Piping Rosettes

Rosettes are starting to pop up everywhere; I've seen quite a few cakes completely covered with them (when an ombre color scheme is used, they're especially fetching). To pipe rosettes on a cake, you'll want to use medium consistency buttercream. Of course, I didn't have any of that lying around, so I'll show you with royal icing. Use a star tip in the size most appropriate to your project. I used a tip #21, because it's the first one that fell out of the drawer. Hold the tip just above the surface of your project (whether it's a cake, cookies, petits fours, whatever), and squeeze out a star.

 No need to pull the tip away; I just did that to take the photo. Pipe in a continuous circle around (and slightly overlapping) the star, while continuing to hold the tip at a 90 degree angle. I don't think it makes a difference if you pipe clockwise or counterclockwise; according to Wilton's directions, I'm piping the left-handed way (counterclockwise) with my right hand.

 When you're nearing the end of the spiral, stop pressure and pull the tip away in the same direction the spiral is moving…

 …so the remaining tail of icing will continue the motion and not simply stop.

 The rosette is a nice alternative to shell borders; the key, of course, is to make them uniform and edge-to-edge with each other. Practice rosettes on Nilla Wafers, so everyone can eat your mistakes!