I'm new to cake decorating and have been having a little trouble with my buttercream roses. The tips of the petals have little tears all along the edges and I'm not really sure why it's happening. I've tried making them with both stiff and medium consistency icing, and it hasn't really made a difference. Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

Is it the icing, the tip, my pressure or a combination of all three?

Thanks for the help.

I had a lot of problems making BC roses until my Wilton instructor gave me a small piece of advice: Go get the Wilton canned stiff consistency icing for making roses. Since then I haven't had a problem with making them. Also, I had that problem too and she said that I needed to arch my petals more. This keeps them from tearing. Try those 2 things and see if it helps.

Two things will cause the 'ruffled' or cracked edges.

Too dry icing, which is not the same thing as too stiff, will cause this. If your using is too dry it doesn't want to stick very well. To check you ricing, take a little bit of it inbetween your fingers and roll it in a ball. Squish it between your thumb and finger. If it doesn't stick to you at all it is too dry. If it really sticks to you it is too soft for roses. You want it to feel tacky with out actually sticking.

If this is the issue add either about 1 tablespoon crisco or 1 teaspoon piping gel to each cup of stuff. I don't really ever measure, I just mix in a little and test it out again.

Another issue that causes the cracking, and probably the biggest with beginners, is not squeezing your bag hard enough and turning your nail too fast. When you are turning your nail but not squeezing your bag hard enough it stretches and pulls the icing creating the cracked edges. For this one, I would make sure your bag is less than half full and practice squeezing harder while you are piping the petals.

Thanks for those suggestions. I will give them a try.

Would using all crisco versus half crisco/half butter make a difference?

I had been using a recipe with all crisco and those roses had the cracked petals. This morning I made some icing that was half and half and while the icing was way too thin, the petals didn't have any cracks.

Is buttercream made with butter usually a lot thinner? Should I add more confectioners sugar?

Thanks!