How to Make a Buttercream Wedding Cake Part 2 | Step-by-Step
Chef Alan TetreaultIn this tutorial: What You'll Need · Bottom Tier: Rosettes · Second Tier: Reverse Scroll · Third Tier: Vertical Lines & Pearls · Top Tier: Lily of the Valley · Arranging Flowers · 3-Tier Option
Your buttercream wedding cake is baked, filled, iced, and stacked — now it's time to decorate. In Part 2 of this series, Chef Alan Tetreault of Global Sugar Art demonstrates every decoration on a four-tier cake, from rosette borders to freehand scrollwork to arranging pre-made gumpaste flowers. The entire cake is designed so that a beginner with limited decorating experience can pull it off.
📌 This is part of the Make Your Own Buttercream Wedding Cake series: Part 1 – Construction & Icing · Part 2 – Decorating & Finishing (you're here)
What You'll Need
- Buttercream icing — crusting buttercream, in white or ivory
- Piping tips: 1M (Wilton, large star), #2 (round), #3 (round), #5 (round), #7 (round), #67 (leaf)
- Piping bags — 12-inch for most work, 18-inch for the 1M tip
- Satin ribbon — ⅝-inch, in white or ivory to match your icing color
- 6mm sugar pearls — super white high gloss
- 4mm sugar dragées — for accent details (toss with a little Super Pearl dust for extra shine)
- Pre-made gumpaste flowers — lily sprays, clematis, or any flowers of your choice
- Cel sticks — food-safe hollow tubes for inserting wired flowers into the cake
- Drinking straws — to sleeve flower wires before inserting into the cake
- Styrofoam cake dummies — same sizes as your tiers, for planning flower placement
- Tweezers — for placing pearls and dragées
- Needle tool or X-Acto knife — for marking patterns
- 5/16-inch ruled notebook paper — for the vertical line pattern
- Hem marker — for measuring tier heights
- Glycerin — for softening icing for leaf tips
- Toothpicks — for marking the front of the cake
- Decorative side press set (optional) — for embossing scroll patterns without freehanding
Bottom Tier: Rosette Border
The entire bottom tier is covered in rosettes using a Wilton 1M tip — no other borders needed.
↪ How to pipe a rosette
Start in the center, squeeze in a circle — go around once, twice — then bring the tail off to the right side. Move over about an inch and repeat. Always leave the tail in the same direction for consistency.
↪ Building the three rows
- First row (bottom): Pipe rosettes all the way around, starting toward the back. Start these slightly higher than the bottom third — the second row needs to nest in between.
- Second row: Pipe each rosette in between two from the first row, not directly on top of them.
- Third row: Pipe in between the second row, coming up just over the top edge of the cake. This becomes both the fill and the top border.
💡 Beginner tip: Use a 12-inch bag, not an 18-inch. Less icing = less hand strain = more control.
Second Tier: Reverse Scroll
Chef Alan freehands a reverse scroll pattern using a #2 round tip. If you're not comfortable freehanding, use a decorative side press set (Wilton makes one with ~28 patterns) to emboss a guide into the buttercream first, then pipe over it.
↪ How to freehand the reverse scroll
- Pipe a basic scroll pattern — alternating curves in opposite directions.
- Go back and add small embellishments: starting in the middle of each curve, pipe a small circular motion over the design.
↪ Bottom border
Use a #7 tip to drop a thin line of icing right at the seam where the two tiers meet. Attach 6mm sugar pearls about every inch using tweezers — each pearl pushes the string of icing right into the seam, hiding it.
↪ Top border
Pipe a basic shell border with the #7 tip at a 45° angle along the top edge.
Third Tier: Vertical Lines and Pearls
↪ Creating the pattern template
- Cut 5/16-inch ruled notebook paper in half and tape the halves together end to end.
- Using the ruled lines as guides (skip every other line), mark a repeating pattern: 2½ inches, 1½ inches, ¾ inch, ¾ inch, 1½ inches, 2½ inches, and so on.
- Wrap the paper around the tier and secure with toothpicks.
- Use an X-Acto knife or needle tool to poke through the paper at each mark, creating tiny guide lines in the buttercream.
- Remove the paper.
↪ Piping the lines
Using a #5 tip and a small piping bag for maximum control:
- Start from the top and pull away from the cake to create a straight line.
- When you reach the bottom mark, gently push the icing into the cake to anchor it.
↪ Adding pearls
Place a 4mm dragée at the end of every vertical line. Add additional pearls in horizontal rows aligned with the shorter lines to create a V-shaped pearl pattern.
↪ Top border
Drop a string of icing around the top edge with a #7 tip, then place a 6mm pearl at the top of every vertical line.
Top Tier: Lily of the Valley
↪ The vine pattern
Using a #3 tip, pipe a flowing line around the side of the cake — think mountain peaks, going up and down. Branch off smaller lines at each peak.
↪ Adding leaves
Mix about ½ teaspoon of glycerin into a small amount of buttercream. This softens the icing so the leaves pull to nice points without splitting. Use a #67 leaf tip to pipe a small leaf at the end of each branch.
💡 Why glycerin instead of water? Glycerin gives a smoother consistency and won't cause the buttercream to break down and separate the way water can.
↪ Tendrils
Switch to a #2 tip and pipe small curling tendrils from each branch point for a delicate finishing touch.
↪ Top border
Finish with a small shell border using the #7 tip.
Arranging Gumpaste Flowers
↪ Use cake dummies first
This is Chef Alan's method for getting flower placement right without poking holes all over your real cake:
- Set up styrofoam dummies the same size as your tiers.
- Arrange all your flowers on the dummies — lily sprays, clematis, whatever you're using.
- Adjust until you're happy with the placement.
- Pull the flowers out — the holes in the dummy show you exactly where to insert them in the real cake.
↪ Preparing wired flowers for the cake
- Slide a drinking straw over each flower's wire stem — this keeps the wire from touching the cake.
- Cut the straw to length.
- Use a cel stick (a food-safe hollow tube) pushed into the cake first, then insert the wire into the cel stick.
↪ Options for simpler arrangements
- Single focal flower on top — one peony or large rose is all you need
- Two small hydrangea sprays with a single accent flower
- No flowers at all — the satin ribbon and piped decorations are beautiful on their own
Satin Ribbon
Wrap a satin ribbon around the base of each tier (except the bottom one, which has rosettes instead). Wet the ribbon slightly, squeeze out the excess water, and press it around the base of the cake. As it dries, it contracts slightly and clings to the buttercream.
💡 Match the ribbon to your icing. If your buttercream has butter in it (yellowish tint), use ivory ribbon instead of white — it'll look much more intentional.
Making It a Three-Tier Cake
Remove the bottom tier and place the remaining three on a pedestal stand. The bottom two tiers serve about 70 people; all four tiers serve about 150 (excluding the top tier, which is traditionally saved for the first anniversary).
You can also use styrofoam dummies as faux tiers to make the cake look larger — ice and decorate them just like real tiers, and nobody will know the difference.
This tutorial is part of Global Sugar Art's library of free cake decorating videos by Chef Alan Tetreault. Browse all tutorials →
