Small Details/outlining - Please Help!!

Baking By bonniebakes Updated 28 May 2008 , 7:06pm by kneadacookie

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bonniebakes Posted 27 May 2008 , 2:38pm
post #1 of 13

I am so frustrated!!

How do those of you that do small details or outlines do it so nicely with royal icing? What tip do you use?

I've thinned my royal, added piping gel, and added corn syrup and none of those ways work well for me. I use the smallest tip I have (01 or 00), but it gets clogged so often! What should I be doing that I'm not doing? How do you keep the tip from getting clogged when you use a small tip?

Also, is there another smaller tip that I should be using to get really fine lines??

thanks for any help or advice!!!

12 replies
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cookiemookie Posted 27 May 2008 , 2:42pm
post #2 of 13

I am curious also.

This always happens to me! icon_cry.gif

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SuHwa Posted 27 May 2008 , 2:59pm
post #3 of 13

I use a parchment bag so that I can roll the opening as small as I need when piping fine details. The consistency I tend to go for is some where between yogurt and white glue. I like to do my cookies in an assembly line fashion, so I would do all the details of one color on all of the cookies at once. Sometimes you have to think about your design backwards when you do that... What color do I want layered ontop of another, do I want an outline to cover that, etc. Sometimes when I can't do that, I'll wrap my tip in a damp paper towel to keep the icing from drying and clogging the tip.

HTH

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luv2cake Posted 27 May 2008 , 3:01pm
post #4 of 13

I like to use the parchment bags and make sure that when I am folding them that they have a tiny little hole or no hole at all. Normally you would cut the point off and insert a tip, but I like to use these w/o a tip. Then I can cut the hole as big as I want. I start small and cut it bigger if I need to.

This also helps if it gets clogged because I can pinch the parchment tip and work the clog out.

Hope this makes sense.

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JennaB Posted 27 May 2008 , 3:18pm
post #5 of 13

I too always use a parchment bag w/o a tip, but a pastry chef once told me to cut down the size of the triangle before making the bag because it is easier to control when writing small. I have found this work every time except when I forgot to thin my RI. Oops.

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mandice Posted 27 May 2008 , 3:39pm
post #6 of 13

thin your RI a little, but not so that it's runny, but enough so that it doesn't kill/cramp your hand when you're constantly squeezing the bag, and strain it through a piece of (clean, dry, and unused) nylon into your piping bag/parchment to get out the chunks. (you can also thin it after you've strained it, but doing it beforehand just makes it easier, IMO)
i learned that in stringworks class. hope that helps! icon_biggrin.gif

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nickymom Posted 27 May 2008 , 3:40pm
post #7 of 13

Thanks for this thread....I'll have to remember this.

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LaurynBrook Posted 27 May 2008 , 3:58pm
post #8 of 13

I'll try to remember that nylon trick. Great tip!

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Amia Posted 27 May 2008 , 4:24pm
post #9 of 13

I'm glad I found this thread! I'm just about to go make my first batch of RI to finish up this monstrous cake and it would have been horrible if I ruined all that hard work with the RI! Thanks for sharing everyone! thumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gif

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bonniebakes Posted 27 May 2008 , 7:03pm
post #10 of 13

thanks, everyone, for your help!!!

It's interesting that so many of you don't use bags/tips when you do outlining...

I don't think the consistency of my RI is the problem. It flows out very nicely (when it flows), it just gets clogged somewhere in the tip quite frequently...

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kimsmom Posted 27 May 2008 , 9:25pm
post #11 of 13

I've tried to use bags, but they just are too hard for me to manipulate. (I refuse to say I'm clumsy with them) I envy all of you that are able to use them. I have always used small squeeze bottles that accomodate icing tips. It's sort of like writing with a very big pencil for me, plus if the tip does get clogged, I just have to unscrew the tip and poke it with a toothpick from the inside out, screw it back on and I'm ready to go again. I do hate cleaning them though.

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cookingfor5 Posted 28 May 2008 , 6:11pm
post #12 of 13

I don't know if this helps anyone, but it has helped me a lot. I use to have the same problem and now I make sure my icing is whipped enough. It has to be a fluffier consistency, not full of air, but fluffier like royal and my thin lines work better. I also have one tip I know I can't use with royal at all. It doesn't have a perfectly round tip and clogs easily. I can only assume it has been smashed in it's lifetime, as it is an older tip.

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kneadacookie Posted 28 May 2008 , 7:06pm
post #13 of 13

i always use a bag and tip when detailing. sometimes i use a #2, but i love the #1. you can get pretty detailed. my tips clog sometimes, but not often enough to stop using them. when i do get a clog, i try to clean out the whole tip. if you just try to clean out the end, to me that's just pushing the clog back in to clog up later. and i always make sure my powdered sugar is sifted to cut down on the clumps.

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