This daisy cake design would make the sweetest birthday party cake (just imagine it with cute birthday candles on top!) or the centerpiece for any special gathering. I’m thinking of Mother’s Day, a picnic in the park, a Sunday brunch, or any happy event on your calendar. You can use any of my cake recipes as the base of the cake and any light colored buttercream for the topping. Here are some of my suggestions, but feel free to use your favorite type of buttercream that’s pipeable and easy to color: 

• Vanilla Buttercream
• Vegan Vanilla Buttercream
• White Chocolate Buttercream
• Cream Cheese Buttercream
• Lavender Buttercream (it’s white if you don’t add the lavender color gel!)

The best part about this daisy cake is that the technique for piping the flowers is so easy. All you need is Wilton Tip 104 for the petals and Tip 10 for the centers. Watch this quick video tutorial to see how it’s done: 

If you’re into cake decorating videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube channel for further learning! I’m always rolling out new videos, so click the subscribe button while you’re there to ensure you never miss a new one.

You Will Need

• A layer cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled (mine is 6” diameter)
• Cake turntable
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula 
• 3 Cups of light colored buttercream (I’m using one batch of this vanilla buttercream recipe)
• AmeriColor Egg Yellow (or yellow color gel of your choice)
• Wilton Tip 104
• Wilton Tip 10
• 2 piping bags 
• Palette knife or small food-grade paint brush (optional)

Step 1: Color the Buttercream

Reserve about ⅓ Cup of buttercream for piping the daisies, then add 3-5 drops of AmeriColor Egg Yellow (or other yellow food color gel) to tint the rest of the buttercream a medium yellow color. 

Step 2: Frost a Smooth Buttercream Finish

Place your chilled and crumb coated cake on the turntable and use the yellow buttercream you tinted in the previous step to frost a smooth buttercream finish onto the cake. Start by frosting a smooth layer on the very top of the cake with your angled icing spatula. Next, add buttercream to the sides of the cake and glide your icing smoother over them while turning the turntable to create smooth sides.

You’ll notice a crown of buttercream forming on the top edges of the cake, which is essential to getting sharp edges on the top. Use your angled icing spatula to swipe the crown inwards (toward the top center of the cake). Repeat until you’ve got nice sharp edges.

When your cake is looking ultra smooth, pop it into the refrigerator to firm up for at least 30 minutes. If you need more tips on creating a perfectly smooth cake finish, I’ve got a great tutorial for you here. 

Step 3: Pipe the Daisies

Place the white buttercream you reserved in Step 1 into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 104. Add another drop of AmeriColor Egg Yellow to any leftover yellow buttercream and mix it to make a slightly darker yellow for the daisy centers. Add this darker yellow buttercream to a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 10. 

Starting with the white frosting, hold the piping bag so that Tip 104 is parallel to the side of the cake, angled so that the larger part of the opening is the tip of each daisy petal and the smaller part of the opening is the center of the flower. Hovering the piping tip about ⅛ inch from the surface, pipe the first daisy petal by squeezing the bag and quickly releasing pressure once you see a petal shape form. Repeat piping the petals in a circular formation, rotating your hand slightly after piping each petal. 

Repeat piping the clusters of daisy petals 1-2 inches apart, all over the sides and top of the cake. 

Pipe a dot of the darker yellow buttercream in the very center of each daisy petal cluster to finish each flower.

Step 4: Smooth the Centers (Optional) 

If the centers of the daisies are too peaked, you can smooth them down using either a small angled spatula or palette knife, or a small paint brush dipped in a little bit of water. Simply swipe the peaks with the palette knife or use the small paint brush (dipped in water) to gently press each peak down. 

And that’s it! The happiest little cake for your next Spring celebration and it couldn’t be easier to whip up with the right tools and a sunny color palette!

I hope you have the best time making this daisy cake! If you do end up making it, let me know what you’re celebrating in the comments below + be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create! 

The post Daisy Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Although there’s a ton of texture going on here, the design could not be simpler to create. I used a mix of simple fondant flowers, buttercream piped flowers, and sprinkles to make this cascading bouquet of blooms come to life. Incorporating all three of those elements helps to give depth to the design, but I’ve also created this cascading floral look with just buttercream and both ways look incredible! Whatever techniques you use, as long as you nail this floral placement, you really can’t lose. 

