Buttercream Botanicals for Beginners: Simple Techniques for Creating Stunning Flowers, Foliage, and More

I'm so happy I purchased this book. My cupcakes are tasty, but now they are fabulous to look at too. I've been learning step by step, page by page how to create buttercream flowers that are almost too pretty to eat... they look so real, you'd never know they were edible.

The media could not be loaded. This book is awesome. My husband didn't think that I could pull it off because I have no patience if things start to go downhill. As you can see, the book is very helpful with clear instructions. I had to peruse through the book first to see which frosting tips I needed. It's great because they clearly tell you what you'll need. Simple instructions. I had a lot of fun making this cake. I'm an avid weekend baker, but have never decorated any cake I've ever made in my life, usually just frosted it. Was always going for substance not style, now I can do both. I felt a real sense of accomplishment after I finished this.

This book tells you step by step how to make beautiful flowers, what colors to use, what icing tips to use, and it's perfect for beginners!

Good reading and easy to follow instructions. Highly recommend for cake designers at all levels.

This book has so many different buttercream flower designs and lots of inspiration on how to use the flowers. The book is easy to follow and has many pictures describing how the flowers are formed. My only criticism is that the majority of the flowers have the finished flower on the right page and you have to flip over the page to see the step by step instructions. I wish that the book layout was such that the finished flower is on the left page and the step by step is on the right page so you can refer to the finished flower during piping. To me, this was a major flaw in the book and made it a lot harder to use.

Bought for granddaughter for Christmas and she loved it

I'm very excited to have this book! I've always thought it was fun to decorate cakes and cupcakes, but have never learned the techniques to create fun floral and plant designs. This book is very helpful!I especially like the first chapter which lists recommended tools and the specific brands to look for. That helps so much, now I don't have to do the research to find quality brand tools on my own.The second chapter includes a recipe for buttercream, along with some tips and tricks for making it. There are also recipes for a simple vanilla cake and a simple chocolate cake. This chapter also includes basic information on working with colors and how to achieve certain gradients and custom colors. There's also information on various piping tips with simple piping exercises. I'm totally new at using these piping tips, so I found this information helpful.Chapter 3 goes over the fundamental techniques for making flowers, leaves, and succulents. Each flower is shown in a photo, along with the piping tips needed and the step-by-step instructions on how to form that flower. I find the photos extremely helpful and inspiring.Chapter 4 covers how to ice the cake to get it ready for the flowers. It includes several helpful techniques you can use.Chapter 5 shows you how to finish your cake designs by putting everything together. It includes tips on adding additional elements and embellishments to the flowers and plants for a complete look.I think this book is very well done, and I certainly appreciate all the photos.If you are new, or fairly new, to making flowers and plants for cake decorating, I think this is a great book. If you've been decorating cakes for a while and already make flowers and plants, this book might be things you already know - but it IS titled "Buttercream Botanicals for BEGINNERS". ;-)I'm going to have a lot of fun with this book, and hope you do, too.Get the book - you won't be disappointed!

A step-by-step guide this books details how to create intricate buttercream flowers that turn an ordinary cake, cupcake or cookie into something special. The author has created a guide that features numerous color photographs illustrating the process of creating amazing blossoms with just a piping bag full of icing and decorative tip along with some diligent practice.The chapters cover all the basics from Essential Supplies, Getting Started, The Fundamental Four Techniques, Prepping the Cake Canvas, Adding Final Touches and Creating Arrangements. The photos in the book show the process in a manageable segments and the examples help spark ideas for unique individual creations.Regarding the construction of the paperback book it has a press open binding which will then allow it to lay flat on a countertop which is helpful if referring to the guide while piping. The text has a small font size which is almost always the case but thankfully black ink is used which is the easiest to read. Also a helpful index is located in the back of the book that helps the user find specific items/subjects quickly.A book like this is essentially a tool used to use to learn a skill so it should be sturdy to survive multiple handlings and as user-friendly as possible so it is easy to read and use--which is how this work is designed—and the content is excellent.

The book really is for beginners, which I am not. I had preordered because I’ve done one of her embroidery classes before but returned the book because the flowers were very basic and nothing I would use personally.

Bellissimo libro, dettagliato, contentissima dell'acquisto, lo consiglio

Delivered in great condition well protected. Bought as gift daughter said very informative and great photos to

Book arrived soiled and appeared used.

Not the best illustrations guiding the reader to undertake a specific piping shape. Don’t feel the colour illustrations are very sharp.