What Am I Doing Wrong? Making Leaves
Decorating By msumissa Updated 18 Apr 2005 , 12:42pm by AngelWendy
Long story short, I am signed up for a Wilton class, but I had to reschedule it 
and I am making my daughter's first bithday cake this weekend. I am doing the Wilton cake with the flower cookie cutter as the outline filled in w/ stars. No problems there, I am a wiz at stars. I tried practicing making leaves last night and they were horrible. I could not make them come into a point, I always ended up with 2 points. Sometimes on of the leaf sides was split off of the other side. 
I added piping jel and that helped. What am I doing wrong so that I am not getting a point. When I stop the pressure and pull, I end up with 2 points. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really want her cake to be as perfect as possible. 
Also, I bought the mini tier cake pans off Ebay 
, hopefully I will have them in time. If I do, do I need to put support in if I am just doing the top two layers. I want to make that for her smash cake. Thanks for all your help!
Get rid of that leaf tip they make you use and go buy a 352. You will have perfect leaves every time.
If you insist on making them with tat tip. add some piping gel.. it may help, according to others. Can't prove it by me. People ask me how i get mine so perfect... because I use a 352, always, regardless of what is called for- even on my ivy.
OOh, well, i applaud you for practicing ahead of time! Yes, I totally agree with Dawn. Use the other tip (352) if you can get it! If not, some people say opening the tip up (on the regular leaf tip) more helps. Just lever your small spatula or a table knife in the tip point and rock back and forth. Opening it up more sometimes helps get a better leaf. I spent a lot of time practicing with it, too, and i found that if stopped squeezing sooner and lifted out and up quickly I got something more of a point, sometimes needing to twist a bit, too to curl the end into what approximated a point.
Once I got the other tip (352) I have always used that one for the leaves and it's so easy!
Yes, I think you will need some support in the top two layers of the mini pans esp. if they are on top of another cake. Use a cake board under the bottom one at least, and some dowels or even straws under that into the bottom layer. It would probably help to use some dowel support between the top two also, depending how thick they are and how many layers are in each tier. You might be able to use toothpicks or small skewers on that size. I just ordered mini tiered pans, too, and can't wait for them to arrive!
Best wishes!
Blessings,
~AngelWendy
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