If you do include the cute little fondant flowers, I do recommend making them at least a day ahead, just because they’re much easier to work with when they’re firm. I made them with this plunger cutter set and loved how quick they were to cut out in a variety of sizes and colors. Allowing them to dry in a semi-sphere mold (or even on the inside curve of a bowl!) really helped give the petals the perfect shape. Probably the easiest fondant flowers I’ve ever made!  

And as far as the buttercream flowers go, all they really take is the right piping tips and a fun color palette. Including the Fuschia background color I used for the cake, this color palette consists of seven different buttercream colors! I do tend to get a little carried away when color mixing sometimes (it’s therapeutic!) but keep in mind that you can create this look with less colors, or really any color palette you want. With that in mind, feel free to follow the tutorial below closely or use it as inspiration for your floral cake creation. You do you! 

Here’s a quick video to show you the decorating techniques before you read all about them below:

Be sure to check out my YouTube channel to see even more cake decorating videos, tutorials, and recipes. Hit the Subscribe button while you’re there so you never miss a new video!

You Will Need 

• A 6-inch cake, filled and frosted in a solid color of your choice
• 3 1-inch balls of fondant
• Small rolling pin
• 1 tsp vegetable shortening
• Flower Plunger Cutter Set
• Flower drying mold
• 1 batch of vanilla buttercream
• Food color gels of your choice
• Bowls and spoons for mixing
• Piping bags
• Wilton Tip 1M (x2)
• Wilton Tip 4B (x2)
• Wilton Drop Flower tips: 190 and 225
• Sprinkles of your choice (I used the Sea Glass Mix by Sprinkle Pop)

Step 1: Make the Fondant Flowers

At least a day ahead (so the fondant flowers have time to dry), color the three 1-inch balls of fondant according to your chosen color scheme. I used Americolor Lemon Yellow, Fuschia, and Regal Purple for the colors shown below.

Coat a flat surface with a little bit of vegetable shortening, then roll the fondant out to about ⅛ inch thick.

Use the flower plungers to cut out a variety of floral shapes, gently pressing the plunge button to create the dot center on each one.

Finally, set the flowers to dry in a semi-sphere mold or the inside of a bowl so that the petals dry with some upward lift.

After about 24 hours, your fondant flowers should be dry and fully ready to use on your cake.

Step 2: Prepare the Buttercream 

Divide the vanilla buttercream evenly amongst separate bowls, one per color in your palette. Then color each bowl with your favorite color gels. For the color palette shown below, I used Americolor Fuschia, Lemon Yellow, Regal Purple (for both the light and dark purple), Turquoise (for both the light and dark turquoise), and Peach.

When your buttercream colors are ready to go, fit your piping bags with tips and fill each one with a different color. I fit the Fuschia and dark Regal Purple piping bags with Wilton Tip 1M, the Lemon Yellow and dark Turquoise piping bags with Wilton Tip 4B, the Peach bag with Wilton Tip 190, and the light Regal Purple and light Turquoise bags with Wilton Tip 225.

Feel free to use any variety of floral piping tips and colors you’d like for this look! 

Step 3: Decorate the Top of the Cake 

On the top of your frosted cake, start by piping some scattered rosettes with Wilton Tip 1M in a crescent moon shape.

Use the piping bags fitted with Wilton Tip 4B to pipe stars that follow the same crescent moon shape, allowing plenty of space to fill in with more florals.

Fill in most of the space with your drop flowers using Wilton Tips 190 and 225. If you’ve never piped a drop flower before, they’re super easy! Simply hold the piping tip at a 90 degree angle (straight down) about ⅛ inch from the cake surface. Then, twist the tip in a clockwise motion while you squeeze to swirl the petals before releasing.

Next, add the fondant flowers wherever you’d like, standing them at different angles. They’re super light weight, so they should stick right onto the buttercream without shifting or falling over.

Finally, fill in the empty spaces with spherical sprinkles of varying sizes. I loved adding some of the sprinkles to the buttercream flowers to give them a pretty center!

