Basic Decorating Techniques

Half Carnation

Achieve the beautiful ruffled effect of a full carnation, piped directly on your cake. Be sure to use stiff consistency icing to hold each petal's shape.

• Practice with tip: 150, 3
• Icing consistency: stiff
• Bag Position: Center Petal, 45° at 6:00; Side Petals, 45° at 4:30 (left) and 7:30 (right)
• Hold tip: One End Touching Surface, Other End Straight Up

1. Make the center petal: With wide end touching the surface and narrow end straight up, start squeezing, moving tip straight up and down in a jiggling motion (similar to sweet pea technique but with narrower petals). Stop squeezing and pull away.

2. Make the side petals: With bag at 4:30, place the wide end of tip at the base of the first petal and squeeze out two left side petals using the same jiggle motion. For two right side petals, place bag at 7:30 and squeeze in the same fashion, to form a fan-shaped row of petals.

3. With bag at 4:30 and 7:30, pipe a ruffled petal between each petal. Add tip 3 sepals.