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8 Easy Buttercream Flower Cupcakes
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Sep 6, 2024
In this cake decorating tutorial I demonstrate 8 easy buttercream flower cupcakes, using simple techniques for piping flowers that even beginners can master quickly! You can find the cupcake carriers I used here, with a 10% discount: http://giveaways.bakerybest.com/bgb-24cupcakecarriers.html My recipe for the Perfect Chocolate Cake batter (which I used for these cupcakes) is here: http://www.britishgirlbakes.com/recipes/perfect-chocolate-cake/ I used my 4 Minute Buttercream for these cupcakes (https://youtu.be/MFKfXbnU1Lw) and these flower nozzles (Russian tips): https://amzn.to/2SCcZZG My tutorial on 5 Tricks for Russian Tips is here: https://youtu.be/xHQqLTsjVp0 SUBSCRIBE to my channel for new cake decorating tutorials every week! If you buy any of the products I've linked out to, the price you pay won't change but I will make a small commission on anything you buy. Thank you for helping to keep the British Girl Bakes tutorials FREE!
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Emily and I'm going to show you how to pipe different types of flowers on cupcakes
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I'll start with flowers pipe directly onto cupcakes, and then show you how to pipe and transfer them onto
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frosted cupcakes, and how to use flower nozzles or Russian tips. I'll also show you options for
0:16
short-term and long-term storage and how to transport them. I'll be using my perfect chocolate
0:22
cake batter for my cupcakes and I've put the link for my tutorial and recipe in the top of the
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screen and in the video description. This is my first. four minute buttercream frosting and that links there as well and you need a fairly stiff consistency
0:34
for piping, a little bit stiffer than to frost a cake, so I add a bit less milk or cream
0:39
when I'm going to use the buttercream for piping. To pipe flowers you'll need a piping bag
0:44
and some piping tips. For this rose cupcake you'll need a petal tip which is this teardrop shape
0:50
that's narrower at one end than the other. This is a Wilton number 104. Squeeze a bit of buttercream
0:58
onto the middle of the cupcake, just a blob, nothing fancy, but make sure it's solid
1:03
not too tall and narrow, so it's stable. Now hold your tip so it's slightly higher than the top
1:08
of your blob, with the narrow end pointing upwards, and apply pressure to the bag to squeeze out
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the buttercream as you twist the cupcake between your fingers to spin it, so that the buttercream
1:18
wraps around the blob, and release your pressure and pull away after doing a full loop to form your
1:23
first petal. Only the top of this will be visible, so don't worry about the
1:28
sides. Now pipe a ring of petals, keeping the narrow end of the tip pointing upwards
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piping little arcs that rise up in the middle, and overlapping the previous petal by about a third
1:40
or half, so that they wrap over each other. Keep the tops of the petals as close as possible to
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the bud in the middle, because you don't want the petals to fan out until the end. Now pipe another
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ring of petals, starting each arc to the left or right of the arc in the inner ring, so that they
1:57
don't line up but instead they're all offset. Just like in the previous ring of petals
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each petal should overlap the previous petal. The reason for having the narrow end of the
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tip pointing upwards is because the butter cream at that end is being pushed through a smaller
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space than at the wide end of the tip, so it tends to curve or wave or ruffle as it comes out
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of the tip and that gives the edge of your petals some movement. Continue with these rings of
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petals to cover up the whole surface of the cupcake and as you get further out you can angle your
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tip so that it's pointing a bit further away from the previous petals to make the final petals
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fan out instead of curving closely against the previous rings of petals. Keep adjusting your
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piping bag to push the butter cream further down into the bag so that you don't have to apply
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much pressure to squeeze it out and this will keep your petals neat and also prevent your
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hand from cramping up. When you get to your final ring of petals, pay attention to where
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you start each arc to make sure you cover up the bottom of the previous ring of petals, since this
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will be the outer edge of the rose and it will be visible at the end. And there it is
3:02
Next we'll pipe a carnation. You'll need two shades of coloured buttercream for this, so I'm
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starting with this dark orange and then mixing a bit of it with some plain white buttercream to
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lighten it. Use your petal tip again and spoon your darker shade into the bag on one side
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and squeeze it all the way down to the bottom of the bag just on that one side. Then add the lighter
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shade next to it on the other side of the bag and then squeeze this colour down to the end of the bag as well so that the two shades of buttercream are side by side Twist the tip around if you need to so that the narrow end is on the side with the darker color
3:41
and this will be the darker rim of the petals. Hold this narrow end pointing upwards and rest the wide end on the cupcake
3:49
right in the middle of the cupcake, and squeeze the buttercream out and wiggle your bag
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so that you pipe little random ruffles of buttercream. Keep the ruffle small
3:58
so that you end up with lots of little ruffles going in different directions, fanning out from
4:03
the first ruffle you piped in the middle of the cupcake until you've worked your way to the outer edge
4:07
of the cupcake. By putting the darker colour on the side of the piping bag with the narrow end of
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the tip, the top edge of the petals will be darker like they are on actual carnations
4:19
Make some yellow buttercream for a sunflower cupcake. I'm using gel colors for all of these
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cupcakes. Put the buttercream in a piping bag with a leaf tip
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and this is a number 3-5-2, and you hold it so that it looks like a packman or a fish with an open mouth