Step 4: Create the Floral Cascade 

To make these beautiful blooms look like they’re cascading down the side of the cake, repeat the above steps for piping, adding fondant flowers, and attaching sprinkles – only this time at a diagonal angle. Starting near one of the edges of the crescent moon shape you created along the top, pipe scattered rosettes diagonally down the side of the cake.

Pipe more stars with Wilton Tip 4B in that same diagonal direction down the side, then fill in most of the empty space with the drop flower tips to complete the general cascading shape.

Accent your cascading florals with fondant flowers and sprinkles until you are totally satisfied with all the textures going on.

This is one of those cake designs I get totally lost in and just keep adding things until I feel like it’s time to step back and marvel. These floral textures get me every time!

So pretty, right? I can’t wait to see your cascading floral cake creations – be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me! We could all use something pretty to look at nowadays, so no matter what your reason is for making this cake design, it’s sure to bring some life to this crazy season. Hope you’re all safe, well and staying creative (or doing whatever brings you joy these days)!

The post Cascading Floral Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

See? All that cake needed was a little revamp! Same sheet cake underneath, but a whole lot of pretty piping to make it eye-catching. All of these pretty buttercream florals were made possible with the Wilton Drop Flowers Tip Set + a few additional favorite tips (1M and 4B) I picked up at JOANN’s.

The best thing about baking a sheet cake is it’s easy. You don’t have to worry about leveling, filling, or stacking any layers. Just add some cake batter to your casserole dish and bake it up! The only real thing you need to worry about is giving the cake enough time to cool before you frost it.

The reason I love these Drop Flower piping tips is that they take care of all the hard work for you. They’re designed to create perfect florals in just a twist of the wrist, creating a beautiful floral look that anyone can achieve. Here’s a quick video to show you the technique before you read all about it below:

This design will work in just about any color palette imaginable, so pick your favorite color scheme and get ready to party!

You Will Need

• Your favorite casserole dish
• 1 box of cake mix
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Food Color Gels of your choice
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• Piping bags
• Wilton Drop Flowers Tip Set
• Wilton Tip 1M
• Wilton Tip 4B

Step 1: Bake The Cake

Whip up your favorite cake recipe or a box of cake mix, then pour it into your favorite (prepared) 9 x 13 casserole dish. I always like to spray the dish with Baker’s Joy to ensure that the cake doesn’t stick to the dish after baking.

Once your sheet cake is baked to perfection, allow several hours for it to cool at room temperature before you start piping your florals.

Step 2: Color The Buttercream

With your favorite color scheme in mind, divide the vanilla buttercream into separate bowls for color mixing, then use your favorite color gels to tint it. I used the Wilton Color Right System to mix up five different colors for this project.

While any color gels will work for this part, the Wilton Color Right System is perfect for getting totally custom shades. It comes with a guide for color mixing, and you can use it to achieve any color imaginable!  

Step 3: Prepare Your Piping Bags

Snip off the end of each piping bag and insert the piping tips one by one. For this design, I prepared two piping bags with Wilton Tip 4B, two with Wilton Tip 1M, and four for each of the piping tips that come with the Wilton Drop Flowers Tip Set.

The Wilton Drop Flowers tip set comes with Tips 225, 129, 109, and 190. Each one makes a different floral design, effortlessly!

Step 4: Pipe The Floral Designs

With your cooled sheet cake in the casserole dish, first pipe rosettes using the piping bags fitted with Tip 1M. To pipe a rosette, face the piping tip downward and squeeze the piping bag to get the buttercream flowing, then while keeping continuous pressure, make a small swirl around the where you originally squeezed. There’s no rhyme or reason as to where to pipe the rosettes, so just follow your heart here.

Next, use the piping bags fitted with Tip 4B to pipe star designs wherever you’d like. These stars are quite simple, just face the piping tip downward, squeeze, and release as you lift up.

And finally, use the piping bags fitted with the Wilton Drop Flowers Tip Set to fill in all of the empty spaces. You can either pipe them with a squeeze or gently rotate your wrist as you’re piping to get cool swirled floral designs.

Isn’t this floral sheet cake a hit? It’s a nostalgic concept, made modern with some easy piping! The best part is, it’ll work in all sorts of color schemes and the look can be achieved in minutes. It’s the easiest way to make an eye-catching floral cake!

