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.