of 7 petals. Touch the wide end of tip below the center of a middle row petal, again angling the narrow end of tip out a little more. Squeeze bag and turn nail to end of fingers, moving tip up, then down to form first petal. The narrow end of tip is angled out a little further, so petals appear more open.
Repeat for a total of 7 petals, rotating the nail 1/7 turn for each petal. Make petals the same length as in the previous rows.
The last petal end should overlap the first's starting point. Slip waxed paper and completed rose from nail.

Video

Notes

Tips & Tricks

Clean the tip before you start each petal by wiping any excess icing off.
Different Rose Sizes: Make roses bigger or smaller by using different sized petal tips. Petal tips range from size 97 to 127.
What are Flower Squares? Flower Squares are perfectly sized waxed paper squares that are attached to a flower nail with a dot of icing for easy piping and transferring of flowers from the nail.
Roses can also be made using Royal Icing