On their own, buttercream rosettes are such an easy and gorgeous way to decorate a cake. Then if you throw some ombre frosting into the mix, you end up with a truly stunning, ombre rosette cake.

With the help of an open star tip like a Wilton 1M, these swirls of frosting make your cake look like a total masterpiece.

If this technique is new to you, don’t worry! I walk through everything you need to know below to make the perfect ombre rosette cake. I chose to make a pink rosette cake, but you can color your buttercream any color you want!

What Frosting Tip Works Best for Piping Rosettes?

My go-to piping tip (and in my opinion the best piping tip) to use to make buttercream rosettes is an open star tip.

Different brands make different versions of this, but the most common are a Wilton 1M or an Ateco 824.

I used a Wilton 1M to pipe the rosettes on this cake and I love the way they look.

With that in mind, you can also used a closed star piping tip like a Wilton 2D or an Ateco 34.

What You Need to Make an Ombre Rosette Cake

One of the best parts about this cake design is that you really don’t need a ton of tools or fancy equipment. In fact, you don’t even need a spinning cake stand.

The things you will need are:

• Open or closed star frosting tip (like a Wilton 1M or Wilton 2D)
• 4 large frosting bags
• Food coloring – You can use liquid, gel, powder, or natural coloring like raspberry powder!

If you have 4 plastic frosting bag couplers, you only need 1 of these frosting tips. A coupler allows you to add and remove a frosting tip from bag to pag, which means you can use the same frosting tip on all four frosting bags.

If you don’t have frosting couplers, you will need 4 of the same frosting tips.

How to Make Perfect Ombre Buttercream Frosting

Now that we’ve covered what tools you need, let’s talk about making perfectly colored ombre frosting.

The first thing is making sure your have enough buttercream in each color. While you might think you want to make even amounts of each color, you’re mistaken! You need a bit more of the lightest buttercream if you want to be able to cover the entire top of the cake with rosettes.

I like to divide the frosting into four bowls in the following ratios: lightest (2/5), medium (1/5), dark (1/5), darkest (1/5).

Then it’s time to color your buttercream! You can do this with liquid food coloring, gel food coloring, or with natural food coloring (like raspberry powder).

The two key to getting your shades just right is to use just one shade of food coloring, and add it in increasing increments. For example, add one drop to the first bowl, two drops to the second bowl, etc.

I like making all four shades in different bowls so that you can see the shades together before I add them into piping bags. This allows you to make sure that all the shades look good together and enables you to easily make any adjustments if needed.

Properly Crumb Coating a Buttercream Rosette Cake

The next thing to consider is the crumb coat, which is the thin layer of buttercream you cover a cake with to trap in any rogue crumbs. I’m sure you’re thinking a crumb coat is a crumb coat, but there is actually a bit of strategy to it when it comes to making an ombre rosette cake.

If you want to use colorful buttercream to pipe your rosettes, I highly recommend using the same color of buttercream to crumb coat your cake. This will help camouflage any little gaps between your rosettes.

For this cake, I used my darked pink frosting for the bottom of my crumb coat and my lightested buttercream on the top.

Practice Makes Perfect

If you aren’t super comfortable with a piping bag or you haven’t piped a buttercream rosette before, I recommend practicing on a piece of parchment or wax paper before you tackle your cake.

Tape down a small piece of parchment paper on your counter and practice the motion. Hold the piping bag perpendicular to the counter and slowly pipe a spiral starting in the center and working your way out.

Once you get to the end of the rosette, stop squeezing and continue moving your hands in the same direction you were piping until the buttercream separates from the piping tip. Try to focus on piping your rosettes in the same direction and roughly same size.

Repeat and continue to practice until you feel comfortable with the motion. Scrape the frosting off the parchment paper and place it back into your piping bag to avoid waste.

How to Pipe Ombre Buttercream Rosettes on a Cake

When you’re ready to pipe rosettes onto your cake, I recommend making three, evenly spaced lines around the cake with an offset spatula. This will allow you to pipe four even rows of rosettes that are all evenly sized and spaced.

Then start with your darkest buttercream and pipe a row of rosettes around the base of the cake. Repeat this process with the remaining ombre frosting, working your way to the top from darkest to lightest.

To give your rosettes a super clean, cohesive look I recommend ending each rosette where you plan to pipe the center of the next rosette (just like I do in the video in this post!). This will allow you to hide the tail of each rosette under the rosette next to it.

Tips for Making the Best Ombre Rosette Cake

• Chill your cake layers in the freezer for about 20 minutes before assembling the cake. This makes them easier to stack and frost.
• Level your room temperature or thawed cake layers with a serrated knife to make them easier to stack.
• Make sure your buttercream is the right consistency. It allows you to easily pipe your rosettes and have them keep their shape.
• Crumb coat your cake in the same color(s) you plan to pipe your rosettes! This will help camouflage and gaps between your rosettes.
• Chill your crumb-coated cake to help the rosettes stay in place as you pipe them.
• Make three, evenly spaced lines around the cake with an offset spatula before piping the rosettes. This will allow you to pipe four even rows of rosettes that are all evenly sized and spaced.
• End each rosette where you plan to pipe the center of the next rosette. This will allow you to hide the tail of each rosette under the rosette next to it.

Making This Ombre Rosette Cake in Advance and Storage Tips

• Make your cake layers in advance and freeze them. It breaks the process up and make it more approachable.
• Make your frosting ahead of time or save any leftover frosting! It can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.
• This frosting can also be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months! Just be sure to give it a good stir once it thaws to make it nice and smooth again.
• A frosted cake can last in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for a month. The buttercream locks in the moisture and keeps the cake fresh and delicious!

Let Me Know What You Think

If you try this ombre rosette cake recipe, I’d love to hear what you think! Please leave a rating below and a comment to let me know your thoughts.

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