Be sure to visit your local JOANN store to find all the piping tips you need to create buttercream florals, plus tons of cake decorating tools and supplies, all in one shop. If you don’t live near a JOANN store, check out their website for an epic selection of cake decorating goodness! And whether you shop in store or online, be sure to download their app, because they always have a coupon for you to get the best cake and craft supplies at a discount.

Disclaimer: I was compensated by JOANN for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Floral Sheet Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

There are three types of buttercream flowers involved in this wreath cake topper: roses, ranunculus, and camellias. Although they may look intricate, they’re easy to make with a little practice and the right materials. They look so pretty all on their own, but it’s really fun to arrange them into a flower wreath as a cake topper. Total showstopper!

I whipped up a quick video to show you the process of making the buttercream flowers and assembling them onto the cake, so have a look before you read the tutorial below:

You Will Need:

• A cake that has been frosted and chilled
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream, stiff consistency
• Wilton Tips 104 (for petals), 3 (for flower centers), and 352 (for leaves)
• Piping bags
• Pre-cut flower squares
• Flower nail
• Food color gels of your choice
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing

Step 1: Color The Buttercream

Divide your buttercream into different bowls and mix up the color scheme you’d like your flowers to be. I went with a dark brick red and light purple for the roses, fuschia ranunculus with peach centers, and white camellias with yellow centers, but these buttercream flowers can be made in any color scheme you’d like.

You’ll also need a few shades of green for the buttercream leaves, a little yellow for the centers of the camellias, and about ½ cup of plain white buttercream reserved. For all of the shades I created for this cake, I used the Wilton Color Right System from JOANN. It comes with a handy guide for mixing up any shade you could think of!

Step 2: Make The Buttercream Roses

To make the buttercream roses, fit a piping bag with Wilton Tip 104 and fill it with the buttercream color of your choice. Pipe a small dot of frosting on top of the flower nail, holding it in the hand you’re not piping with. Press a parchment paper square on top.

With the larger end of Tip 104 touching the flower nail and the skinny end pointed upwards, pipe the center bud as you twirl the flower nail 360 degrees. Pipe petals around the bud as you rotate the flower nail – shorter petals in the beginning and longer petals as you reach the edge of the flower nail.

When your buttercream rose is finished, carefully drag the parchment paper square off the flower nail and onto a flat surface. I placed a piece of wax paper onto a baking sheet for this part. Repeat until you have 5-6 buttercream roses, and feel free to pipe smaller sizes for variety.

Step 3: Make The Buttercream Ranunculus

To make the buttercream ranunculus, fit a piping bag with Wilton Tip 104 and fill it with the peach buttercream (or color of your choice for the center of the flower). Prepare the flower nail by placing a dot of buttercream on top, then pressing a parchment paper square onto it.

Hold Tip 104 at a 45 degree angle, with the larger end of the piping tip touching the flower nail and the skinny end pointed toward the center of the flower nail. Pipe a swirl of buttercream as the base for your center bud as you twirl the flower nail 360 degrees. Then, create overlapping layers of buttercream as you rotate the flower nail. Imagine that you’re piping small rainbows over the center bud as you go around.

Next, switch to your main ranunculus buttercream color (I used fuschia for this), still using Wilton Tip 104. Continue the overlapping motion for the petals all the way around the bud. When you’re finished, carefully slide the parchment paper onto your baking sheet so the flower can begin to dry. Repeat until you have 5-6 different ranunculus flowers, and remember to create a variety of sizes.

Step 4: Make The Buttercream Camellias

To make the buttercream camellias, place your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 104 (I’m using white for these, but you can use any color!). Fit another piping bag with Wilton Tip 3 and fill it with yellow buttercream. The second piping bag will help create the flower centers. Prepare your flower nail by placing a dot of buttercream on top and pressing a parchment paper square onto it.

Starting on the outer edge of the flower nail with Tip 104 flat (the larger end toward the center of the flower nail and the skinny end pointed outwards), pipe a row of petals as you rotate the flower nail. When you’ve created a circle of outer petals, pipe a second row of petals with the same motion, only point the piping tip at a 45 degree angle so the inner row of petals stands up. Then, use your yellow buttercream to fill in the center of the petals with dots.

When you’re finished, carefully slide the parchment paper onto your baking sheet so the flower can begin to dry. Repeat until you have about 4-5 camellias.

