Easy Piping Techniques

Hi friends!  Today I'm doing something a little different. I'm going to share with you a few of my favorite piping techniques for cupcakes. 

These techniques are perfect for beginners because they are so forgiving.  

My favorite decorator piping tips!

Ateco Pastry Tube Star Size 8 -  It may be my very favorite piping tip of all because you can make the perfect soft serve ice cream swirl on top of a cupcake. If you've never ventured into piping, then this is a good one to consider buying first. 

Wilton Petal Decorating Tip 125 -This is a petal tip, which certainly makes pretty individual petals, but I love using it for piping a simple rose in one continuous icing spiral. This technique takes a little dexterity, so it's a good idea to set aside one or two practice cupcakes.

Wilton Decorating Petal Icing Tip #104 - or, ruffle tip. In my opinion, it's the best size petal tip for ruffling cupcakes. When I first tried this technique I felt like I was making a real mess of things - starting and stopping rows, accidentally smearing a few ruffles with the piping tip - but when I finished, the cupcake looked picture-perfect. So remember, if you get halfway through ruffling and things are feeling a bit chaotic, keep at it and judge the end result. This petal tip can also make daisies, like the ones on these cupcakes I made for the Etsy blog last year.

Ateco Pastry Tube Plain 808 - Icing mounds are the easiest of the easy-to-make. Honestly, you don't really even have to use a piping tip to achieve the effect. You could just use a zip-top bag with the corner snipped. That said, I really like this size piping tip to make a nice fat, even heap of frosting on top of cupcakes. 

Ateco Closed Star Pastry Tube 847 and 843 - I love to use these two piping tips together- The smaller one is used to make little stars around the edge of the cupcake and the larger tip makes a nice big swirl in the middle. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to piping tips and techniques, but these are my favorite and I use them most often. And they are some of the easiest to master, too!

Video Tutorial to follow Shortly :-)