Welcome to another post in my Cupcake Academy series! Today I’m covering tips for using piping bags that will hopefully help everyone, especially baking and cupcake decorating beginners, to make beautiful looking homemade cupcakes and cakes.
I know that when I started out, it was this aspect that I found most frustrating – trying to work out HOW people were producing these beautiful looking cupcakes – of course the answers were all out there on the interwebs, but what I’ve done is collected all my knowledge about getting the best out of piping bags in one place. Enjoy, and if you know of other sneaky tips and tricks, please let me know them in the comments!
- Get the right equipment. I swear by these piping bags by Lakeland. They’re (very) large so you don’t have to refill constantly if you’re making a big batch, and they’re really strong too (I have had cheaper piping bags split on me). I prefer to use disposable ones for easy clean up.
- To fill your bag, snip off the end and insert your nozzle, (these are my favourites for a classic swirl and a rose swirl) and then place the bag inside a tall glass as shown above, folding the top half of the bag over the outside of the glass. Find out more about nozzles in this post – I love the Wilton 2D and
- Using a spatula or metal spoon, push your frosting into the bottom of the piping bag, trying to keep it away from the sides if you can.
- Fill the bag no more than two thirds full – this is very important, don’t be tempted to try and squeeze all the frosting in there – the frosting will end up leaking out of the top and going everywhere, trust me, I know! Remove from the glass and twist the end of the bag. Squeeze out some frosting into a bowl before you start piping to work any air bubbles out of the bag.
- Holding the twisted end of the bag in your hand, apply pressure and pipe away!
Another tip – frosting, especially cream cheese frosting, warms up quickly when in a piping bag, so keep the frosting in the fridge and top up your piping bag when you run out to make sure your frosting holds its shape.
Do you have any more tips for easy piping? Please share in the comments!
x Kerry
Kerry Cooks 
I get big bags from Tesco, they’re quite stiff but I’ve never had a problem with them. I wash them out, by turning them inside out and giving them a good scrub, and use them for a few times too. I don’t like to be wasteful/I’m a cheapskate!
Custard powder in a batch of buttercream gives a nice vanilla flavour and thickens/stiffens a bit more too.
xxxx
Love the term, Cupcake Academy. I have an image of a school filled with life size Easy Bake Ovens producing millions of cupcakes with you at the head of the class tweaking each one as it pops out of its little tin. I know this was really about piping bag tips but you just never know what’s going to catch hold of your reader 🙂
Thanks Susannah! That sounds lovely, I have been told I would be a good teacher! 🙂
I usually use a coupler even with the disposable bags so I can change the nozzle mid pipe.
Thanks Helen! I’ve never actually used a coupler, I need to look into them! ebay here I come…
I like the great big blue 21cm reusable bags – I buy mine off ebay! Also, a go-to buttercream recipe for consistent results was my best learn!
Thanks Holly 🙂 Do you wash them out? I do feel bad chucking them but the thought of cleaning them up seems too much!
Nope they get chucked… bad I know, but they grease so badly with the butter! The ebay packs are fairly cheap for a big roll too!
Ahh 🙂 thanks for the tip!