So Aggrevated-Why Can't I Make A Stupid Basic Rose?
Decorating By nickymom Updated 25 May 2009 , 7:54pm by sweetjan
Don't feel bad, no matter how much I try mine come out like colored blobs of buttercream too 
Maybe someday it will magically come to me 
Don't give up that is one of the things I struggled with as well. Then when I got the right consistency of bc and realized I was trying to hard it began to work. I also have very warm hands and it would warm the icing too much so I pop it in the refrigerator for 5-8 minutes start again. Just keep on it will come! 
The only thing I can suggest is making sure your buttercream is a good stiff consistency. I usually end up putting the bag in the freezer a few times while making them when the heat of my hands makes the icing get to warm.
How about making them on a stick! I can't ever get a good rose on a nail, but on a stick! Perfect! here is a video that shows how it is done
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1x2pkILr_g&feature=PlayList&p=C91FD1D086F2A6E9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
You can use a dowel stick with a point, toothpicks for mini roses and my favorite is a plastic paint brush handle....you know the kind kids use to water color! Just the right size and washable!
Maybe someone is trying to tell you that there are enough BC roses in the world and that your medium should be gum paste or fondant. I cannot do anything with a piping bag. I have never taken a class so it just does not come easy to me as seem in probably every border I do. However, if you give me a blob of fondant, gum paste or cold porcelain I can make you a beautifull rose and it will actually look like one. Even then there are days that my hands just will not cooperate and I have to put it down and come back at another time. I just think icing roses tend to look like a head of cabbage (just my opinion. no offense meant) so it doesn not bother me that I cannot make one.
Somebody told me once to try putting the centers in the freezer and getting them solid before putting the petals on. It really does work. If it's warm in the kitchen sometimes I also have to put the finished rose, still on the nail, in the fridge until it gets firm enough to move.
I don't really care for buttercream roses that much...it was just one of those things where I had been trying to do it for years and it never came out. Once I tried the freezer thing and could make roses, I put roses on every cake I did for months, but it's been at least a year since I've made any.
Do you know where you are having problems? Would you mind posting a picture of one of your roses in here?
hey! I just started doing buttercream roses and at my first attempt i had trouble with the middle bit being soft and collapsing after piping the first few petals and this is my way that i fixed it: after a couple of goes i decided to get some buttercream and kept adding icing sugar to it until it being a dough consistency then moubling it into a cone shape and then piped from that. Also flatten the tip of the cone with the fingers and twist it a bit so it sort of looks like a petal bud thing.
I think it worth a try, it worked for me! If it starts sliding around, add a bit of normal buttercream to the bottom of the cone to get it to stick to the bottom of the nail.
Oh and the thing that REALLY sucks in on my second attempts at making the roses at one point i did this really really good one and i was so excited except but then i went to take it off the nail i dropped it on the floor 
ahhhhhhhh i was so upset especially cose all the rest sucked compared to my first attempt lol
Anyways hope the tip helps 
I am in the same boat. Can't make a buttercream or Royal Icing rose to save my life. It is something I really want to learn because I personally love how they look. I try and try and try. But to no avail. Hopefully one day I will have an a-ha! moment and it will all come to me. Until then, I guess I must just keep on practicing. I am in awe of some of the roses I see on here! Maybe my hands are just backwards!
Sigh, I'm having the same problem. I just quit my nightly exercise in frustration before logging on, so I was happy to find this thread! I find I have to make my consistency somewhere in between stiff and medium - I have hot but small hands and my stiff consistency roses look like carnations because I just don't have the grip strength. For me, it's like so many say -- practice, practice, practice (plus popping the bags in the refrigerator).
Sandykay, I just checked out your gallery and your roses are amazing. They look straight from the Wilton course book!
i teach wilton at michaels.. so of course i teach the rose.. most of the students get it good.. some just cant, catch on.. i,ve even had some of these students to come to my house and help them more.. i tell them to go to wilton.com.. there is a guy showing the rose on video.. this helps also.. not bragging.. but mine are even prettier.. you don,t have to freeze any cones.. never have in 13 years.. don,t have to use chocolate kisses.. never have... just keep playing with your icing. have it between a medium and stiff consistency ... creamy and smooth.. not dry and hard... pressure the bag good. when you make the cone and the petals.. soft icing.. no rose.. very stiff icing .. no rose.. the video on wilton.com is better than any you see on youtube.. i can make them on a stick also. but make more using the cone.. everyone doesn,t want gumpaste roses or fondant roses on their cakes.. they want to cut thru the roses and eat them along with the rest of cake and icing.. its just practice , practice, practice.. as with all the rest of what we do.. border, etc... hth
Hang in there. I just tried bc roses for the first time tonight before logging on. Now that I'm reading this thread (really glad I saw it, thanks for starting) I have some really good tips to try when I go back to it. I also realize that my biggest issue was my hand was making the frosting too warm. I tried the nail, couldn't get the bc to stick to it to form the cone (don't know what that was all about), I got frustrated so I tried a cookie stick. I had much better success that way, but by roses were droopy (now I know I was melting my bc). I also think I need to try a larger tip because my petals are really skinny and my roses are really tight. I can make a carnation on a cupcake and a "begonia" type flower on a cupcake, just having trouble with the rose.
