Instructions

1. Insert a decorating tip coupler in a decorating bag and fill the bag with your choice of frosting color. Attach a medium, round decorating tip to the coupler. For best results, use a crusting buttercream frosting that will hold the petal shape. Crusting buttercream frosting substitutes vegetable shortening for half to all of the butter in a regular buttercream recipe.

2. Squeeze a round ball of frosting in the center of the cupcake. Hold the bag straight up with it barely touching the cupcake. Squeeze to pipe the frosting on the cupcake and begin lifting the tip away when you achieve the desired diameter. Stop squeezing when you achieve the desired height. The ball diameter should be about one-third the diameter of the cupcake surface and roughly 1/2-inch tall.

3. Remove the round decorating tip and replace it with the crescent-shaped decorating tip.

4. Hold the decorating bag horizontally with the just against the side of the ball and barely touching the cupcake surface. Squeeze the bag with medium pressure to begin a stream of frosting. Pull the bag toward the edge of the cupcake while simultaneously tilting the bag from a horizontal position to a 45-degree angle to give the petals an upward curve.

5. Position the decorating tip directly beside the first petal and squeeze a second petal on the cupcake. Repeat this process to create a ring of petals around the cupcake.

6. Position the tip centered between two petals on the first ring of petals. Squeeze a petal on top of this joint, making it slightly shorter than the first ring of petals. Repeat this around the cupcake to create the second level of petals.

7. Pipe additional rings of petals around the cupcake, always centering the petals of the current ring over the petals of the first ring. Each new ring will have fewer petals than the previous ring. Make the final group of petals around the very tip of the ball you squeezed at the center of the cupcake.