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If you’re looking for beautiful and easy cupcake frosting ideas, look no further! These Floral frosting cupcakes are as gorgeous as they are delicious, and you don’t have to be a piping pro to make them look stunning.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItThese floral frosting cupcakes are the sweetest way to welcome spring! We had so much fun turning cupcakes into flowers using buttercream and piping tips – no pro skills required.
The hydrangeas are my favorite (and shockingly easy!). Just make sure to use homemade buttercream – it’s the only frosting thick enough to hold the shape. Watch our quick video to see how we piped hydrangeas, carnations, and mums!
How To Make Floral Frosting Cupcakes
First, make a batch of your favorite cupcakes. We love our classic vanilla cupcake recipe or our lemon cupcakes.
- Whip the butter and shortening until they’re smooth.
- Add in the sugar, 2 cups at a time, and continue to beat.
- Add the milk in between, alternating with the sugar.
- Beat on high until the frosting is fluffy. You want it to be thick but not too thick that it won’t pipe smoothly.
- Divide the frosting up into 4 bowls to add food coloring to each of them. We used a tiny bit of gel food coloring to get the desired colors we wanted.
Hydrangeas
- For the hydrangeas, put the Wilton 1M tip into a piping bag. It’s a large star tip.
- Then add 3 colors of frosting on each side of the bag. We did light pink, creamy orange, and white. This will give it more depth and make the flower multi-colored.
- Hold the tip down to the cupcake and pipe large petals all around until the top of the cupcake is covered.
Carnations
- Add the buttercream frosting to the bag fitted with the Wilton 100 ruffled tip.
- With the tip sideways (not face down), start in the center of the cupcake and pipe around… the frosting will stick up like a ribbon.
Mums
- Add the Wilton 102 tip to a piping bag, and then add any color frosting you want!
- For this, start on the outer edge and work your way in.
- The piping tool should be facing the cupcake, and you can go up and down while spinning the cupcake.
- Work your way into the center, overlapping the petals.
Homemade Frosting VS Store Bought Frosting
While
The reason is homemade buttercream frosting is thicker and holds the floral structures. So avoid
Decorating A Cupcake – Made Easy And Fun!
Cake decorating can feel daunting, we’ve all seen cake decorating disasters on cooking shows, but I promise you this is so straightforward, you’ll be amazed!
Check out the link at the top of the page to see just how easy and fun this is.
Frosting Bag
Frosting bags, food coloring (we used light orange, pink, yellow, and white) and frosting tips.
We used Wilton 1M for the hydrangeas, Wilton 102 for the mums, and Wilton 100 ruffled tip for the carnations. Buttercream recipe is below!
Tips For Cupcake Frosting Ideas
- Make sure you use the right powdered sugar. 10x is the finest and what you want to use in any type of frosting.
- Ensure you sift your powdered sugar thoroughly before adding it to your buttercream.
- Check your mixture. It should be thick but not too thick as it won’t pipe.
- Adding additional liquid to your buttercreams, such as flavorings or purees, can make it far too liquidy to come together nicely.
When to Serve Floral Cupcakes
These are great to make year-round! We love them for any of these occasions:
- Mother’s Day
- Birthday
- A Colorful Backyard Carnival Party
- Graduation Party
- How to Host a Tropical Summer Party
- A Bridal Shower Tea Party
- Last-Minute Birthday Party
- Modern Baby Shower
More Ideas
Lemon Cupcakes With Buttercream Meringue Frosting
Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes With Toffee Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Cupcakes With Dragon Fruit Frosting
If you have tried these frosted cupcake ideas or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
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Floral Frosting Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
- 8 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 6 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- Whip the butter and shortening until they’re smooth.
- Add in the sugar, 2 cups at a time and continue to beat.
- Add in the milk in between alternating with the sugar.
- Beat on high until the frosting is fluffy. You want it to be thick, but not too thick where it won’t pipe smoothly.
- Divide the frosting up into 4 bowls to add food coloring to each of them. We used a tiny bit of gel food coloring to get the desired colors we wanted.
Hydrangeas
- For the hydrangeas, put the Wilton 1M tip into a piping bag. It’s a large star tip.
- Then add in 3 colors of frosting on each side of the bag. We did light pink, creamy orange and white. This will give it more depth and make the flower multi-colored.
- Hold the tip down to the cupcake and pipe large petals all around until the top of the cupcake is covered.
Carnations
- Add the buttercream frosting to the bag fitted with the Wilton 100 ruffled tip.
- With the tip sideways (not face down), start in the center of the cupcake and pipe around… the frosting will be sticking up like a ribbon.
Mums
- Add the Wilton 102 tip to a piping bag and then add any color frosting you want!
- For this, start on the outer edge and work your way in. The piping tool should be facing the cupcake and you can go up and down, while spinning the cupcake.
- Work your way into the center, overlapping the petals.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These cupcakes are so pretty! I just love the colors and this has inspired me to get into piping! Thank you!
I love these and I am going to make them for my daughter’s birthday party! How far ahead of time can I frost these? If I frost them and put them in the refrigerator, would it be fine to do it a couple.days ahead?
How did you do the animones!!! ❤️❤️
I know this post is not current but quick question….are these cupcakes mini or regular size. They are beautiful! Thank you for sharing this. I plan on making these for my daughters baby shower. If regular size, do you think they can be made as smaller cupcakes??
Hi! these are normal size cupcakes. They can be made smaller, although might be harder to frost!
Beautiful cupcakes
Hi
How many cupcakes does this recipe frost? 24 or 12?
Hi Henry! We didn’t add that because it varies so much for each of us, but it does make a good amount of frosting so you can get about 16 and up. You can always make more though too if you feel like you’ll need it!
I’m anxious to try frosting cupcakes for my grand children, birthday school party but can you tell me what a stick of butter is in cups as vegetable shortening one cup in recipe. ( copha is our shortening here in Aust.)
Thank you
Glennis
Hi! 1 stick of butter is 1/2 cup. Hope that helps! 🙂