I’ve made lots of cakes and cupcakes – even plenty of wedding cakes in my day. But after I stumbled on the secret to making these gorgeous icing roses, I was hooked. It’s so quick and easy – for the impact it makes. Everyone just raves about how gorgeous they are – and they’re so simple, they literally take 2 seconds to do.
The secret? It’s the Wilton 1M icing tip. That’s it! I use it all the time now, especially for cupcakes. The roses are my favorite, but the other design I do is what I call the ice cream cone swirl. With the roses, you just start in the center and go around in circles to the outside, twisting as you go. And for the ice cream swirl, you start at the outside edge, circling around to the center.
Ice Cream Twirl on the Left – Rose Design on the Right
While I’m starting to turn down large tiered wedding cakes now, because of my arthritis, I still do a few smaller cakes and lots of cupcakes using this tip. The pink wedding cake above was from a couple years ago. Here’s a couple smaller ones I’ve done recently for small wedding showers. I also do a couple dozen matching cupcakes and I like to use cupcake tiers to display them with the small cake on top like you see below. The one to the left had white and light purple rose and ice cream twirl cupcakes displayed too. It was for an office bridal shower.
How To:
First layer of icing should be thicker than a crumb coat so the roses will stick and the bare cake won’t show in between. But it doesn’t have to be neat because the roses cover most of it up. Using a turntable or lazy susan helps it go fast. Just make icing roses around the cake, alternating each row, working from the bottom up. Fill in bare spots with smaller swirls. The icing should be smooth. The roses that have cracked edges, the icing is a little too thick. I keep a wet paper towel over the bowl of icing to try to keep it from drying out. And stir it real well to fluff it back up before refilling the bag. It does take a lot of icing for roses – I had to make two batches for this 6 inch double tier and two dozen cupcakes.
Supplies:
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- Wilton Tip 1M – This is the 3 pc set I got – better deal than just the one tip. And I do use the other two tips often.
- Disposable plastic icing bags. This is a good deal for 50 bags. Cut the corner off and stick the tip in. Throw away when finished.
- Icing spatula. I use the small one for small tiers and the large ones for large tiers. Dip in hot water first to spread smoothly.
- Cake turntable. These things are a lifesaver when decorating a cake.
Disclaimer: I am not a professional baker and decorator, so I’m sure I’m not doing this the “correct” way. These are just my tips on how I decorate cakes, based on my amateur experience and trial and error.
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