Wondering how Julia put together this pink lotus so perfectly? Basically, she took her time with it! Each petal was piped over a template to ensure some uniformity in size and shape; then the petals, while still wet, were shaped over tubes of varying diameter to create their curves. Once dry and removed from the tubes, the petals were airbrushed inside and out. And that lotus center? It consists of an internal cone of icing, which was allowed to partially dry before Julia piped all of the details on top. Again, for the lotus construction, Julia drew heavily on her Cookie Connection contributor Manu Pezzopane’s water lily tutorial for tips.