Step 5: Refrigerate The Buttercream Flowers

Place your baking sheet with all of your beautiful buttercream flowers into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to let them firm up before assembling the buttercream flower wreath.

After the refrigeration process, they should be firm to the touch and really easy to handle. Although you might be tempted to place them in the freezer to speed this part up, I have not had good luck with the freezer. I know some bakers swear by it, but in my experience, the refrigerator is better when it comes to these delicate buttercream flowers.

Step 6: Assemble The Buttercream Flower Wreath

Prepare a piping bag by filling with your reserved ½ cup of white buttercream and snipping off a 1-inch opening. On a cake that’s been frosted and chilled for at least thirty minutes, pipe a circle of white buttercream about ½ inch from the edge of the cake. This will help create height for your flower wreath.

Next, assemble your chilled buttercream flowers on top of the circle of buttercream, pressing them in and angling them outward and inward for variety.

Feel free to overlap some of the flowers and don’t worry about small empty spaces – we’ll fill those in next!

Step 7: Pipe The Buttercream Leaves

Fit a piping bag with Wilton Tip 352 and fill it with green buttercream. I ended up fitting another piping bag with Wilton Tip 3 and using the lighter green buttercream to pipe dotted foliage around some of the flowers, but feel free to stick with leaves if that’s your jam.

Wherever there’s an empty space (aka the white buttercream is showing through), pipe leaves to fill in the gaps. Feel free to pipe green dots like I did or designs to fill in those empty spaces and complete your floral wreath cake.

And there you have it – the perfect cake for Spring! Remember that with more practice, your buttercream flowers will be so easy to whip up you’ll want to put them on everything. And if you’ve got a JOANN store in your area, be sure to check out their cake decorating supply selection! I’m always so impressed with their collection of Wilton products, cake pans, decorating tools, and all the things. And best of all, they always have great coupons if you download their mobile app. That way you can get what you need and save money while you’re at it!

Disclaimer: I was compensated by JOANN for my work of creating this cake, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Buttercream Flower Wreath Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

If you’re a visual learner, here’s a quick video to show you the techniques before you read about them in the step-by-step tutorial:

For all five of these cupcakes, you will need:

• Wilton tips 2D or 1M, 104, 224, and 3
• Piping bags
• Baked cupcakes
• Medium consistency buttercream (simply add ½ cup powdered sugar to my Vanilla Buttercream Recipe)
• Color gels of your choice

The Classic Rosette

Using tip 2D (you could alternatively use 1M) pipe a swirl starting in the center and ending on the outer edge.

This one is the easiest and still looks so pretty.

Roses

Using tip 104 with the larger opening pointed down at the cupcake, pipe the center bud. Pipe petals around the bud as you rotate the cupcake – shorter petals in the beginning and longer petals toward the end until you get to the edge.

I like to pipe my petals outward (hold the tip at a 45 degree angle) as I get toward the edge.

Carnations  

Using tip 104 with the larger opening pointed down at the cupcake, rotate the cupcake while piping squiggly petals around the center. The petals should be long and ruffle-like as you rotate the cupcake.

Slightly moving the tip up and down as you pipe will create some cool, realistic depth to your floral work.

Hydrangeas

Pipe a small swirl in the center of the cupcake with a circular tip (or snip a ½ inch opening on a piping bag) to create some height to build upon. Using tip 224, pipe drop flowers onto the cupcake and twist as you pipe.

Repeat until the surface of the cupcake and mound is covered in drop flowers.

Camellias

Holding tip 104 horizontally and flat against the cupcake with the thinner edge pointed outward, pipe a ring of petals around the edge. For the next set of petals, hold the tip at a 45 degree angle so they stand a little bit taller. For the final set(s) of petals, hold the tip at more of a 75 degree angle so they stand taller still.

Color a little bit of your buttercream yellow for the center of the Camellia. Using tip 3, Pipe one large circle in the very center to create height to build upon. Finish the center by piping small dots over the surface.

Whether you make these floral cupcakes to celebrate Mother’s Day or any day, be sure to tag me on Instagram and show me! I’d love to see those buttercream blooms.

The post 5 Easy Designs For Buttercream Flower Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.