What is piping gel? Do you HAVE to have it mixed in your icing to make writing? What does it do to the icing, make it firmer or what? I've never used it before and have spent alot on supplies lately and was just wondering if its something I absolutly needed or just one of those things I could do without. TIA for any advice 
Piping gel is thickend corn syrup/gelatin mixture that is glossy and transparent. You can use it for writing on cake, making "water", stained glass affects, as a "glue" for adhering things to your cake. Piping gel is not a necessity but it is a lot of fun.
It actually does make your icing more elastic, and it does help. if you don't have any on hand, you can add a little corn syrup (light) to your icing, bt the piping gel is really great. I use it for that, for leaves, water, stained glass, shiny builidngs, you name it. Here is Sydney Harbor done with it.
I never used to use piping gel at all and thought it was a waste of my money when I was taking the Wilton classes, but bought it anyway. Am I glad I bought it!!!!! I love piping gel now. I used it to write on a cake for the first time a few weeks ago and I'll never write with anything else on a cake! My icing (even thin consistency) likes to break when I am writing and piping gel is not - my writing even looks smoother with piping gel. I did add piping gel to some thin icing because I wanted a specific color and it wrote much better with the piping gel than without. I highly recommend buying and using the piping gel. I am looking for a larger container than the one the craft stores (Michaels and AC Moore) sell because I seem to be using it more!
~Chelle
Do you think you could add some to buttercream and use it to outline a buttercream transfer? When I use a dark color (black, Navy) as an outline i find that the colors bleed. Would piping gel help?
Do you think you could add some to buttercream and use it to outline a buttercream transfer? When I use a dark color (black, Navy) as an outline i find that the colors bleed. Would help?
What buttercream recipe are you using?? I use the one on this site "Buttercream for Frozen Transfers" and I've never had the colors bleed! Maybe it's your icing. I would think the piping gel would bleed worse than a crusting bc for a transfer.
I use the buttercream i use for frosting, half butter, half crisco, it's called real buttercream for decorators. got if off of cc.
I just checked out your frozen buttercream transfer recipe. it's got an extra stick of butter. Do you think that would make the difference.
I'm glad to see this thread because I have a question.
I've tried to use the colored piping gel you buy in tubes at grocery stores (wilton brand, I think) and when I try to write with it, it just spreads out all over everywhere. It doesn't stay where you pipe it like buttercream does. The letters run together, esp those like "e" and "p" and stuff. The centers of the letter just runs together.
Am I doing something wrong? Or are you supposed to mix it with something, or maybe just not write with it? I've tried to do eyes for people before, and had the same problem, it just spreads out of bounds.
I've been afraid to tint my bulk gel to pipe anything with it, since I don't want to have to scrape it off and do it over in buttercream. I have mixed it with buttercream to help with leaves and lettering, but I like the shiny effect of that Sydney Harbor cake, and I'd love to try something like that.
karateka:
In my experience, the bulk piping gel that you color does not run like the prepackaged tubes you buy in the store. In fact, to color the bulk piping gel you only need a dab or two of icing color on a toothpick, then mix it in with your icing spatula or a chopstick or something.
HTH,
Chelle
the piping gel that you color yourself does work better, but if you buy the tubes, just make sure you squeeze them around inside for a few minutes. I think they start to seperate when theyve been sitting too long after manufacturing. The tub of it gets stirred up every time you use it, so it's a lot easier to use. I also like it because you can make as much of whatever color you want and put in bags instead of those evil little squirt tubes! 
Wow this answers all of my questions...I'm trying piping gel for the first time this weekend to do a stained glass look on a baptism cake. wish me luck!
Some time ago when I first arrived here and was searching through recipes I found this
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2051-0-Piping-Gel.html
I have never tried it but wondered if any of you have.
I had bought the wilton stuff when I first started into this and it did make things easier. I also used this as the water for daughters wedding cake last month. I just added a touch of blue to it and spread it with the spatula.
haven't used the recipe.........but I was just looking at your website and how you made your pond (which is gorgeous by the way ) Oh goodness........I'm laughing so hard I'm crying about those animals in the pond....were they having fun or what????? that's great.......thanks for making me smile
Well, I have tried the piping gel recipe from here 3 times w/absolutely no luck. I made some a while back and it was runny. I figured out that I had miscalculated when I cut the recipe. So yesterday morning, I tried it again. I quartered the recipe. You add the same amount of gelatin as you do water. Then you are supposed to heat it until it turns clear. Ha ha ha ha ha! The first batch I cooked the gelatin/water mixture to the bottom of the pan. It still never turned clear. Then the second batch seemed to be working okay so I poured it into a plastic container. Melted the darn thing....lol. I turned to my dh and said, "I'm just going to buy the d*mn stuff". I did keep the gel out of the melted container just to see if it turned out when it cooled off, and it still seemed to be too runny. I bought a tub from Hobby Lobby today....lol.
I just wanted to say thank you too. I tried writing directly on a cake last night (instead of royal lettering ahead of time) and was sorely disappointed. It looked soo bad and I was struggling with what to replace it with. I think piping gel might just do the trick.
Also, I have been successful making the homemade stuff, but it is a little tricky. You have to get it hot enough so it all melts without boiling.
-Sarah
I really wish I could answer you, but it's been so long since I made this stuff I can't remember exactly what I did. I do know one batch was an oogy-boogery mess, but I figured it out for the second batch.
The question is whether I can remember what I did again.
Tell you what, how about when I have a few minutes I will make the stuff again and this time write a tutorial right away before I forget?
You can make your own piping gel. Here's a recipe
I have made this many times. No sense giving Wilton more $$.
2 envelopes (2 Tbsps) Knox gelatin
2 Tbsps. cold water
2 cups Karo syrup
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small saucepan and let set for about 5 minutes. Heat on low until the gelatin has become clear/dissolved - DO NOT BOIL. Add the syrup and heat thoroughly.
Cool and store, refrigerated, for up to 2 months. This can be colored and/or flavored as desired
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