Practice on an overturned baking pan so that you can scrape the icing off and use it again and again until you gain confidence. For most people, the skill develops quickly. The secret to consistancy is to use even pressure.

I've always used a syringe type decorator instead of a bag, so I'm sorry I can't be more helpful with the care and feeding of your new toy.

bobby, first off, what tips do you have? they (should) have a number on them. that will help with what you can do for decorating.

secondly, when you fill the bag, make sure you burp it. you don't want to be in the middle of a job and have a bag burp on you - it's not fun.

to clean it, take the tip and the coupler off, squeeze whatever remains and turn the bag inside out to clean with soap and hot water.

take a cookie sheet and cover the back side of it with either parchment or plastic or waxed paper. make up a batch of whatever icing you are going to use for sheila's cake and put about a cup of it in your pastry bag. this will be your practice icing and when you are all done playing, you can toss it. now practice, alternating between the tips you have to see what they do. practice your abc's, printing or writing. practive happy birhday sheila, or just sheila. then using an offest spactula, scrap the icing off the tray and put it back in the bag and keep practicing with that icing.

maryanne

Good advice.

How do I get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice man, practice.

But I don't make those sugar extravaganzas. My daughter's MIL does. She's in the championships for that.

I use a pastry bag occasionally for filling things like stuffed eggs. It makes quick work of a big production job.

Jim

I am sure you will be fine, B. E. Lish, and Sheila will most appreciate your efforts. I really should take the time to learn cake decorating as well. I bake cakes for my friends at work but tend to take them in as they are. There are a lot of things a person can do with those pastry bags, though.

The upended pan to practice on sounds like a fine idea to me! The adult education here offers a class from time to time, so one of these times I should do that.

Maybe I should practice with store bought icing and save my ingredients and energy. But, the test wouldn't be accurate then. However, I could eat that stuff by the spoonful. Anyway, the tip numbers I have are # 67, 104, 2, 61, and 27. I will probably use number 2 for the writing and 27 for the decorative edge though it seems rather small.

Thanks

Storebought frosting is often a little too runny to get a good, sharp design. If you decide to practice with it, you may need to add a little powdered sugar to stiffen it up a bit. Buttercream frosting works well for piping borders, writing, and rosebuds. Royal Icing is good when you want to make decorations like roses ahead of time. They will dry to a candy-like consistency and can be stored for quite some time until needed. Be sure, though, if you make Royal Icing, to use purchased meringue powder instead of raw egg whites (which are not safe).

Secondly--get rid of the bag. Buy yourself some disposable ones. Better yet, if you're concerned about the frosting coming back out the top, use good quality, heavy, ziplock freezer bags instead. Cut enough off the end of your disposable bag or freezer bag so that the tip will extend through the hole, but not push all the way through. Turn the top of the bag down to the outside, propping the bag in a tall bowl, or heavy glass. That way it's much easier to fill. Press out all the air and twist the top (disposable bag) or zip (freezer bag). Press the frosting to the corner of the bag with the tip, and go ahead and practice.

Marzipan, by itself is extremely thick--much to thick to pipe. You'd have to thin and soften it with the addition of other ingredients, I think, for it to be 'pipable'.

2 most important things? Practice and have fun!!!!

I bought a pastry bag and tips kit from WS, and the salesman suggested I practice with vegetable shortening. I have yet to do that, but like you, I've promised a birthday cake to someone, and it occurred to me that I might have to decorate it. I haven't decorated a cake since my kids were little and didn't care what they looked like. But it also occurred to me I could just make her cheesecake instead, and not have to decorate it. ;-)

Good luck with your cake, Bobby, and have fun with it.

Sally

I gave up the cake decorating - it looked like a toddler's work. BUT, I use my pastry bag to fill pasta shells, manicotti, and muffin cups. It works great for those applications.

I don't really decorate cakes much, but I do like to be able to just do a decorative border at least. Check out www.wilton.com for some ideas. Wilton's used to have some cute, simple decorating ideas, but I don't see as much on their site now. The most important thing is to keep it simple, & borders are pretty easy with a shell tip, or star.

Well, I practiced a little. It is a lot of work and a lot of mess. It was equally fun AND frustrating. Lord only knows what this cake is going to look like! I made a white frosting recipe from a red velvet cake recipe. All I can say is that it was awful... not very sweet at all! Flour and granulated sugar have no place in frosting. Cream cheese and powdered sugar really are the best!

To make things easier for you here is the link to the Wilton cake decorating site. I learned how to decorate cakes through free seminars Wilton used to do, now you have to pay for the classes. But all the info you need is right on their site, from the basics like filling and closing the bag, to the difficult like making roses (mine still look wilted after over 20 years). There are even recipes, just look on the main menu on the left side. Hope this is helpful!

Joanne

Here is a link that might be useful: How to decorate a cake