Easy Ribbon Rose Cupcakes
Want to impress your friends without breaking a sweat? These pretty-in-pink ribbon rose cupcakes are so easy to make! It’s almost unfair how gorgeous—and delicious—they turn out!

updated from 2013
HOW TO PIPE RIBBON ROSE CUPCAKES SWIRLS
THINGS YOU NEED
- Baked Cupcakes and American Buttercream (see the recipe card for the recipe)
- Muffin pan – I love the USA brand
- Cupcake liners
- Large Petal Piping Tip #125
- Piping Bag
- Pink Gel Food Coloring
- Decorative Cupcake Wrappers – optional
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VANILLA CUPCAKES AND AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM
I baked vanilla cupcakes and prepared American buttercream, a timeless classic—light, sweet, and comforting without being overwhelming. The flavor is versatile and crowd-pleasing, perfect for creative toppings, chocolate decorations, or fillings like lemon curd or raspberry cake filling.
PETAL PIPING TIP
I used a large petal piping tip #125 to pipe a simple ruffled ribbon cupcake swirls.
BUTTERCREAM RIBBON ROSE TECHNIQUE
I used two shades of pink buttercream to create variegated buttercream. It’s simple to prepare: gently stir light pink buttercream into dark pink buttercream, leaving streaks and spots of light and dark pink. Fit the piping bag with a petal tip and fill the bag with buttercream.
- Hold the cupcake in your non-dominant hand. I’m right-handed.
- Start piping the swirl in the middle of the cupcake.
- Hold the piping bag with the narrow end of the piping tip facing up and the wide end facing the cupcake.
- Anchor the buttercream in the center of the cupcake. Slowly turn the cupcake counterclockwise as you squeeze and move the piping bag back and forth, clockwise.
- Hold the bag nearly parallel with the top of the cupcake, at about a 20-30 degree angle (steps 1-5).
- Breaking the ribbon and continuing where you stopped is okay (steps 6-7).
- Repeat with the remaining cupcakes (step 8).
- Due to our warm hands, the buttercream can become too soft to pipe. Refrigerate or freeze it for 10-15 minutes before continuing.
CUPCAKE WRAPPERS
I love how quickly these cupcakes, perfect for birthdays, weddings, Mother’s Day, or any celebration, come together. To beautify them further, try nesting the cupcakes in cherry blossom wrappers. Aren’t they pretty?!
TRY THESE DELICIOUS RECIPES
VIDEO
Vanilla Cupcakes with American Buttercream (12cupcakes)
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 grams), divided
- 3 egg yolks
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature (70 grams)
- 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 cup cake flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup milk, room temperature (60 ml)
- 1/4 cup thick, not watery, plain white yogurt, or sour cream (60 ml)
American Buttercream
- 1½ cup unsalted butter (3 sticks, 340 grams)
- 5¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted (630 grams)
- 3-4 tbsp water, milk, or heavy cream
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C), line a muffin pan with cupcake liners, and set aside.
- Into a grease-free bowl, add egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar. Beat egg whites until medium soft peaks are formed. Gradually add granulated sugar and beat until firm but not dry peaks are formed. Meringue should be shiny, not grainy-looking. Scrape out the meringue into a small bowl and set aside.3 lage egg whites (90-95 grams)1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- Into the same bowl you used to whip the meringue, add butter and remaining sugar, and cream until smooth and creamy, 5 minutes. Beat in egg yolks and Vanilla. Scrape down the bowl and beat for 2 minutes until well blended together. 5 tablespoons butter at room temperature (70 grams)1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 grams)3 egg yolks1½ teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
- Into a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.1¼ cup cake flour1¼ teaspoon baking powder1/8 teaspoon of salt
- In a small dish combine milk and yogurt.1/4 cup room temperature milk (60 ml)1/4 cup room temperature yogurt or sour cream (60 ml)
- Alternating, add the milk-yogurt and flour mixture to the butter mixture at low speed.
- To the thick cake batter, add about 1/3 of the meringue, fold into the batter until smooth, then fold in the remaining meringue
- Fill the prepared muffin pan, about 2/3 full.
- Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes.
- Remove from the muffin pan and cool the cupcakes on the cooling rack.
American Buttercream
- In a bowl of your mixer beat room-temperature butter until smooth. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar and salt. Beat until smooth, about 3-5 minutes.Gradually add water/milk/ or heavy cream, and then add Vanilla Extract. Color frosting with desired colors. If icing gets soft while piping, place it in the fridge to firm up.1½cups butter (3 sticks, 340 grams)5¼cups sifted powdered sugar (630 grams)3-4 tablespoons water/milk/heavy creampinch of salt2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
This post was originally published on May 21st, 2013. On May 6th, 2025, I updated this recipe with new pictures, written text, a recipe card and a video.
Good morning!
After our VERY heavy rain storm and many people having flooding problems, and having both my water pumps going off, I am ready to bake cupcakes. I have not done cupcakes yet so I need a change, instead of always doing cookies. These look beautiful. But I don’t have the fancy cupcake papers.
Hi Charlie,
I hope the weather improves soon and you can enjoy the sun.
Sounds a like a great plan to change things a little. And you know cookie decorating techniques can be applied to cupcakes, too.
Happy Baking, Charlie.♥
Cupcakes are gorgeous and the cupcake wrapper you chose is absolutely perfect! It actually reminded me of some cookies of your past!
Thank you so much, Sally.:-)