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and the petal comes out of the front and the sides. Pipe a ring of petals around the outer edge of the cupcake
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piping them side by side to cover up the cupcake underneath, which means you'll be overlapping the base of the petals
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which are closer to the middle of the cupcake. Don't worry about making sure they all start the same distance in from the outer edge of the cupcake
4:54
because we're going to cover up the inner parts of the petals in a minute. Then pipe another ring of petals over the top to create another layer, and try not to pipe these directly on top of the previous petals
5:07
Instead, pipe each petal between two of the petals in the ring below, so that you can see the tips of those petals sticking out between the tips of the petals in this layer
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Now use a small round tip, like this number four tip, and pipe little dots of dark brown butter cream into the middle of the cupcake, making a large circle of dots to cover the
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centre, going right up over the bases of the petals to make a pretty sunflower
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For a two-tone hydrangea cupcake you'll need two colours of buttercream, and I'm using blue
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and green, but you can use blue and purple, blue and white, or hydrangeas come in plain blue and
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plain pink as well. Squeeze your buttercream down to the end of the piping bag, and I'm using
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a 2D star tip, but a 1M tip works as well. Now pipe little blossoms onto the cupcake, continuing to squeeze the bag
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after piping the initial bit of butter cream so that it ruffles and folds over itself to create some movement in the petals
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I like the 2D tip for this because it makes the bottoms a little bit more wavy and petal-like
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whereas the 1M tip makes it more star-shaped. Cover the whole surface of the cupcake to make a beautiful two-tone
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hydrangea. For a chrysanthemum you'll need a curved tip that looks like a u or a c, and this one's in number 80
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It's helpful to imprint some rings into the cupcake as guidelines, using piping tips or cookie cutters before you start
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Pipe a ring of petals around the outer edge of the cupcake, trying to finish all of the petals just over the edge of the cupcake
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so that the frosting doesn't get damaged by another cupcake beside it later
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Pipe the petals right beside each other so you completely cover up the cupcake underneath
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Then pipe another ring of petals, starting closer to the middle of the cupcake, and overlap it
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these first petals and then another ring even closer to the middle of the cupcake
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If you like you can use a darker colour for the final few rings of petals If you enjoying this tutorial please click the thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week Your last ring will be just a few petals covering up the middle of the cupcake and there it is
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Now I'm going to pipe a Cosmos using some toothpicks, this curved number 61 petal tip
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and a small round tip. Start by gently scratching a line down the middle of the
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cupcake and one across it, and then two more in between those to make eight lines to
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guide where you pipe the petals. Hold the tip in the center of the cupcake with the
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narrow end pointing away from the center and pipe butter cream to the outer edge of the
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cupcake, curving the bag around to continue piping back to the center of the cupcake. This
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will give the petal a seam down the middle. Then use a toothpick to create the two
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indents that the flower has on the petals. You can manipulate the petals while
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they're still soft and sticky before they set, to angle the petals if you want to. I find
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it's helpful to look at a photo of a real flower before or while you're piping these, to make
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any tweaks you like so that the butter cream version looks similar to the actual version. After
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piping all of the petals, fill the middle in with little yellow dots, and you're finished! If you're
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nervous about piping flowers straight onto cupcakes, you can pipe flowers separately, and then
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transfer them onto a frosted cupcake instead. I'll show you you how to pipe a very easy flower using any petal-shaped tip, like this straight-edged
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104 tip, or this curved number 61 tip. To pipe the flowers, you'll need a flower nail
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and some squares of parchment, about the same size as the nail. I've cut mine out of a roll of
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parchment paper, or you can buy them pre-cut in little packets like this. Pipe a bit of butter
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cream onto your nail to act as glue, and then press a parchment square onto it to attach it
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Now hold your tip with the narrow end facing away from you, to be the outer edge of the petal
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and the wider part in the middle of the nail. I'm using a curved petal tip for this flower, and I'll show you a straight petal tip next
9:06
Pipe little arcs around the nail, moving the bag slightly towards the outer edge of the nail
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and then pulling it back towards the middle, spinning the nail between your fingers as you go to pipe all the way around the flower
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When you finish the petals, fill in the centre with another colour, and for this one I'm using a number
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a four small round tip to pipe some little yellow dots. When you finish the flower
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carefully pull the parchment square off the flower nail and place it on a cutting board
