Spring is here! Bulbs are blooming, and the sun is starting to shine! Soon enough, Easter will be here too and what is better than some hand-piped buttercream rose flowers for your Easter gathering?!
These might look intimidatingly, but I assure you, by the end of this step-by-step guide, you will be an expert. With a few simple tips and tricks, you too will be able to make beautiful buttercream roses!
Open a Bottle of Estate Sauvignon Blanc
Before we get piping, we need to crack open a bottle of Estate Sauvignon Blanc! This is the perfect wine for Easter! Its crisp, citrus notes are exactly what your palate craves on a sunny Easter day. Sipping while you bake makes the experience so much more enjoyable too! So make sure you pour yourself a glass of Estate Sauvignon Blanc and let's get started!
Make Your Buttercream
This really is your call! There are a huge array of different buttercream options out there. If you don't have a "go-to" buttercream recipe, just do a quick google search and you will find a ton of different options. I found an easy recipe but it called for vanilla extract. Because I knew I was pairing this with our Sauvignon Blanc, I went ahead and used orange extract instead! WOW did it turn out great! I won't be going back to vanilla extract any time soon. I highly preferred how the buttercream tasted with the orange notes. As predicted, it paired perfectly with a chilled glass of SB!
Color your Buttercream
Select the colors you plan to use. (Important note, you MUST use gel food coloring. If you use the liquid type, it compromises the structure of the buttercream and you won't be able to pipe it properly). For this flower, I used three different colors for the petals and one green for the leaves, so a total of four bowls of colored buttercream.
To start, put a small amount into one bowl; this is what we will use for the green leaves at the end. We don't need a lot of buttercream for this step, so plan accordingly.
Divide the rest of the buttercream evenly between the remaining three bowls. Grab some toothpicks, dip them into your food coloring, and work them each into one of the bowls of buttercream. For my flower, I did a dark pink, light pink and yellow.
Mix, mix, mix until all of the food coloring is incorporated into the buttercream. If you want to adjust the colors, grab a new toothpick and add more! Continue this until you get the colors just the way you want them.
Putting the Buttercream into the Piping Bag
Now that our buttercream has been shaded to many beautiful colors, it's time to get them into the piping bag.
Here is a great hack to accomplish this easily and without making a huge mess! Cut one section of cling wrap per the number of colors you made for the buttercream flower petals. We made three different colors (the green is only for the leaves so it isn't part of this process), so I cut three sections of cling wrap total.
Lay each one on your countertop so they don't overlap. Grab one of your bowls and spoon in all of the colored buttercream into the center of your cling wrap. One color per cling wrap, no mixing at this stage! Then simply roll the cling wrap around the buttercream in a burrito fashion. Repeat the process for each color. The image shows all three of my colored buttercreams individually wrapped like small (yet very yummy) burritos.
Since I'm needing to split this buttercream into two piping bags, I cut these down the middle of the cling wrap (see image, I'm holding half in my hand so I can insert it into my piping bag. The other half is on the counter and will be added to Julianne's piping bag).
Normally, if I was going to do all the piping myself using one piping tip, I would cut the cling wrap towards one of the ends of the cling wrap. Depends on what you are doing! If you plan to use two styles of piping tip, go ahead and cut it down the middle like I did in the video!
Get your piping bag ready by cutting the tip (if needed, mine are reusable bags so mine were cut already) and insert the piping tip. Now that your piping tip is in the bag and you have cut your buttercream burritos, line them all up the best you can and, as a group, insert
them into the piping bag . From the top of the bag, gently squeeze down until the buttercream reaches the tip.
I suggest piping some of the buttercream into a bowl or plate to start, just to see if all your colors are showing up. Often times the buttercream doesn't go in perfectly so you might have a lot of one color to start. Continue to pipe some out until you see all of the colors! Now the fun begins, time to make some roses!
Step-by-Step Instructions - How to Pipe the Rose
 | Step 1: Pipe a mound of buttercream in the center of your cupcake. This doesn't need to look great. It is just there to help build around, you won't see it for the most part. So don't stress about this looking perfect! |
 | Step 2: With the small point of your pipping tip up, and the wide part touching your cupcake, angle the pointed tip to the center and slowly pipe a circle of buttercream around the mound you made in Step 1. |
 | Step 3: Again, with the small part of your pipping tip facing up and the wide side touching the cupcake, pipe small arches or "rainbows" up and down around the perimeter of your circular mound. Once you have piped one arch, start piping another arch starting halfway through the previous arch. Continue to pipe arches, with each beginning half way through the previous arch until you complete a circle. Your piping tip should still be angled toward the center of your cupcake. |
 | Step 4: Continue the same arch approach, but from here start to angle your piping tip out towards the outer edge of the cupcake. This will allow the petals to open up more and give the impression that your flower is blooming! You can also start to make the petals longer too. |
 | Step 5: Keep going! Tip that piping tip outwards and make those petals longer and soon, you will have reached the edge of the cupcake and your flower will be done! |
 | Step 6: Last but not least, we need some leaves! Check out the video to see the specific piping tip I used. This effect really can only be accomplished with this style tip! Simply put your pipping bag (with green buttercream and the correct tip) at the base of your flower, squeeze and release! I suggest you pull the tip away quickly so the leaf holds its shape the best. Do this until you have as many leaves as you desire! |
There you have it! Beautiful buttercream roses! Simple, fun and a lot of laughs! Julianne and I had a blast making these and you will too! Don't forget the very important step of pouring yourself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. It really is the perfect pairing with these orange extract buttercream cupcakes. Cheers to you and yours, Happy Easter!
If you'd like to get some more Easter inspiration, head to our other blog post/video below:
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