So I have been decorating for nearly a year now. Took the Wilton's Buttercream Class, but haven't done much with it except for frosting my cakes. So when I made my latest cake which is a Woody cake, I thought no problem I can just pipe on the red stripes and call it a day.

Can I say that last night after I had scraped it off for the third time not only was I ready to smash the cake, but just quit. LOL. It was a long day. We went to the fair and I left decorating to the last minute, which made it more frustrating.

So to those of you that have cakes with piping detail on them, I give you credit and bow down to your skill. And in the future I will just roll out little red fondant snakes for the shirt...LOL.

I second this haha. I started cakes in march and for my second one did a piped cake but found it really hard! I haven't bothered since... its something that I really need to do more to practice I guess! doing it flat is not too bad but trying to do the sides of the cake is a nightmare! I have seen some amazing piped designs on here and just think how on earth do they do that! I really take my imaginary hat off to people who can do these beautiful designs And make it look so effortless!

I agree, it is harder than it looks. I've been trying to do some piping, even if it's really simple, on every cake I make for the practice. It gets better with each cake .

I find it hard too , the only cake I really spent piping on nearly killed me ! (in my gallery )Thought my hand was going drop off , it was bright red and sore . Turned out on reflection that my icing was too stiff . I am going to give it a bash again soon.

But you see, likewise, there are some of us who bow down to the fondant experts!! I am clueless!!

Would you invest ons of $$$ to learn how to play an instrument not touch it for a yr, then expect to pick it up and play THE most beautiful song ever?

It takes practice, Practice, PRACTICE
Nothing comes easy to those who do not put effort into it.

Would you invest ons of $$$ to learn how to play an instrument not touch it for a yr, then expect to pick it up and play THE most beautiful song ever?

It takes practice, Practice, PRACTICE
Nothing comes easy to those who do not put effort into it.

Sorry for the double post ... got a 'debug' notice and didn't realize it has posted anyway.

Saw a good quote recently: "Winners lose more than losers. But they also win more than losers because they stay in the game." Stay in the game!

Glad to see that I am not alone. I think I am going to try and pipe something on every cake from here on out just for practice. That was a great idea. Thanks.

I went to the fair first, and planned on the kids staying asleep through the night which didn't happen so I was piping at like 1 am. I finished...its the Woody cake I just added today. Not horrible, but I can see where it is messed up.

Cute cake!

It looks like the vertical lines went down smoothly and the horizontal lines (that overlap the verticals) kept breaking. How would you describe the problem during piping? If the lines tended to curl, you might have a tip with a seam that caused it. If the lines simply kept breaking, the icing could have been too thin and droopy from adding the amount of red food coloring, or too airy. (The latter isn't very likely, because as the red food coloring is added, the air is usually whipped out.)

I'd try "drawing" it on the cake more with a heavy pressure rather than trying to keep it delicate (as in drop stringwork) for overlapped piping.

I probably would have just given up on piping and used the extruder to make the lines... the thing is for me, doing it on top of a cake is difficult, but not too bad, but doing it on the sides is all but impossible. I saw a tilting turntable on a website the other day which I think I may invest in to make it a bit easier.

Aw I have to say I'm disappointed then but I guess using a book is easy! Thanks for the advice!