I've had my only success with leaf tips recently using Sugarshack's icing recipe. Previously I always had to default to birdbeak tips because leaves made with regular leaf tips looked ragged and broken.

I tried prying the tips open / closed more. More stiff or more loose icing. Adding piping gel. But the only thing that made them look good was the actual Sugarshack recipe.

What would be the difference between Sugarshack's and, say, the Wilton recipe? The hi-ratio maybe? I really like Sugarshack's but also want the option of trying different recipes when I see them.

I'm not sure, but I do know this. The biggest thing about piping is having the right consistency. So, for you, you've been able to get the right consistency with Sugarshack's recipe. It's usually not the tips...unless you've bent them.

dsilbern - I had this very same problem and finally someone told me to add a little bit of corn syrup to my buttercream and - voila! I had beautiful pointed leaves from then on. I couldn't believe the difference. I'd even asked my cake instructor numerous times for help and she kept saying I wasn't squeezing the bag hard enough so I got broken points. Nope - wasn't the pressure - it was the corn syrup that did the trick!

HTH!

I could never get my leaves to look right until I switched from the one that came in the Wilton Course 1 box to #352. Never had a problem again.