I had a mediocre attempt at these once before, but the roses didn’t hold their shape very well after a while, due to the butter melting. This time I used shortening instead of butter and they came up much better. I think these are actually much easier to do than they look. If you don’t have the special tool to lift the flower after you’ve piped it onto a flower nail, just use scissors to lift it off the nail and place it onto the cake.
I piped some leaves wherever there were any gaps left for me to do so. I was pretty happy with the result, and the kids (and neighbours) enjoyed eating it. As soon as I tasted the icing with the shortening, I instantly recognised the flavour from all those cakes I bought from cake shops in previous years… so that’s how they get their piped decorations to hold shape!
This cake wasn’t made for any special order or occasion… I just wanted to practise piping some buttercream roses!
By Sarah Jessica 