Rosette cake

A rosette cake is a cake covered in piped swirling icing rosettes made with a star tip.

Rosette cake: A round cake whose top and sides are covered in tightly piped pale pink buttercream rosettes
  • Decorating, finishing and presentation

A rosette cake is decorated with rows of piped icing swirls, each shaped like a small open rose. A university 4-H cake manual describes the rosette technique: hold the bag at a 90 degree angle, directly over the surface, and squeeze while moving your hand in a circle, then stop and lift away. Star tips are the usual choice, since the star-shaped opening makes the most popular decorations such as stars, zigzags, shells and rosettes.

By piping the rosettes side by side, a decorator can cover the top and sides of an entire cake or cupcake in a ruffled blanket of frosting. The manual also describes combination borders of rosettes and stars using an open star tip.

Buttercream that is firm enough to hold the swirl works best. Pipe a test rosette on waxed paper to check the pressure, then work from the bottom of the cake upward.

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Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Cake Decorating (4-H project manual 42500), University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service