How-To Tutorial to Decorate Cupcakes or Cake — with No Fondant!
I’m 100% a mom of boys — the theme birthdays I throw are LEGO or zombie apocalypse. So when a friend reached out to see if I wanted to help out with a cake and cupcakes for her daughter’s “Frozen Fever” second birthday, I jumped at the chance. But first, I had to ask: “What’s ‘Frozen Fever’?”
Apparently, it’s a “Frozen” short that involves a birthday party, sunflowers, Olaf, and the rest of the gang. I haven’t watched it yet because #boymom, but I quickly checked Pinterest for inspiration and fell in love with the bright blue-and-sunflower feel for the party.
The centerpiece of the “Frozen Fever” short is a 4-tier turquoise layer cake. Unsurprisingly, a 4-tier layer cake from a bakery costs wedding cake prices — not what anyone wants for a child’s 2nd birthday.
So we quickly scaled down the project to be more budget-friendly and appropriate for a small house party: a simply frosted 2-layer cake that could be purchased from a local grocery store bakery (if you’re in the Chicago area, Mariano’s does an amazing job on their cakes, and their Chicago Buttercream frosting is delicious). Then I would decorate and embellish with the sunflowers and details to make it “Frozen Fever” perfect.
We also agreed upon simple, elegant vanilla sunflower cupcakes, to make sure there was enough dessert to offset the small layer cake. These sunflower cupcakes are bright, cheerful, and perfect for spring — they’ll be making a reappearance at Easter for my family.
While I’m pretty good at fondant, I quickly learned that making fondant flowers involves purchasing several molds or shapes. Plus, while fondant does look pretty, it doesn’t taste good. I wanted to make decorations that were beautiful and delicious.
Buttercream frosting is the solution for cake decorations that taste good. For these sunflowers, I used a stiff buttercream frosting and mini Oreos to create cheerful sunflowers that topped the white-frosted cupcakes perfectly and made just the right-sized accents for the layer cake, including the topper.
Making the sunflowers didn’t require much technique at all, and could be made entirely with a single cake decorating tip (though I ended up using two: one for the petals and one for the green leaves on the cupcake).
My step-by-step tutorial will show you exactly how I made the sunflowers. Then, at the end, I’ll share my tips for making sunflower cupcakes and/or accenting the “Frozen Fever” cake.
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Buttercream Oreo Sunflower Tutorial
Supplies
- Wilton cake decorating tip #353 (for the petals)
- Wilton disposable piping bags
- Parchment or wax paper
- Stiff buttercream frosting – I bought Wilton Ready-to-Use Decorators Icing -16 oz Stiff White and tinted it myself
- Oreo Minis
- Americolor Soft Gel Paste Food Coloring, Electric Colors kit (or Americolor Electric Yellow and Americolor Electric Orange)
- Wax or parchment paper, cut into 3-inch squares
For cupcakes only:
- Wilton cake decorating tip #366 Large Leaf
- Wilton cake decorating tip #1M Open Star
- White frosting of choice (buttercream preferred; stiff consistency not required)
- Green gel food coloring
For cake only:
- Stiff white buttercream frosting (untinted) like Wilton Ready-to-Use Decorators Icing -16 oz Stiff White
- Wilton cake decorating tip #5 or #3
- Wilton Royal Icing Sunflowers – available at Walmart and Walmart.com
Steps
1. Tint your frosting sunflower yellow. (If you will be piping leaves later, reserve a couple tablespoons of white frosting to tint green too.) To tint yellow, I used 1/2 tsp of Americolor Electric Yellow and 2 drops of Americolor Electric Orange for approximately 12 ounces of frosting.
2. Prepare your workspace: Cut parchment or wax paper into 3-inch squares. This is what you will build the sunflowers on. Fit a piping bag with Wilton Tip #353 and fill with frosting. Lay one mini Oreo on each parchment square.
