Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Is there a specific ratio of ingredients used to get the right consistency for icing and piping

Hi jane-ross

In my experience making a stiffer butter cream for both icing and piping is required for flowers to keep their shape and the crumb coat to crust over. I think Queen of Hearts have their own ‘secret recipe’ for butter cream which I assume is only revealed on their courses. I know half butter and half shortening is used in some recipes to help combat melting in hotter temperatures. I used to pipe butter cream flowers a lot and just made mine stiffer than would be for filling cakes. If it’s too stiff it won’t pipe or stick to cake and will break as it comes out of the nozzle. If that happens thin it down very gradually with either milk or cream until you get the right consistency.