Will I Ever Learn How To Do It????
Decorating By candyladyhelen Updated 6 May 2006 , 2:29am by candy177
For those of you who work in supermarket bakeries....I have just started a job in an upscale cake dept. of a supermarket. I have been decorating cakes for 34 years now. But I frost my cakes completely different than they do. I only use a spatula. They pipe the icing on with the large icer tube, then use the wide scraper & comb. Also, they only use these huge 36" decorating bags. I can hardly lift them, let alone pipe with them. Can anyone give me any tips? Or am I doomed cause you can't teach an old dog new tricks????
i too started in a bakery and things were different i found that if you take 1/4 or 1/2 the bag of icing and twist the bag your hand will fit just right around the bag but you still have all the icing that the bag will hold. do you get what i am saying? i hope i explained it right.
I have no experience with this, but I have seen it done on TV. What they do and what I believe alracntna is saying is take the huge bag and make a smaller one out of it. You will have the rest like hanging over your wrist. Am I making any sense....If so, that is a first (LOL).
HTH
LinB
I have no experience with this, but I have seen it done on TV. What they do and what I believe alracntna is saying is take the huge bag and make a smaller one out of it. You will have the rest like hanging over your wrist. Am I making any sense....If so, that is a first (LOL).
HTH
LinB
Yes, I understand. But I just want to take a pair of scissors & chop off the bag so I can lift it! LOL
I see a bad case of carpal tunnel in their future! I have a hard time with a 12" bag sometimes. Just don't think I'd like the bakery scene. This old dog doesn't want to learn their tricks! 
Diane
I've always worked in supermarket bakeries - well, I did a freelance stint in a private bakery for a few weeks but then I moved out of state!
When I first started (4 years ago), I couldn't spatula ice to save my life. I learned with a bag and I stuck with a bag. I still use the plastic scraper (only occasionally do I use a comb) on every cake, even at home, but I have left the bag behind. The only time I do use a speed icer tip is when I must make a whole ton of cakes in a short amount of time, and if they're all the whipped icing. I find the icing gets very airy in the bag and the BC is so heavy that the tip rips the bag! So yeah, I usually only use the bag for a 50+ cake day!
I learned to spatula ice when a decorator who was training for another store came in. She had just left a very upscale bakery and never used the bag! I watched her and gathered some tips and have been spatula icing ever since.
As for bag size, I prefer 16" bags. At work, I have 12", 18" and 22". The 22" are used sparingly as so are the 12". Since I'm in charge of the cake area, I get to order what I want, when I want it. I still haven't gotten around to purchasing new tips that I can't order through my supplier yet though.
With the bigger bags, I choke way up on them and rest the remaining bag on my shoulder. I don't push myself too hard most days and if I feel any strain in my shoulder or wrist, I stop. I did work with a woman in another bakery who ended up with carpal tunnel from all the BC work (ours is VERY stiff consistency) so she couldn't work with that for a few weeks. In that time period, I ended up doing all of that...and ended up wearing a brace to keep myself pain-free. Not a fun thing!
I'd much rather prefer to do this out of my house...but business isn't THAT steady...although I did mention to my neighbor that I do cakes...she was interested...
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