3. Start by piping a small swirl of frosting on the center of the parchment paper square and use it to secure the mini Oreo in place.
4. Pipe petals around the mini Oreo, working in a circle. The optimal number of petals is 12. To pipe, fold the frosting tip flat against the side of the Oreo. Using gentle consistent pressure, pipe a line about 1 cm long, then gently lift up at the end to create the curled point of the petal.
5. Repeat with all mini Oreos. Don’t worry about absolute precision on the spacing of the petals, because you’re going to add a second row of petals.
6. Transfer sunflowers on parchment paper onto a cookie sheet or other flat container that can be frozen, and put in the freezer for 10 minutes. This will make it easier to pipe the second row of petals.
7. Remove semi-frozen flowers from the freezer and pipe the second row of petals. You will use the same technique as before but place the second row in between the petals of the first row.
8. If you are making a cake, you will want to make a one or two larger sunflowers with a third row of petals. These will be used as the cake toppers. Add the petals in between the petals of the second row.
9. When finished with the sunflowers, transfer back to the freezer-safe tray or container and freeze at least 15 minutes. If you aren’t decorating the cupcakes immediately, leave sunflowers in the freezer until ready to add to cupcakes or cake. It makes them easier to work with.
Sunflower Cupcakes
1. Using a Wilton #1M Open Star tip, frost cupcakes with a simple swirl of white frosting. Or take my shortcut and buy already frosted vanilla cupcakes.
2. Remove sunflowers from the freezer and use a small dot of white frosting on the back to attach the sunflower gently to the piped cupcake. Use the gentlest pressure to push into place.
3. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator, uncovered. Or cover and refrigerate for 1+ hours.
4. In a separate piping bag outfitted with Wilton #366 Large Leaf tip, add frosting tinted green for leaves. To pipe a leaf, hold the piping bag at a 45-degree angle with the tip vertical to the space where you want the leaf. (Opposite of how you created the petals.) Squeeze a generous amount without moving the bag to form the leaf, them pull away to create the leaf shape. I watched this video tutorial to get my technique perfect.
5. Add two green leaves to each sunflower cupcake and voila! Simple, elegant sunflower cupcakes.
“Frozen Fever” Sunflower Cake
1. Order and buy a turquoise-frosted double-layer cake. I did an 8-inch base with a 5-inch topper. Or bake and frost your own if you’re brave!
2. On the 8-inch base layer, use white frosting to attach 8 Wilton Royal Icing Sunflowers (strangely, these appear to be a Walmart exclusive) equidistantly to the top of the layer.
3. Pipe dots in between each candy sunflower using frosting in a piping bag outfitted with a Wilton round tip #5 or #3. (I used the larger #5 because #3 was MIA.)
4. Connect the dots with a swag that goes under each candy sunflower.
5. Pipe white dots along the base of the 8-inch layer, at the same position as the candy sunflowers.
6. Attach four sunflower Oreos to the 5-inch layer of the cake by piping a generous amount of white frosting to the back and pressing gently into place. Again, arrange the 4 sunflowers equidistantly around the layer, one at the front center, one at the back, and one on each side.
7. Pipe a swirl in between each sunflower.
8. Top the cake with one large Oreo sunflower (3-layer flower), one standard Oreo sunflower (2-layer flower), and one Wilton Royal Icing Sunflower. Use white frosting to secure to top with gentle pressure.
9. Finish by piping dots on top of each layer at the perimeter edge.
10. Store finished cake in refrigerator to set, and until ready to display or serve.
There you have it, easy buttercream Oreo sunflowers two ways. I wish I could take credit for the beautiful party styling at which they were displayed, but I just bring the buttercream in this case.
If you give these Oreo sunflower cupcakes a try, tag me on social media with #NeverDoneWithFun! (I’ll feature you in my Stories; I love to see your creations.) Follow me on Instagram and Pinterest for daily ideas and inspiration! I’m always frosting something lately.
