Hi everyone, 

I want to practice piping scrolls and other "wedding designs". I work well with fondant, but I know there will come a day when I will be asked to do this. I tried experimenting while making a display cake today. I used royal icing. The design came out okay, but it looked very bumpy and "crispy". Can anyone recommend the best tip and frosting (store bought or made) for piping? Thanks!! 

Are you just wanting to get the "feel" for piping?  I have used buttercream for 35 or more years.  I used a Crisco based practice icing for new techniques.  1 cup Crisco, 4 cups powdered sugar and 3 (plus or minus depending on humidity) water to get the right consistency.  This has NO taste because it is just for practice.  This would give you the ability to practice piping borders, flowers, letters and some scroll work.  It won't be crisp like royal icing but it would give you the feel without setting up quickly. HTH.

I totally agree with the previous poster.  Don't make a high quality buttercream for practicing.  The Crisco stuff can be re-used for quite a while.  Look online for some practice boards or photocopy them out of old decorating books and have them laminated, or just tape a piece of waxed paper over them for practice.

I just bought a gift for someone with piping materials including a can of Wilton icing for her to practice. The wilton stuff was so thick it wouldn't come through the tip! I should have just told her how to make RI

This will sound odd but when I was in college for culinary management, (many many years ago), I used plain old toothpaste as my medium for practicing my piping skills... to practice piping scrolls, drop strings etc on the side of a cake I had a piece of vinyl attached to my dorm room wall that I would pipe onto.

ABatterup, the Wilton icing is thick because you're supposed to adjust the consistency yourself depending on what you are piping. It's the first thing they teach you on the Wilton basics course.

ok...I never used it. I just bought it as a gift for a beginner who helped me do my Holiday cakes. We are in baking and pastry school together. I will let her know that. Thank you!

ACheap toothpaste

Wow thanks so much! I never would have considered toothpaste!! I tried using royal icing on my first attempt at decorating a display cake. I think one of my problems may have been that my tip had too small of an opening (?). I had to squeeze really hard and it just kind of "rippled" out. My goal was to get thin (ish) fluid lines. They just looked very shaky. Can someone also recommend a good tip size? I appreciate all the great feedback!! Vldutoit, what do you typically use when you are piping on a "real" wedding cake? Buttercream or royal icing? If buttercream, is it a crusting buttercream?  Thanks!!!! 

AI am old school crusting buttercream. I am just too old of a dog to learn new tricks lol.

AIf you're trying to learn how to pipe you should practice with what you are actually going to use on your cakes. Consistency and pressure are huge parts of successful piping and you're doing yourself no favors by practicing with something that you won't be using on a cake.

When you have some leftover buttercream from something else practice with that, or make up a batch of royal and just start working with it.

Can anyone suggest a good frosting for piping please? i'm having trouble with finding the right consistency

Use the Wilton recipe but all shortening.  I think it's Trex over there.