Easy Buttercream Flowers for Beginners (How to Make)

Turquoise and blue buttercream flowers arranged in a circular pattern around the top edges of a round cake covered in buttercream.

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Buttercream Flowers for Beginners (How to Make)

Easy to make buttercream flowers, perfect for beginners.

Prep Time30

Freezing Time30

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cake

Calories: 2257.3kcal

Author: Priya Maha

Equipment

Petal tip #104
Round tip #3
Piping bags
Flower nail
Parchment paper squares

Ingredients

150 g butter salted
300 g powdered sugar icing sugar sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk optional
Navy blue food coloring
Royal blue food coloring
Black food coloring
Turquoise food coloring
White food coloring

Instructions

Cut parchment paper into 2 inches by 2 inches squares and set aside.
Add butter into a large bowl and beat until creamy. Add powdered sugar to the creamed butter and beat again until it is creamy and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and beat again until well combined.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl at least once half way through to make sure the butter and sugar are well combined.
If the icing is too stiff, add some milk. Do it is small increments of half a teaspoon to make sure the buttercream does not become too soft (see Note 1).
Remove some of the icing into a small bowl and tint it white for the flower centers.
Divide the remaining into 2 medium bowls. Tint the first bowl with navy blue and add a tiny bit of royal blue and a small tinge of black to it. Mix well.
Tint the second bowl with turquoise food coloring. Mix well.
Transfer the white frosting into a piping bag fitted with round tip #3. Transfer the blue and turquoise frosting into 2 separate piping bags (without any tips attached). In a separate piping bag, fit the petal tip #104 (see Note 2).
Snip the tip of the piping bag with navy blue buttercream. Insert the bag into the piping bag fitted with petal tip #101.
Dab a little icing onto the flower nail. You can use the blue or turquoise icing.
Stick a parchment square onto the flower nail. The buttercream acts to hold the paper in place while you are piping the flower.
Hold the flower nail in your left hand and the piping bag on your right with the tip positioned at a 45 degrees angle from the paper. Make sure the narrow end of the tip is on the top and the wider end at the bottom (see Note 3).
To pipe the petals, place the bottom of the tip in the center of the flower nail. Simply rotate the top of the tip (while gently squeezing the piping bag) in a circular motion until you get the shape of a petal. Lift the tip.
Repeat the step and pipe the second petal, followed by the third, forth and fifth. In piping the petals, always rotate the flower nail such that the petal you will be piping next is always at an angle that is comfortable for you. As you finish piping each petal, rotate the flower nail.
Gently slide the paper away (pull it sideways) from the flower nail and place it on a flat cake board. Once all cake board is filled, place it in the freezer for approximately 30 minutes until the buttercream flowers have hardened. Keep them in the freezer until ready to use.
To place the flowers on a cake or cupcake, remove them from the freezer (see Note 4). Peel half of parchment paper underneath each flower and use a spatula to lift the flower off the paper. Position the flower on your cake or cupcakes as you wish.
Use the white icing fitted with round tip #3 to pipe tiny white dots for each flower center to complete them (see Note 5).

Video

Notes

To determine if the consistency is right, test by transferring some into a piping bag with a different tip or nozzle. If it is easy to pipe and holds its shape well, you can proceed to color the icing.
Fitting the petal tip separately into a bag and the frostings into a different bag will make it easy to use the same tip for different colored icing. Read more about how to manage different colored icing for the same piping tip here.
Holding the tip at a 45 degrees angle will ensure the petals do not lay flat on the paper and instead, have a natural curved petal look.
When removing the flowers from the fridge, do it a few at a time to avoid the flowers from becoming soft again. If they do, it will be difficult to peel the parchment paper and lift them with a spatula.
You can also pipe the centers before freezing the flowers.
When making buttercream, make sure the butter is not too soft or your buttercream will be too soft. Ideally, it should be firm but soft enough to poke your finger in. If it is too soft, return to the fridge to firm it again.
It is extremely important to sift the powdered sugar before making buttercream, especially for buttercream flowers piping. Powdered sugar tends to be lumpy and these tiny lumps will clog your piping tips (piping nozzles).
When adjusting the buttercream consistency by adding more sugar or butter or even milk, always do it in small increments and small amounts will make a difference to the consistency.
Buttercream tend to melt in warm temperatures. For heat stable buttercream, replace half of the butter in the recipe with shortening. Other options include to use royal icing which is not affected by surrounding temperature and sets very well without any need for freezing.
Holding the piping bag for long can also cause the buttercream to melt (from the heat of your hands). For best results, if making these flowers in large batches, it is best to fill the icing into smaller bags so that you can rotate them.
Always make extra flowers than what you require for contingency.

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