How do you get the scrolls on the sides of the cake to look so neat? Is it better to use royal icing or buttercream? How do you get it to keep a rounded swirl when piping on the side of the cake? My frosting tends to 'break' and lose that clean look. Help! Thanks. Michele

Scrolls require practice, practice and more practice. I use buttercream for mine. If you are using BC and it is breaking then it's too thick. Try thinning it out a bit. It will be better on your hands, too.

First, thin your icing down a little. Second, start off my using a bigger tip until you get the hang of it..like a #4. Third, get the cake up to eye level. Set your turn table on a bucket. Find a simple pattern and just do it over and over until you pefect it...then move on to adding to it. I love, love to do scroll work..but took a lot of practice to get there.

Try doing your scroll work on a bucket of fondant or something similar in shape to a cake so you can wipe off and try again. Good luck!

"Try doing your scroll work on a bucket of fondant or something similar in shape to a cake so you can wipe off and try again. Good luck!"

That's a great idea! Think I will give the bucket a try for practice.

You could also add some piping gel to the icing if you find it keeps breaking.