That's your first attempt? Well I'm impressed. They look perfect. Love the colour.

Ann

Oh WOW! Those look wonderful. I'm sure they will taste as good as they look.... send me one!

Nancy

They are a lot more than OK for any attempt - they look gorgeous and as though you have done them forever.

You can be very proud. WOW just WOW!

Lee

Gorgeous!!! Great job Alexa! The red is stunning.

Tracey

What a beautiful dessert for a Derby party! I hope it's a wonderful day for you and your guests.

Those look beautiful. I am hope someday I can do as well when I try them.

Absolutely gorgeous. Everyone will be blown away :)

Alexa, you continue to amaze me! Perfectly gorgeous!

jude

Thanks everyone!

I must have read that Wedding Shower Cake thread about 5 times and watched several youtube videos. The best advice was where Pixistix says to keep your arms still and rotate from the wrist. That was the Ah Ha moment for me... I need to get better about the starts and stops though LOL! A few have nekkid cupcake showing at the edge.

I wish all of you could be here for the party - it is absolutely perfect weather and with no clear cut favorite running it will be very exciting.

Have a great weekend!

Alexa

Alexa hose are drop dead gorgeous! What a great idea for the Rose Bowl....you're the bomb!

Those are beautiful and I mean beautiful!

Wishing you a wonderful party!

Alexa, those are stunning. It looks like a bouquet of red roses. The color is superb.

And FWIW, in the business, nekkid cupcakes are considerd correct. It gives the eater room to take off the wrapper without destroying the icing, then they can take a bite of both cake and frosting together - the ultimate sublime experience.

Gawgeous!!

JEEEZ they dang near look REAL! WOW!

I think this is the third time I have opened this thread today just to look at them again. They do almost look real!

I wish I could make mine look like that!

Those are absolutely STUNNING!!! I want one!!!! I hope you are having a wonderful time at your party!
Joann

Your roses look just like the Knockout roses in my garden.I'm curious about how long they took to decorate.

Beautiful - what type of frosting did you use?
J

Very nice indeed, much better than mine. Here are the ones I made for Ashley's shower, and this was after several hours of practice:

gotta work on the "ending"

gotta work on the sides too!

OK, this is just WRONG, somehow.....

About three out of the 2 dozen looked like this, so if I'm very lucky, I can get a few right.

Annie

Ditto with what everyone said. WOW! WOW! WOW! Dead gorgeous! Who can eat them.

I'm thinking that if those are placed on a 3-tier plates, it would be a beautiful wedding cake!

As EJ would say...THUD!!

The Hosta look great too! : )

David

Thud indeed. First attempt - you're kidding, RIGHT?

Hope you had a great party and the head's not pounding too bad!

When I opened this thread & saw those gorgeous cupcakes, I'm sure that my mouth must have dropped open. Beautiful. And the color is perfect!

Ditto on the hostas. I'm jealous 'cause mine are barely peeping their little noses out of the ground. Spring has been sloooowww in coming up here on the edge of the Northwoods.

Those are amazing. I wouldn't even get close to Annie's. After ten minutes I'd call the local bakery LOL.

Thud indeed.

Jessica, we don't HAVE a local bakery. (grin) Well, we do, but believe it or not, they don't do cakes. They do donuts, they have coffee and they make sandwiches and pizza. They do sell bread, but mine is better.

So you see how good Alexa's are compared to mine? It's not as easy as it looks, even with practice and even after practice, my frosting was really too soft. Alexa's was a much better consistency and held the peaks better.

So, as usual, I can be a bad example. (grin) And, Alexa's look even better next to mine!

Annie

Thanks everyone :-D I was really pleased and they went over really well.

Annie makes a valid point, the frosting I used was from the Wilton site and was fairly firm and held the shape really well. I will freely admit that for this first effort I went for form over flavor and used the following recipe with Wilton gel food coloring. Also, I am almost embarassed to admit, that the decorating effort only took about 15 minutes for 4 dozen cupcakes. I did a couple of practice swirls on parchment, then just went for it. Thanks again for all the kind words.

Alexa

Buttercream Icing
recipe is perfect for spreading or decorating. Follow our instructions to make it the ideal consistency you need.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (I used butter flavor)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk
Makes:
About 3 cups of icing.
Instructions:
(Medium Consistency)
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

NOTE: Changes in Wilton's traditional recipes have been made due to Trans Fat Free Shortening replacing Hydrogenated Shortening.

Those are beautiful and very well done! A long time ago when I took cake decorating so I could do my kids' birthday cakes, I decided not to fret about the details. "They'll eat it anyway" has been my motto ever since, and they always have. You're making me hungry!

Agree, they are beautiful..actually more than beautiful as I'm sure they are delicious too!

The CF should give out prices for the best creation of the month. This will no doubt be the top winner.

Impressive!

dcarch

The cupcakes were especially impressive in person ;)

Sue

Alexa, those cupcakes are pure perfection! The frosting color is stunning. And I bet they tasted as good as they look. First try...nahhh you have been holding out on us! NancyLouise

Thanks everyone!

And for those who are still reading this thread, yes Goldgirl saw them in person! I was so pleased that she and her DH were able to make the trip to join us for Derby Day - we have been trying to get together for years and finally the starts aligned.

Sue and her DH are a complete hoot and I loved every second I spent with them - the jokes kept flying and we talked dogs and school and all sorts of fun stuff. The CF really didn't even come up we were having so much fun!

Anyway, thank you again for the wondeful compliments.

Alexa

Wow, those are absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Just got in from a long weekend . . . Alexa, those are absolutely STUNNING . . . love the color, and I'm sure they were as delicious as they were beautiful :)
I'm glad the 'wrist' thing worked - it's fun to discover how a simple icing tip can so easily (and quickly!) make something so drop-dead gorgeous, isn't it?

Annie - you have it! . . . you're not doing anything wrong, your icing is just too soft! That last pic is perfect; it would just be so much easier and sharper with a firmer icing :)

Very nice.

"A few have nekkid cupcake showing at the edge."

Maybe a few small greem leaves in those places? ?

Rusty

So pretty! I'd love to be able to do that!!!

Alexa, first attempts don't turn out like that. You must be a natural.

Annie, you nailed it in your last photo. Keep in mind that for sharp detail, the icing should be of medium consistency (not to soft/ not too stiff). Try my buttercream if you keep having trouble.

You mentioned having trouble finishing it off.
When you're close to the end, release the pressure in your hand, then barely tuck the icing tip to the last row of icing on the cupcake, and (without applying any pressure) pull away.

I haven't made buttercream rosettes since Sam was little, but it seems to be making a big comeback. And I suddenly want to decorate cupcakes again.

Sol

Which youtube videos did you watch to learn how to do this??

I just searched for 2D rose tips and got a whole bunch of youtube videos and some pictures.

I did make some thicker frosting, but it came out of the tip in "glops", not smoothly and was too difficult to pipe on easily. Maybe it just the damned carpal tunnel that makes the wrist thing so hard...

Annie

This is one I watched several times, but like Annie, I searched "cupcake roses" and watched as many as I could.

And Sol - LOL! Not sure if I am a natural or not, I have certainly used a piping bag and done decorative piping before, just never roses on cupcakes LOLOLOL! I hope you do get back into it - it was way fun and now that I saw one with 2-toned roses, I will have to try it too.....

Thanks again everyone.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Xanthe cupcake roses