Hi
This maybe a kind of dumb question Do you use one hand or two? I use one hand to squeeze and the other to sort of steady and guide it. I have had people tell me this is wrong but if I don't do that the tip of the bag is unsteady and wiggles all over the place. Should I just practise more so it can be steady with just one hand?
Thanks!

Well, I've only been doing this for 2 years but I say some decorations require 2 hands lol Some borders I can do with one hand, others need 2, same with flowers and scrolls.

If you really need to steady and guide your tip with your other hand, you are probably overfilling your bag. The fuller your piping bag, the less control you have over the tip. This is why with delicate piping, using a half-bag (or baby bag, as I call them) is so useful.

Additionally, the more buttercream that you have in your bag, the longer it will be in your hand, and it becomes susceptible to being heat damaged (i.e., separating or becoming too soft).

With a parchment bag or 12" plastic bag, one spatula-ful of icing is enough.

Of course, others will come behind me and tell you that having a 5 lb batch of buttercream in an 18" piping bag is the best way to do it. LOL

I'm with serious cakes ... it depends on what I'm doing.

fine scrolls and detail work .... I want a smaller bag only about half full for better control.

Putting a shell border on 3 or 4 tiers? Give me a big bag, full of icing, so I can production-line it.

Whatever you are comfortable with ... whatever gives you the best result!

Thanks For your advice!
I'm not happy with the results I'm currently getting so I shall practice, practice, practise and see where that gets me I think I just need to strengthen my hands more. Which seems kind of funny because I also play the piano and the harp so I would think they were fairly strong already. That doesn't seem to be the case as far as a decorating bag goes though.
Serious cakes- I followed the link in your signature and have been enjoying your videos. You almost always use one hand.

Bother, a double post.

Cake pro, how much time do you have before you icing gets heat damaged? I had an issue with this for the first time earlier today. Didn't think I was handling the bag more than normal, but was just curious?
Sorry to step in on your post Auntem. I do find it a little helpful to have a smaller bag, but if I'm doing something quick like borders then I do like a fuller bag.

I only put one small scoop in the bag and I use both hands. Whether perceived or real, I feel that I have more control. I used to fill up my bag, but after trying to squeeze out a rose where my hands started shaking and sweat was rolling down my face, I decided that was too much work! I now I use smaller quantities, refill the bag often and find it much easier to work with. And again, I still use two hands.

Hi Tonya,

I have kinda warm hands, so if I'm piping with a butter-based buttercream, I need to be pretty quick, but I don't have many heat problems with shortening-based buttercreams because I tend to use a stiffer icing which is more impervious to becoming heat damaged.

Was your house warm today, or were perhaps you doing a technique with a small tip so that the BC stayed in your hand for longer than normal?

i decorate with one hand, but i steady the bag with the index finger of my other hand...if that made sense?

Im with those that use one hand and just have that other finger just for comfort..
Edna

I'm with the last 3!

same as the last 4 here

I steady with my second and third toes!

Oh good, so I'm not the only one that steadies it with the other hand.

Chippi- Wow! know that takes talent.

Also I would like to thank you guys for fulfilling a vague ambition for me. I have always though it would be nice to start a thread that went over 1 page long. I know, I know I'm a nut.

I think almost everybody uses that spare index finger for steadying the tip. Especially people like me who drink like 12 cups of coffee a day, LOL.

I just dissuade my students from getting into the 2-handed habit.

I shall also try using my toes like Chippi, especially since the Texas Health Dept already assumes we will introduce staph and norovirus into our baked goods. Using our toes like monkeys should not surprise them at all.

When my mother decorated cakes in the 1980's, she always filled the bag and then folded the top down (kind of like wrapping paper, I often see tiny paper bags for chocolate folded like this) and held onto the folded paper while piping - and in the 80's there was a LOT of piping! She said that was the way "real" decorators held their bags, novices twisted the end. Well, I tried but could never get very good results, probably because I didn't do it often enough to get good and my hands were smaller then.

Imagine my surprise when I went to my first Wilton class and found that twisting was being taught! I felt like I was cheating. I don't know if Mom was just wrong, or pious, or if decorating has just evolved - but I LOVE it!

BTW - in answer to the original question - I use one hand, sometimes using my other hand to hold steady if it's tiny details.