A Piece of Cake

The Zigzag is a popular way to fill in outlined areas, perfect for ribbed sweater and cuff effects. You can also use tight zigzags to cover the entire side of your cake.

Fit the decorating bag with tip 16 and fill icing. Hold the bag at a 45° angle with tip lightly touching the surface.

Steadily squeeze and move your hand in a tight up and down motion as you move toward the right.

Continue piping up and down with steady pressure. To end, stop pressure and pull tip away. For more elongated zigzags, move your hand to the desired height while maintaining a steady pressure. For a more relaxed look, just increase the width as you move the bag along.

Making frosting bows is such a pretty finishing touch for floral cakes. Use petal tip 104 and a figure 8 motion to create the elegant loops.

Hold Tip: wide end touching surface, narrow end straight up. With narrow end of tip pointing straight up, squeeze, moving the tip up and around to the left and back to the starting point.

Continue around, making a second loop on the right.

The two loops will form a figure 8 shape.

While holding bag in the same position, return to the center and squeeze out two streamers.

These were the dresses that sat on the table around the cake that is in the String Work post. I put a bow on the back of the dresses to ‘finish them off.’

Nails rovides the control you need when piping icing flowers. Just rotate the nail between your fingers as you pipe a flower on the head.

This is a group of flowers that were on a cake that I did for 4-H. Flowers can be put on the cake by themselves or be arranged in a group.

Attach waxed paper square to nail with icing. Use tip 103 and hold bag at a 45° angle . Touch center of nail with wide end of tip; narrow end should be just slightly above nail surface. Begin at center of nail and squeeze out first petal, turning nail 1/5 turn as you move tip out toward edge of nail. Relax pressure as you return to center of nail, curving tip slightly upward to create a cupped shape. Stop squeezing as wide end touches center of nail and lift up. Repeat this four more times. Pipe center.

The perfect look for formal presentations, such as wedding and anniversary cupcakes. The precise, lacy design of this freehand technique depends on the continuous curving strings that do not overlap or touch.

This is the top of one of my cakes that I did for 4-H. I used to cornelli lace technique for the bride’s dress body.

Fit the decorating bag with a round tip and fill with  icing. Hold the bag and tip slightly at 90° angle, close to cake without scraping cake with tip and without flattening icing strings.

Beginning and ending at edges, pipe a continuous string of icing—curve it up, down and around until area is covered. Make certain strings never touch or cross. Don’t leave any loose ends! Stop pressure, pull tip away. Try not to create a repeat pattern design by changing directions often.

This is a cake that I did for my tenth year in 4-H. This is one of my favorite cakes. I love how simple, yet elegant it is. Along with this cake, I had 5 yellow bridesmaid dress cakes that I set on the table around the larger cake.

Precise measurements are vital to perfect string work. You will need to evenly divide your cake and lightly mark the desired depth of each arc before you begin.

With a toothpick, mark horizontal divisions on cake in the width you desire. Bag Position: shoulder level at 4:30 . Tip: lightly above the surface to attach. Touch tip to first mark and squeeze, pausing momentarily so that icing sticks to surface.

While squeezing, pull the bag toward you. Continue squeezing to allow the icing to drape naturally into an arc. Icing will drop by itself–do not move the tip down with the string. The end of the tip should be the same distance from the surface as the width from point to point on your cake.

Stop pressure before you touch tip to second mark to end string. Repeat, keeping drop strings uniform in length and width.

Grass can be used a border, to make fur, or to just add a little touch of something to the design of your cake. The key to grass is to have thick icing so the grass stands up, and doesn’t fall over. For theses cakes, I used the grass technique as a border. However, on the peacock cake, I used it as an accent to my green shell border.

For this technique you will need:

Icing in an icing bad

Tip 233

Practice board or cake

Hold the decorating bag 90° straight up, the tip should not be touching the surface of the cake or practice board.

Squeeze bag to form grass. Pull up and away when icing strand is long enough (about 1/2 inch) stop pressure and pull tip away. Grass will be neatly formed only if you stop squeezing before you pull tip away.

For a more natural look sometimes pull tip slightly to the right or left, istead of straight up. Remember to keep clusters close together so cake does not show through.

Adding writing to your cake allows you to personalize and add that special touch. Printing is a fairly simple technique, but does take some practice to be able to master.

To print you will need:

• Icing in an icing bad

• Any round tip (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) Bigger tips will be easier to print with because the icing will come out thicker and wont break as easily.

• Practice board or cake.

Hold the bag and tip a 45° angle and lightly touch surface and squeeze steadily.

Raise tip slightly and with steady even pressure, squeeze out a straight line, lifting the top off the surface to let icing string drop.

Stop squeezing, touch tip to surface, pull tip away. Be sure the end of the tip is clean before you go on to another line.

The key is to go slow, take your time and don’t get frustrated. Some people find it easier to just write as they would with a pencil.

This was the first cake I ever did with printing. I did this cake when I was nine, for my cousin’s birthday.