Buttercream Florals

Decorating a cake can’t always be easy, especially when you want to impress someone. As a creative person I always think of different colors, textures, frostings (I’m not a fan of sugar paste so I generally stay away from that and try using creams instead). Here I’ve taken the trend of buttercream flowers and made a few easy ones for you guys to follow and create. They are super cute, tasty, and fun to do! You can chose any colour combination you wish or just go all realistic and try choosing cookies that match the seasonal flowers! My buttercream recipe is a basic one, but I’ve added some lemon extract and lemon zest to spike it up a bit.

Here’s how you make them!

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups (340g) butter, softened to room temperature
5⅔ cups (680g) icing sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean pod (this is optional but I like it for the extra flavour)
2-3 tablespoons milk or double cream
pinch of salt
A few drops of the colours of your choice, Ive used violet, sky blue, coral, light pink, charcoal grey and forest green
Piping tips – #104, #59s, #2, #3, #352 and a Flower nail (it looks like a nail with a flat disc on top)
Few drops of lemon extract (optional)
1/2 zest of lemon (optional)

METHOD

Whip the butter (either in a stand mixer or with a hand held electric mixer) mix until light and creamy for about 7-8 minutes on medium/high speed.
Once the butter is pale in color and light slowly add in the icing sugar one spoon at a time on medium speed. Let the sugar fully incorporate before adding in more sugar.
Add the vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds, salt , (add extracts and flavorings at this point, I’ve used lemon extract and lemon zest of 1/2 lemon) and cream.
Whip on high speed for another 3-4 minutes until very light, creamy, and fluffy.
Use the buttercream straight away or keep it refrigerated for upto 4 weeks. Before use make sure it comes to room temperature.

Making the flowers – There is a ‘how to’ video below so many sure to check it to better understand how to make your flowers

You can start by diving the buttercream into bowls for their respective colours.
And the get you tips ready in your piping bag and fill them. If you want to have double colours in your flowers, then spread some of one colour of the cream around the inside of the piping bag and fill the center with the other colour – I did this for most of my flowers, I filled the inside with white just to give it a different dimension.
Then using your piping tool, place a small dollop of the cream and the place a small square of baking sheet on top. (Check the how to video below)
Start by piping the ‘holder’ (I like to call it – it’s the extra cream that helps you lift your flower up as well as give it some depth). Then start at the center and make a swirl by piping and rotating at the same time.
Then start piping the petals, one by one until you feels you’ve got a sufficient amount (again check the ‘how to’ video below)
You can then use #2, or #3 to pipe the small dots in the center of the flowers.
Once your done with your flowers, place them in the fridge for 30 min or for a quick chill in the freezer for 10 min.
Once cold enough to touch, then quickly pick the baking paper off and place them onto your cake. And voila! Your all done! If you have any questions, send me a message or drop a comment below and I’ll be sure to help out! 🙂