Roses make a great floral decoration for your baking. You can easily personalise them for the occasion or recipient by using their favourite colours or complimenting the theme. They are also a fairly easy piping project. All that you need for this method is a petal piping tip and piping bags.
You can make different sizes of roses by piping varying amounts of petals, but if you want more dramatic size differences you will need two or more sizes of petal piping tips. In this video I use JEM Petal Decorating Tip #104. To limit the amount of equipment required, in this method you will pipe leaves without a leaf piping tip. If you have a leaf piping tip then feel free to use it. I also use a flower nail which is an easy way to turn the flower as you pipe it, however this is not necessary. In the video I include an alternative so that you can pipe icing roses without a flower nail.
In this video I am using my honey butter icing which was used in the Bake A Day Of It March 2021 box in the orange and honey blossom cake. But the method can also be used with normal vanilla butter icing and buttercream as well as with stiff peak royal icing (though you do not freeze royal icing, instead just leave it to harden).
I think it is easier to watch the roses being piped than read through the instructions. So I have made the video below that takes you through it step by step, including the alternative method for if you do not have a flower nail which involves using a bottle cap to pipe the icing roses.
How To Pipe Icing Roses Step By Step
Make your butter icing and dye your chosen colour(s) for the roses and green for the leaves. Put into the piping bags, with the petal tip in the the rose coloured piping bag.
With a little bit of icing, stick a square of baking paper to a flower nail or bottle cap.
With the wider part of the piping tip on the bottom, pipe a cone shape in the centre of the baking paper.
Still with the wider part of the piping tip on the bottom, pipe petals around the cone.
Remove the rose from the flower nail/bottle cap, keeping it on the baking paper.
Repeat till you have the amount of roses that you want then put them on a plate and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until they are frozen so that you can handle them.
Cut the tip off the green icing piping bag into a triangle shape, and test it a few times onto your counter to see that you are happy with the leaf size.
Use some of the green icing to attach the frozen roses to your cake. Pipe leaves into the gaps between the roses by squeezing out the icing close to the cake then releasing the pressure as you pull the piping bag away.
Once you're happy with the look, you're all done. The roses will defrost quickly at room temperature and will keep their shape.
I hope that you have found this tutorial simple to follow, if you have any questions or need anything clarified then I'm happy to answer questions below. This is a simple but effective piping project that is sure to impress. Happy baking :)