How to Pipe a Reverse Rose

Scoop 1 to 3 cups of thick frosting into a plastic piping bag, using a rubber spatula. For accent roses, use just 1 cup of frosting. For a cake covered in roses, reserve 3 cups so you can really crowd the cake with decoration.

Snip ¼ inch from one of the corners in the piping bag with sharp scissors. Gently squeeze the bag until the frosting is about ¼ inch from the opening in that corner.

Push a cake decorating pin circle into a foam block. Pin circles are metal circles mounted on metal pins, allowing you to hold and manipulate them as the stage for your frosting decorations.

Hold the bag shut with your nondominant hand, and wrap your dominant hand around the top of the bag where the frosting is mounded.

Touch the tip of the bag to the center of the circle, and gently squeeze and push down on the frosting. Pipe out a ½-inch circle of frosting in the center of the circle, then pull the bag straight up to pull the circle into a point.

Slip a flat rose piping tip onto the open end of the bag. Place the open edge of the bag against the tip of the icing point, positioning it at a 45-degree angle. Squeeze a steady stream of frosting with one hand, and turn the circle pin with the other, piping a band of frosting from the tip and curving down to the base of the pin.

Pipe more bands of frosting from the tip of the central cone to the base, staggering them around the central icing point. Add outer petals with this same method, placing the bag tip against the spaces in between the first set of petals.

Allow the rose to dry for about 30 minutes, then gently slide it off of the pin and onto wax paper.