Oh, and regarding the freezer thing I saw a video on youtube where a lady froze some water in a cake pan, then put another pan on top and set her bag there when she wasn't working to keep it cool.
...regarding the freezer thing I saw a video on youtube where a lady froze some water in a cake pan, then put another pan on top and set her bag there when she wasn't working to keep it cool.
I saw that and tried it, but found that it doesn't cool my icing down enough (I really melt that icing!). What works better for me is to pop the bags into a insulated lunch box with one of those reusable ice bags inside. I put a washcloth over the reusable ice so that it doesn't over-cool my icing, but it's the best way for me to get the consistency back.
My Wilton instructor also made a good suggestion for those of us with hot hands - keep one of those reusable ice bags next to you as you pipe, and every so often rest your hand on it to cool your hand down. You'd also want a wash cloth over that, especially in the summertime, as the bag will start to sweat and make your hand slippery on your icing bag.
Mpetty - Wow, I don't think my hands get as hot as yours, I wasn't melting it, but I was definately warming it up, thus the droopy roses. Still don't know why they were so tight either. I know it was a nice smooth bc, it was a crusting bc, got the recipe from here, and I made sure not to over mix. So I know it wasn't the frosting, it was all me. I will try your suggestion, for my hands and my bags. Thanks for all the pointers. I may give it another try tonight when I crumb coat my cakes. I definitely had better luck with the cookie stick than the flower nail though. I'll just keep trying until I get it right. I'm addicted to this and I'm not giving up.
I feel your stress. when I first started my roses looked like cabbages. I remember at my wilton class I was so frustrated I squashed them together and said forget it I can't do these.
But after realizing that I am taking those classes for a reason, you really just need to keep practicing, I am lefty and for me its a difficult because I have to rotate it the opposite way as oppose to someone who is a righty, my hand will turn the nail but my brain is saying your doing it wrong. My hands will melt that bag and turn that frosting to a thinned consistancy 
The key here is that there is no such thing as perfection, but the illusion that we create to make it seem like perfection. Keep practicing and you will find yourself doing them like it was second nature. Good Luck 
The key here is that there is no such thing as perfection, but the illusion that we create to make it seem like perfection.
Boy, that's the truth! One thing I discover as I go along is that cake decorating is not cut and dried and sometimes (often?) the rules we're taught in class need to be adjusted to fit each person. Nyree, I certainly feel for, and admire, you -- decorating is tough enough to get the hang of, without being a leftie in a right-handed world! 
Just have to practice practice and more practice! You will get it. Sometimes when Im in a hurry and I think all the roses look stupid, then people see the cake and are like, how do you make those roses, they look great. We are all very critical of ourselves!!
If your problem is with the "center" moving etc, then put it in the freezer. When I do roses I use parchment squares on the nail. I make a bunch of centers and then put them on a plate and pop them into the freezer for about 10 minutes. Then I pull one out at a time to do the petals, and then put them back in the freezer. Then when I need to place them on the cake I just peel the parchment off and stick it where I want, without damaging the petals.
If you are having issues with your petals this is how I was taught. First petal should be tight and have a small opening at the very top. Then the 3 petals, think of piping a candy cane (hold your back at the 2 o'clock position). Then the 5 petals (hold the bag almost to the 3 o'clock position, but not quite).
I hope that helps. I think once you get it, you get it. It's one of those things that "clicks" with people.
I'm another one who can't do buttercream roses, but fondant and playdoh, yes playdoh, I have mastered. All my BC roses looked like cabbages or I think they look like they were melting. We made a basket of roses cake in class and even though they all looked crappy, when they were all together they looked ok and the cake go lots of compliments from friends and family.
Making buttercream roses takes a lot of practice. My buttercream is stiffer when I make them but beware, making them for too many years may give you carpal tunnel. The more you practice the better you get. I do make gum paste roses now and they are beautiful. They are a lot of work but people appreciate them a lot. I have also talked to many cake decorators and cake decorators are so helpful they give you their little tricks and they work. Good luck to you.
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