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Sugar Flowers · Family 105

Piped Violets with Wilton 105

Three petals in one stroke and a gold throat - the smallest flower on the site and the hardest to get level.

A violet is four strokes at 22 mm across, and it is the only flower here that you cannot fix once it is piped. The two upper petals are made in a single stroke using the 105's narrow curve, which means the tip has to be loaded, planted and released perfectly, or the petal pair splits. It is a flower worth learning because a cluster of three violets with gold throats is more convincing than any rose at the same size.

Tip
Wilton 105
Icing stage
Stiff peak
Difficulty
Advanced
Teeth
1
Symmetry
4×
Cure
36 hours
Finished size
22 mm
Released
29 September 2026

By The Sugar Bench · Released 29 September 2026

Method

5 steps, pressure stated at each one

Hand position and bag pressure are stated for every step, because that is where most failures happen.

Piped Violets with Wilton 105 — Step 1: Colour and rest the icing

Step 01 of 05

Colour and rest the icing

Mix 220 g of buttercream to stiff peak, colour to #5A1B2E plus one drop of Delphinium Blue, and rest covered for 60 minutes. Stripe the bag wall with 20 g of plain white before loading.

HandStripe only 20 mm up the bag wall, applied with a palette knife held flat.
Bag pressureNone during colouring; the rest does the work.
Piped Violets with Wilton 105 — Step 2: Plant the 105 on the paper

Step 02 of 05

Plant the 105 on the paper

Fit the 105 to a coupler with the curve opening to the left. Touch the wide end to the baking-paper square at the 6 o'clock position of your intended flower and squeeze without moving for half a second to anchor.

HandWide end down on the paper, narrow end up at 40 degrees, bag vertical above the coupler.
Bag pressureLight anchor squeeze - just enough to stop the tip skating when the stroke begins.
Piped Violets with Wilton 105 — Step 3: Pipe the lower petal

Step 03 of 05

Pipe the lower petal

From the anchor, swing the tip down and outward 11 mm, fading the pressure to zero at the end. This single lower petal is the widest element and it sets the flower's overall size.

HandThe tip travels, the nail stays still. Rotate the nail only after the stroke is finished.
Bag pressureLight at the plant, halving through the stroke, zero at 90 percent.
Piped Violets with Wilton 105 — Step 4: Split the upper two petals

Step 04 of 05

Split the upper two petals

Rotate the nail 180 degrees. Pipe one stroke 9 mm long straight up from the centre. With stiff icing the ribbon splits at the tip into two petals; if it does not split, your icing is too soft - stop and re-check before piping more.

HandKeep the stroke dead vertical; a stroke at 5 degrees off vertical splits unevenly and one petal will be twice the size of the other.
Bag pressureMedium and constant - the split needs continuous pressure right to the end.
Piped Violets with Wilton 105 — Step 5: Add the gold throat

Step 05 of 05

Add the gold throat

Switch to a 1 round tip with the gold mix. In one continuous pull, draw a 1 mm line from the flower centre to the base of the lower petal, about 6 mm long. Add it within 60 seconds of the last petal.

HandAnchor your wrist on the nail stem so the line stays straight; the movement is a whole-hand pull, not a finger flick.
Bag pressureVery light and even - the line should be 1 mm for its whole length, not tapering.

Scroll sideways for each step →

Why 105 and not 104

105 is a small petal tip - about 5 mm narrower than the 104 with a tighter curve. The narrow curve is what lets one stroke split into two upper petals when the icing is stiff enough to hold the split. With a 104 the same stroke floods into one wide petal, and you end up with a pink shape rather than a violet.

Stiff peak and a 24 hour rest

Violets need the stiffest icing on the site - the peak must stand straight and hold for five seconds. Mix, colour, then rest the bowl covered for at least an hour. Buttercream that has rested an hour pipes a cleaner split than buttercream mixed five minutes ago, because the fat crystals have begun to set and the ribbon tears instead of stretching.

Two-tone purple, not flat purple

Mix 200 g to #5A1B2E with a toothpick tip of Sugarflair Claret, then add a single drop of Delphinium Blue to push it toward violet. Stripe one wall of the bag with 20 g of plain white buttercream: the leading edge of each petal then comes out pale, which is what makes the flower read as a violet rather than a dark blot.

The gold throat

The throat line is a 1 mm gold stroke made with a 1 round tip, drawn from the flower centre out to the base of the lower petal. It must be added within one minute of pipimg the petals so it merges; a throat added later sits on top as a hard ridge. Practice the stroke as a single pull - two strokes leave a visible kink at the junction.

Level, or nothing

A violet is judged by whether the four petals sit in one plane. Working on a flower nail, check by sighting across the flower from the side before you lift the nail. If one petal tips up, the whole cluster looks wrong, and a violet cannot be corrected after crusting - scrape it off the paper and start again. Budget three attempts for your first ten flowers.

Failures and fixes

Symptom Cause Fix
Upper petals did not split Icing softer than stiff peak, or a 104 used instead of a 105. Re-mix to stiff peak and rest an hour; check the tip engraving, 105 blades are visibly narrower than 104.
One upper petal twice the size of the other The upper stroke was piped a few degrees off vertical. Line the bag up with the nail stem before the stroke and pipe with a single continuous motion of the whole hand.
Gold throat has a kink in the middle The line was drawn in two strokes. Scrape the flower off and re-pipe the throat as one pull; a kinked throat is more visible than no throat at all.

Before you bag up

  • Stiff peak, rested a full hour
  • 105 with curve opening left
  • Lower petal 11 mm, pressure to zero
  • Upper stroke dead vertical and splitting
  • Gold throat added within 60 seconds

This card describes a method, not a formulation tested for allergens, shelf life or food safety; the ingredients, hygiene and safety of anything you give to someone else are your responsibility. Nothing here is sponsored and there is no affiliation with any tip or ingredient manufacturer. See the terms page for the full note.

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