I'm taking course II, the old one, right now. I just took Course I last month.

We learned to do theWilton rose last month. And in this course we did the Victorian Rose, which I think is the same thing. But I am a little confused. And after talking to my instructor some more about this rose, I am still confused.

Now I thought from the diagram that I need to tilt my wrist out so the top of the tip is angled out away from the base at 11:00, 12:00, 1:00 and 2:00 respectively for each row (actually opposite because I'm left handed, but we will talk righty for this question). This means that the tip will point away from the base while holding the tip so that the fat edge is touching the base and the skinny part of the opening is still pointing up

Now this instructor in Course II tells me that I need to turn the tip but not move the wrist to the above clock places. This way the fat part is still touching the base, but the skinny part is now turned to the above clock places and the wrist moves so that the tip top is progessively moving away from me.

I hope this explanation makes sense.

I can't figure out which way is the correct way. Can anybody provide some further explanation. I really, really want to learn this rose. Last night the instructor asked if anybody is interested in being a Wilton instructor. Even though I am a complete beginner, this sounds like fun. If I can get the rose good enough to put on a cake, I don't know how I can think I can teach it.

Thanks.

hi, i am a wilton instuctor . i taught myself how to make this rose left handed also. i knew i would have left handed students. i am going to tell you this how to with the right hand instructions. make the base. make the petals. starting with tip 104, the tip is half way at the top of the base. big end down, little end up. lay tip over to 11:00. i am on right side of base doing this. laying this tip over, helps to close the hole at the top. you want a little bit of a hole. not much. start piping, lift tip a littl bit, turn on around to where you started and come down, stop pressure and pull away. first 3 petals. big end of tip in base.little end of tip staight up at 12:00. don,t hold tip out at this time. pipe 3 straight up petals. pipe small arch looking petals. not ribbon looking petals. i pipe a petal, stop. then the next and so on. i don,t just keep going. the next 5. you have big end of tip in base. little end pointing at 1:00. because the tip is now at 1:00 , the petals will flare a bit away from the base and not be straight up. then the last 7. you have big end at base and little end pointing at 2:00. pipe these last 7 in that position. the little end being at 2:00 will make this petals flare out little more. the rose in course 11 , you do the same way. this tip when you pipe makes the petals roll back at the top of the petals. tip 97. look on wilton.com. click on rose , the video one. you will see this done on this site. with the b/c. i do show the students, really point the little end of tip to the position the instructions say. and they make a really pretty rose. i do pride myself in making the WILTON buttercream rose. watch this video and just angle those positions. i hope i have helped you .

I'm a little bit confused. Are you asking if you move your wrist or turn the tip out?

I teach my students to get in a habit of taking the tip and actually turning it in or out ot the clock postion they need. If you hold a bag in your hand, you should pay attention to that natural postion your hand/wrist/arm are in. If you are taking your hand/wrist and tilting that out way from the base to get the clock postions then before you get around the circle your hand will almost always be back in that natural postion. Instead I would hold up hand in the natural postion, open your hand and turn the bag so that the tip is pointing to the correct clock postion.

If this wasn't what you were asking let me know and I'll see if I can help ya.

Thank you both. Texasugar - you have said the same thing my instructor said. I think that when I learned it in course 1 I misunderstood about the clock thing. This instructor said to turning the tip in the clock position also.


This is probably why I can't get the hang of these roses. I'll practice this now with this new concept in mind.

Thanks guys.

i don't blame ya on being confused. i've been doing cakes as a hobby for about 14 years and i gave up long time ago trying to master the rose yet i still try now and then. took me last year to make a semi decent one but it was with really stiff icing and the edges of the petal were not smooth. out of sheer stubbornness i'll continue to try to get this skill but i really hate it loll its a hate love relationship - especially since i Teach wilton cake course for the local 4h kids! lol. no one said i had to be good at it my kids felt more connected last year when even the teacher was learning right along with them lol.

I agree with Texas sugar (im a wmi too) Let the tip do the work not the wrist. just reposition the tip or bag in your hand so the tip is leaning out away from the mound to make each row of petals keeping the hand arm and wrist in a neutral position.

Linda, I'll tell you the story that I tell my students.

When I took the C1 years ago, the last night of class I left with a naked cake. I didn't like my roses and wasn't going to put them on the cake. I went home made fresh icing and tried again. Still didn't like them, but put them on the cake and took pictures. I did the Victorian Rose in C2 then refused to do another rose again. I even bought molds for roses so I wouldn't have to make them again.

It wasn't until I got a call from the WMI before me asking me if I wanted to take her place that I realised that I was going to have to master the rose. I had to mail off pictures to Wilton of cakes using the techinques and at that point I only had the one picture of roses. So I baked a cake and put roses on it just so I'd have a picture.

I can honestly tell you that 6 years later, my roses are alot better than they were when I first started teaching. I know now that my consistancy was off when I did my roses the night of lesson 4 and that is why I had the issues I did. I think teaching has taught me alot about actually doing the rose. When you learn all the don't do's you get better at doing the right things.

I have some students that will come in and do perfect roses on the first or second try, and I have students that like me struggle with them. I ask them not to give up on them and keep trying them. It will click with you at some point. And I have had students that I see months later that tell me that it finally clicked.

Moral of the story: Keep on trying!

Would you be willing to post some pictures next time you do do roses and maybe we can help give you some advice on them?

Texassugar,
I would love to post photos. And I will do that sometime within the next week. I do have a photo in my photos page of my cake and my DD's from class I.

I love your story. It is encouraging. I am stubborn, so I will master this rose!