Newbie Piping Questions

Decorating By mommytocjnalexis Updated 25 Jan 2012 , 4:52am by kakeladi

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mommytocjnalexis Posted 24 Jan 2012 , 5:06pm
post #1 of 5

Hello CC I'm new here, well have lurked for awhile but finally decided to join all the fun you ladies are having. icon_biggrin.gif A little background, I'm a home baker that started just over a year ago for something fun to do and fell in love with cake decorating. I have a full-time day job but have big aspirations to have a bakery hopefully in the not too distant future.

I just delivered one of my first paid cakes (baking under Cottage Law) this last weekend (the Star Wars one in my gallery) and I'm super excited. So I've been playing around with fondant and all the wonderful things you can do with it and gum paste for awhile but I'd really like to try my hand at piping. Are there good books/tutuorials someone can point me towards? I would love to be able to hand pipe a beautiful wedding cake or just pipe a border on my fondant cakes (which is way easier in my opinion) and have it look more professional. Also any feedback on my cakes is always much appreciated, my family and friends are great by not exactly unbiased. lol TIA!

I still have a long way to go in the skills department but each day is a new adventure . thumbs_up.gif

4 replies
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LisaPeps Posted 24 Jan 2012 , 6:16pm
post #2 of 5

*The Art of Royal Icing - Eddie Spence*
The Kate Venver Sugar Art Collection
*The Art of Sugarcraft: Lace and Filigree - Nicholas Lodge*
The International School of Sugarcraft - Book One
The International School of Sugarcraft - Book Two
Couture Wedding Cakes - Mich Turner

Each of these books has some element of piping and teaches you how to make royal icing. They all have templates which you can use to create different designs. They are all quite old fashioned except for Mich Turner's book. However, once you get the initial knowledge you can adapt it yourself to create beautifully piped wedding cakes. I have starred ** two books which in my opinion, if you can only get one or two books it should be those. Eddie Spence is first choice, lace and filigree second.

HTH

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kakeladi Posted 24 Jan 2012 , 6:18pm
post #3 of 5

If you get the right instructor Wilton classes are good for learning piping. Well, at least they used to be - I've been away from Wilton for some 10 yrs and I know their class structure has changed.
They *older* yrbks ('70s-'90s) are good....in the back of each book they show you how to do many of the technique used on the cakes in that book.
Are there any cake supply shops in your area? Many of them offer classes.
I found it almost impossible to learn just from looking at/reading books until I had learned hands on the basics.
And where are you located? I would offer to teach you if in my areaicon_smile.gif

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mommytocjnalexis Posted 24 Jan 2012 , 6:23pm
post #4 of 5

Thank you both so much for the info!

kakeladi - I was wondering about the Wilton classes but wasn't sure if they were worth the money. I'm in a north suburb of Cincinnati so we have the Cincinnati Cake and Candy shop and I believe they have classes so I'll check those out. Your in IN? How far from Cincy are you? I'd love to have a local to help and chat cake with! icon_smile.gif

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kakeladi Posted 25 Jan 2012 , 4:52am
post #5 of 5

Just this week I moved to CA. No longer in IN.

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