Adding a simple “Congratulations” or a name to a plain chocolate cake transforms the cake from afternoon tea to special occasion in a flash. Many beginners are scared of piping, but a few simple tricks make the process simple.
What Kinds of Icing Are Appropriate for Piping Words?
In theory any icing soft enough to pipe can be used, but some types of icing are more appropriate than others. Fluffy icings such as buttercream and cream cheese icings tend to attract air bubbles and produce a globby result: additionally, their high fat content can result in the frosting melting in the piping bag from the heat of the decorator’s hand.
Royal icing is commonly used for piping. As it is fluffy, can must be taken to ensure all air bubbles are expelled from the mixture. However, it is otherwise easy to work with, has a smooth consistency and sets hard. As royal icing is pure white it can be easily tinted to match the cake.
Piping chocolate on a cake can be tricky, as melted chocolate can go from being very runny to solidifying in the piping bag in a matter of moments. A more stable mixture is chocolate ganache, cooled and used as-is or whipped into a fluffier, paler mixture. In ganache form chocolate is smooth and easy to pipe: but as with all frostings containing fat, care must be taken not to overheat the mixture in the hand. Some decorators work with two piping bags if they plan to do a lot of piping, storing the extra bag in the fridge and swapping as required.
How to Space Words On a Cake
Make and fill a piping bag. It is wise to make more frosting than required, in order to practice first. An upside-down dinner plate is a useful tool to practice writing and spacing.
Experienced cake decorators can pipe directly on the surface of an iced cake. For beginners, it is helpful to mark the place of the first and last letters with a pin. On fondant that is still slightly soft, the whole text can be embossed into the surface with a fine skewer or pin: this makes piping easier, as the decorator can simply trace over the lines with icing.
Another option is to pipe the words with a fine line of icing the same colour as the fondant. Mistakes can be wiped off; when the writing looks satisfactory, the cake decorator can go over the writing with a contrasting colour and slightly thicker line of icing.
Before piping the words on the cake, double- and triple-check all spellings. A misspelled name on a cake looks unprofessional – worse still is misspelling words like “Congratulations”, “Anniversary” or “Graduation”. Don’t use multiple exclamation points or improper grammar such as wrongly-placed apostrophes.
How to Pipe Words on Fondant
Hold the piping bag in the palm of your hand, squeezing it from the top between the thumb and first finger. To start a line, touch the nozzle to the fondant, then raise the thread of icing above the surface of the cake. Squeeze very gently, keeping the pressure constant, and pull the icing to create curves or lines. To finish a line, touch the nozzle to the surface of the fondant and release the pressure.
Tips for Writing on Cakes
- Raising the thread of icing above the cake’s surface allows you to lay the thread smoothly onto the surface, creating a raised tube of icing. Dragging the nozzle across the surface makes less natural curves and flattens the tube of icing, producing a flat and wobbly result more sensitive to an unsteady hand.
- To keep a steady hand, rest your elbow on the table and support the wrist of your piping hand with the other hand. The more “grounded” your arms are, the less likely your hand is to shake.
- Practice on a dinner plate or piece of greaseproof paper before writing, even if you’ve done it before. For a round cake, pipe the whole phrase (eg. “Happy Birthday Milly”) onto the plate as if it were the cake. Check the spacing – you may need to start piping further to the left or right than you expected, or scale the font size up or down.
- Printing out the layout, font and spelling of the writing you plan to pipe can be useful. Pin up the paper above your work surface and refer to it frequently.
- There is no one correct font for cakes. If cursive writing is not your strong point, use print.
- If you're very nervous about spoiling a cake, pipe words onto a plaque made of fondant, sugar paste or chocolate. The plaque can then be placed on the cake.
Sarah Tennant - Sarah Tennant is a onetime English major who lives in New Zealand with her husband and two small children. Her interests range from ...
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