I have been practicing and still cannot get scroll work to look nice on the sides of the cake. Do I need to get a tilted stand? The piping either doesnt stick right (I have let the butter cream crust a little) or gravy takes hold or the piping isn't smooth.

So basically, I would like to know how y'all do your piping on the sides of your cakes! (scrolls, designs, etc)...

Thanks!!

maybe the consistency of your icing is not thin enough you could try to thin out your icing a bit. A little bit of piping gel or clear corn syrup in your icing works too.

loriemoms: I can't see your picture very well so I can't really see the design. I do know that when you do stringwork, you use a stiff consistency. I don't know if that would help for your design. I did scroll work on a cake once and added the cornsyrup. It did help some but it left the scrollwork with a "wet" look. Be sure to elevate you cake to eye level and that might help. I use a turntable but when I need to do work on the sides, I elevate it up so I can see better.

I recently did a 9 tiered wedding cake with scroll work on every tier! It was a lot of piping and got pretty good at it once I was finished!

I used a thinned buttercream and this made the piping go much easier. I used a wilton tip 3 for the scrolls.

9 tiers traci, holy cow! I wouldn't be able to lift my arm for a week!

My Wilton instructor suggested we add piping gel to BC we were using for piping, made it easier and less chance that the stringwork would break.

The wedding was for 400 people! There were 9 tiers to the main cake and 3 kitchen sheet cakes.

This was quite an experience...but I got a lot of great practice on my scrollwork. Feel pretty comfortable doing it now!

I also like practicing designs on a piece of wax paper first or even a 3 inch deep cake pan as well...kind of gives you an idea of where to place it.

WOW!!! Do you have a photo? I'd love to see it!

Uh, Traci, Where's the photo? You can't do this to us! WE WANT TO SEE.

Oh yeah, about the scrollwork, I think everyone above has answered that very well.

Traci: Pho-to, pho-to, pho-to! Whew! A big kudos to you!

lorimoms
I too had trouble with the scrolls at first. I was up until early morning trying to get them perfect until I thought to do them left to right. I had been starting on the right side of the scroll and bringing it toward me. The other direction gave me a perfect scroll and boy was I relieved. Try something simple like that and see if it works. I use the same consistency BC as I do on the cake. It does get very warm in my hands (I use disposable bags) and that does thin it a bit. Let me know if this works for you. Sometimes I look for the difficult answer when the easiest is right under my nose!

The photo is in my pictures. It is the one that is titled Dori's Wedding. Unfortunately the white tablecloth washed out the cake and it was very difficult to see the design. The cake would have looked so much better if the main cake had been raised and different tablecloth was used. The country club staff were VERY rude and not helpful at all!!!!! So this was the end result. Thanks for looking.

Traci, beautiful cake!!

I have the same problem! Dh was watching me and suggested that I move a little quicker when I did it and that really helped. I think I am going to try the reverse AlamoSweets. I have been trying them left to right so maybe I'll try the other direction!

You know it helps if I hold my breath for each one too. I am sure they will improve. It just takes a little practice. Good luck and keep us informed.