Easy Buttercream Flower Cake (How to make buttercream flowers!) (2024)

This elegant yet surprisingly easy buttercream flower cake is perfect for all celebrations ! Use your favorite cake recipe and pipe buttercream roses and more in this easy tutorial with video!

Flower cakes are such a wonderful cake design for spring cakes! You can make a beautiful bouquet right on top of your cake, and it’s all edible. If you’re new to cake decorating, don’t fret- making a beautiful floral buttercream cake does take some practice, but it’s a lot of fun and gets easier and easier as you go!

You can use your favorite cake recipe here- I’m using my classicvegan vanilla cake, as it’s my absolute favorite cake, as well as my readers’ favorite cake recipe! However, we have over 50+amazing vegan cakeswith different flavors that you can use so be sure to check out ourcake recipesindex.

There are even more cake recipes in my vegan bakingcookbook, that you’ll definitely want to check out!

What type of buttercream is best for piping flowers?

Typically, the frosting you would use is a “decorator’s buttercream;” this is a frosting that forms a hard crust. Usually, an American buttercream will do this. My vegan American buttercream is my absolute favorite to use for decorating floral cakes.

You can also add different flavors to the buttercream, like floral notes, almond extract, fruity, like strawberry or raspberry, or lemon!

Which Wilton tip makes flowers?

Wilton has somany different flower tipsto use! It all depends on how intricate you want your flowers to be.

There are amazingpetal tipsthat you can use (I used Wilton tip #103 here), but there are even packets of flower design tips that you can purchase. Some other tips, like a star tip can be used so as to imply petals for the flowers; and then you can fill the flowers with dots as well!

I also recommend getting a leaf tip as well (I usedWilton tip #352)!

How do you attach buttercream flowers to a cake?

You’ll simply pipe a dot of frosting onto the back of your frozen and set flower. Then gently press the flower to the place on the cake that you would like it to be! The frosting dot will harden quickly against the cold frosting of the cake, and the flower, so your flower will stay put.

Overview: How to make a buttercream flower cake:

Here’s an overview of how you’ll assemble your floral buttercream cake:

1. Sketch out your cake design:It’s a great idea to have an idea of what you want your layer cake to look like, along with how long it will take you, and the amount of frosting you will need. I’m giving you the recommendation for a three layer, 1 tier 8″ cake below. You should also choose your color palette!
2. Bake the cake:Whichever cake you decide on for flavor, make sure that you give your cake at least an hour to fully cool. You want absolutely NO WARMTH in the cake layers. This will take patience, but it’s worth it.
3. Assemble the cake:Apply a crumb coat to the cake, along with a final buttercream coating. I used regular vegan buttercream for the crumb coat, then tinted the buttercream pink with rose powder for the outside of the cake.
4. Chill the cake:While you pipe the flowers, you can place the cake into the fridge for the frosting to set.
5. Pipe the flowers:Next, you’ll pipe the roses (or pansies) onto pieces of parchment paper that we’ll then freeze. I find it easier to place the piped flowers onto a baking sheet that I then place into the freezer between piping each flower. Then freeze the flowers for at least 5 minutes in the freezer. This will ensure that they’re able to be handled a bit as you place them onto the cake.
6. Remember to save some frosting!You’ll want to save some frosting for the piping of leaves and to help place the flowers onto the cake.
7. Plan out your pattern and decorate the cake:I like to gently mark where I want to place each flower. It also helps to sketch a quick design of what you had in mind (this is helpful at the very beginning of the cake baking process). Then place the flowers onto the cake with a dot of buttercream, and fill in the rest of more petals and leaves!

How do you make buttercream flowers on the side of a cake?

You’ll actually use the same method as you would placing the floral buttercream flowers on top of the cake when decorating.

Simply pipe a dot of frosting onto the back of the frozen frosting flower. Then press the flowervery gentlyonto the side of the cake. You can then pipe leafs onto the side of the cake, or even additional petals, where you placed the flowers.

You can also use these buttercream flowers for cupcakes!

To make buttercream flower cupcakes, simply pipe your favorite frosting on top of the cupcake, then place the chilled flower on top. So easy!

Watch how to make this floral buttercream cake here!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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