Buttercream flowers are timeless; these delicate, edible accents are the perfect adornment to just about any cake, cupcake, or cookie, and are suitable for any occasion. Learn to pipe a sensational buttercream chrysanthemum flower with this detailed step-by-step tutorial created exclusively by Lam Ngoc Tran.

Buttercream Chrysanthemum 

Flower Nail

Piping Bags

Couplers

Wilton #104 with lemon yellow, a touch of brown and burnt orange.

Piping bag filled with moss green and touch of brown, with a small hole snipped in the tip.

#001 tip with moss green buttercream.

Buttercream Chrysanthemum  

Step 1: Using a piping bag fitted with a #104 tip and filled with buttercream tinted with lemon yellow, a touch of brown, and a touch of burnt orange, pipe a base on the flower nail as shown. Angle the top of the piping tip at a 9 o’clock position and rotate the nail clockwise while piping. This will give you a round, flat base. 

Step 2: Using a piping bag filled with buttercream tinted with moss green and brown, and with a very small hole snipped in the tip, angle the bag at 45 degrees and pipe several pistils for the center of the flower.  

Step 3: Using a piping bag filled with moss green buttercream and fitted with a #001 tip, pipe some fine stamens around the pistils you just piped.  

Step 4: Returning to the piping bag fitted with the #104 tip, position the piping tip on the base (thin-side up) and pipe the petals by moving your tip up and down back to your starting point. Continue around the base, keeping the petals narrow and very close to each other. 

Step 5: Continue this technique, angling the petals outward until three or four rows have been completed, to create a full flower as shown.