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or a tray or a plate and continue piping the rest of your flowers. For this one I'm
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using a straight petal tip, a 104, and following the same steps to pipe the petals with
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little arc motions while I spin the flower nail between my fingers. I'm keeping the
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narrower end of the tip facing outwards so that the edges of the petals curve a little bit
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You can see that the shape of the petals is very slightly different with this tip
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but really any tip with a narrower end on one side will work for this type of flour
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I'm using the same number four round tip for the middle of the flower, but squeezing out more buttercream to make one large dot in the centre
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We're going to chill these flowers in the fridge to set them while we prepare the cupcakes
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If you're going to transport the cupcakes, it's a good idea to pipe them within the container
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to reduce the risk of damaging the frosting by moving them around later. Just place the cupcakes in the carrier after they've cooled and then apply the frosting to them there
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I'm using a 2D tip, which is a curved star tip but a 1M tip creates a very similar swell
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just a bit less wavy than this one This is my favorite cupcake carrier because the lid is really high so you can pipe these nice tall swells and they won get pushed down when you attach the lid They sturdy and they stackable so really easy to move into your
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car and carry to wherever you're going. These ones are made by Bakery Best and I've put the
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link for them with a discount of 10% in the description below this video. After piping your
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swells take your flowers out of the fridge and use an offset spatula or a knife to lift
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them up, slicing underneath the frosting to separate the flour from the parchment paper
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and then placing the flour onto the frosted cupcake, pressing down gently to attach it to the
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frosting. These flowers are so easy to pipe, but they make the cupcakes look so pretty
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especially with nice bright colors like these. I use gel colors for my buttercream because
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they're much more concentrated than liquid colors, so you can achieve really bold colors
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Okay, finally we have flower nozzles, or Russian tips. I'm going to be using this one here, and also a leaf tip with green butter cream
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For the flowers I'm using two colours of pink to make the petals look more realistic
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and I'm using a glass to hold my piping bag open, folding the top of the bag over the rim of the glass
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and then spooning in the darker colour, and spreading it around the outer edge of the piping bag with my spatula
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There are other ways to do this, like using a cling film log, and I cover those techniques in my tutorial on five tricks for Russian tips
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and I've put the link for that in the top of the screen and in the video description. Now spoon the lighter colour into the middle of the bag so that the centres of the flowers will be a different colour
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Put it all the way down to the bottom of the bag and then unfold the piping bag and push the buttercream out
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until the lighter colour comes through the middle. There we go, ready! The key to these flower nozzles is the
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consistency of the buttercream. Here it's too soft so the petals are forming flower buds instead of open flowers
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And to fix this, just put the piping bag in the freezer for one minute to stiffer the buttercream and then try again
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And these look perfect! I share other tricks like these in my full tutorial on Russian tips
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To pipe some leaves around the flowers, I'm just spinning the carrier so I can reach each section where I want to add a leaf
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Again, I'm piping onto my cupcakes in the carrier, so I don't need to move them around after piping, so I won't damage them in the process
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You can pipe leaves in between the flowers as well, if they don't cut them
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cover the whole surface of the cupcake, angling the piping bag around to get into each gap
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to make the cupcake look more like a bunch or bouquet of flowers. Of course you can pipe
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these flowers and leaves onto a cupcake before putting it in a carrier, just be very careful
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while you're putting it into the carrier so you don't knock the flowers. You can have a lot
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of fun with these flower nozzles, using different shapes and different colour combinations to make
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really realistic looking flowers. I've put the link for the nozzles I use in the video description
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Now just pop the lid onto the carrier, and you can store these at room temperature for a day or in the fridge if you prefer
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or you can even freeze them in the carrier for up to a month, until the day before you need them
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When you take them out of the freezer, leave them at room temperature with the lid on for at least an hour to prevent any condensation
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When you serve them, they'll taste exactly the same as on the day they were baked. I've taste tested this myself many times
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Thank you so much for watching. Please remember to click the thumbs up button if you liked this video and subscribe to my
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channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week
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