Buttercream Roses

 Here's my first successful buttercream rose! See my previous post for the recipe. Youtube has a surprising number of rose making tutorials but usually fails to mention some details on the equipment you'll need to produce these lovely flowers.

The basic tools that you'll need are:

• Piping bag
• Frosting coupler
• Petal decorating tip shaped like a tear drop (I used Wilton's #104 which fits a standard coupler and small piping bag)
• Rose nail
• Scissors 

A rose nail is shaped like a nail but with a larger head (usually an inch in diameter). If you don't have one on hand (like me), you can make it with the back end of a chopstick that's taped to a piece of foil folded several times until it feels stable.

 Tip 1: Make rose petal with the narrow part of the tip facing up. Most videos don't mention this.

Tip 2: You'll be transferring the finished rose with the scissors. It's important to wipe the blades clean or else the following rose may break apart when it's transferred because of the increased area of contact between the rose and scissors. (Likewise wipe the surface of your rose nail or improvised rose nail).

Tip 3: If you plan on saving the frosting to make more roses later from the same bag, don't place it in the fridge. The frosting will harden and it'll be nearly impossible to squeeze any frosting out of the tip. It's better to put the unused frosting into a separate container and microwave it to soften the frosting when needed.

Tip 4: The frosting will get softer from the heat of your hand melting the butter/shortening so the petals will not stand up as well. Pop the bag in the fridge for a few minutes and it'll be easier to handle.

Tip 5: Don't worry about messing up! The frosting can be reused to make more flowers. Once you've got this skill down, you'll be impressing all your friends!