I just need to pipe a very small amount of black buttercream frosting on some cupcakes...basically the "eyes." Is there an easy way to do this? To make a small piping bag full of frosting seems wasteful. Can I "dot" some eyes on using a toothpick dipped in coloring gel? Or will it bleed?

If I have a small amount of detail to do, I just mix a small amount of the color, put some icing in a tip and push it out with my finger. Saves the trouble of bagging it.

If you have parchment or wax paper on hand make a small paper cornet. You won't even need a tip to do what you described. only color as much as you need black, and cut the hole VERY small. This is what I use for all my detail work when I only need a tiny bit of one color.

Thanks for the suggestions. I made the parchment cornet and it worked PERFECTLY! I actually had some ready made black piping gel so I used that. FYI - I also did try using a toothpick and dipped it in the coloring gel and that worked, too.