Homemade Recipes

Ingredients:

1.Icing bags or parchment cones.

2.Leaf tips (nozzles) 352 and 366 (Poinsettia petals are technically bracts, modified leaves, so it makes sense we use a leaf tip to create them :-)

3.Buttercream icing in red, green and a tiny bit of yellow.

White frosted cake or cupcakes. (Cream-cheese frosting or snow-white buttercream works well, but the poinsettias are also pretty on chocolate ganache.)

Preparation:

1. If you're going to write a Christmas message on your cake, remember to leave room for this. Practice first because you pipe these flowers directly onto your cake (or cupcakes).

2. With red buttercream icing and tip 366 in your bag, squeeze and pull out for each petal, continuing around until you have five. The wider end of the petals will meet in the center (it's OK if the middle is a little empty because you will be adding more petals).

3. For your second and three layer, stagger the petals on top of the first layer. And, you may want to add a few in between on the bottom layer. 

4. Then for a more natural look, use tip 352 with green icing to stagger the green immature petals behind the bottom layer of the red. This also sets off the red nicely and creates a more Christmassy look.

5. Finally, using round tip 3, pipe a few yellow dots in the center.

Variation: You could also create the green leaves with tip 366, making them the same size as the scarlet petals. Or conversely, if you want smaller flowers, use tip 352 for the petals.

Here's a final, but important tip for your Christmas cakes. The amount of liquid food coloring needed for your red icing will bring a bitter taste (due to Red #2 in the coloring), so here's what you can do to battle the bitter:

- Use more concentrated forms of color gel, paste and powder colorings are all more intense than liquid. These are found in specialty stores, large crafts stores, such as online.

Begin with an icing that is naturally colored with a pink or red juice concentrate, such as cranberry or pomegranate. Then you won't need as much coloring to achieve your Poinsettia red.

"Use Your Technique To Decorate."