Just thought I'd add a wee bit more. Click on slide show to see it at its best. I can only wish to ever do such fabulous work!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosey_sugar_palace/sets/72157614949546541/

I LOVE seeing all the deicate piping work. IMO, that is true decorating. I don't know that I will ever be that good, but just seeing it done is amazing. (not taking anything away from the fondant cakes) but there is just no comparison.

I agree. Piping is true cake decorating. I love it and still love to do piping.

amamzing...

I can only speak for my own country: the Netherlands
We've known this kind of cake-decorating for only a few years, let's say 10-15 years, and the last 2-3 years it is booming here and the hype is still going up, if that's a correct phrase to say it.
I think because of that, there are not so much people who know how to pipe so beautifully as in the photo's shown here. And on the other side, those piped cakes, have an image here, that those cake are kind of English/American/ may be old fashioned and in Holland not much people like that.
If I have contact with a couple for a weddingcake, I always send them the link of cakecentral and let them see what is possible. I they see those piped cake, they skip the photo immediately, it's the same with the buttercream cakes. All of the couples say "buttercream?? A cake covered only in cream?? Yaiks!!"
So, it not quiet know here and I think it is not going to be... but that's my opinion

Gefion,
AWESOME piping! Your Lambeth cakes are spectacular! The gold-edged icing is gorgeous! Thanks for keeping that skill alive.

I am truly awed by those piped cakes and it got me a bit intrigued. I whipped up some royal icing today and decided to give it a whirl. What's the worst that could happen right??

So the smallest tips I have are Wilton #'s 2 & 3. Used #3 for the bridge and #2 for the strings. I think I kinda got the hang of it. You can clearly see the wonkier lines when I just started. But I need some tips from the experts. ..

How do you get the lines to stay straight in the crosshatch type designs?

Is it worth it trying to do it with a tip smaller than #2?? The thought of something as fine as a 00 blows my mind.

Any other feedback would be more than welcome.

Ok here is what I use (from an old time gal who learned this years ago). I use a RI with egg whites only. Then I seive the icing thru a new pair of stocking to make it smooth smooth. Then I use only 00-0-1 tubes. I make the parchment paper small so I can hold it like a pencil (extension of my hand kinda thing). When doing the bridge for your extention it goes like this if using #1 tube>>>you would make your bridge 7 deep. If your using the #00 or #0 tube you make the bridge 11 deep. Let that dry and then do the extensions. The extensions should be equaly apart, the space between extensions should be the same size as your tip. Hope this helps.......practise makes perfect. Soon you will see how easy it realy is.

1 more thing I forgot to add. I usualy order my tubes from the UK because I prefer to use only PME tips next to wilton tips. The pme smaller tubes are designed for this kind of work in mind and the icing seems to come out in a straight line more then the wilton tips. Ok, know I think I'm done. Sorry.

No need to be sorry. You actually just answered my next question...Does Wilton make a size 00 tip.

I guess I got it partway right...I used only egg white for the icing. Unfortunately the only tips I can get easily are Wilton. I guess I'll have to make those do for now.

Thatslifeca,
Do you have a website or link for where you buy your tips? I'm not familiar with that company. Thanks.

PME is a very common brand. You can find their things on sale at lots of different websites. I have used this company in the past to order while in and outside of the UK and I've had no issues.

http://www.design-a-cake.co.uk/


HTH

I use PME also, they are a seamless tip, unlike Wilton, so I have much more control with the tip. I love doing Lambeth style cakes and also hope it makes a comeback. I don't want piping to be lost, so hopefully it will be back in a few years. I've done 1 DVD on a baby cake using Lambeth syle (2 more coming out soon). But you are right, no one wants to pay for the work involved. But you can pipe some of these in a few hours or a day, so it's not too all life consuming.

For the extension work, I use a hypodermic needle which is soldered into my cake tip, probably like a 00 or 000. Got it at ICES 15 years ago. But I'd never do that for anything or anyone, stictly a showpiece.

As for Buddy, he's pretty incredible and completely right. You get in a 'zone' and it's supposed to be relaxing to pipe (like making gumpaste flowers is too).

A hypodermic needle??????? Wow...

Sweet_honesty you might enjoy this link. Bit of info on extension work. The photos should enlarge when you click on them.

http://www.paulinescakes.com/2010/04/australian-string-work-rolls-royce-of.html

I took a class in the Lambeth method a couple of months ago. I have a lot of practicing to do. It is very time consuming and it really wears out your hand. It is so beautiful though. I heard that Toba Garrett sells cakes like this for $10,000. I am American so I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but overall I don't think the average American cake consumer has any appreciation for this type of cake. I love it. The girls in the class with me complained the whole day about how old and ugly "those" cakes are. They said that they wanted to learn something new and not that "ancient" stuff from the 1800s. Obviously they didn't understand what the Lambeth class was when they signed up or they just needed some CE credits.

Thanks for the tutorial Joyfull4444. I somehow think I have a loooooooooooooooong way to go before I get there..... I'll just keep making baby steps in the meantime.

[quote="Joyfull4444"][quote="sweet_honesty"]A hypodermic needle??????? Wow...[/quote]

I thought the same thing!

Holy smokes sweetflowers, that has to be very hard to pipe through![/quote]


LOL! It's not that bad really. I use the egg white royal same as you, with the clean stocking to strain it and a tiny bit of piping gel to help it flow better and for less breakage. I was surprised that I could squeeze it through. Kerry Walsh at ICES was the one who demo'd it and was just phenominal. The key is to keep the bag small so your hand won't tire out, and don't refil, start with a fresh batch as the royal will break down from the heat of your hand.

I sure hope people start to learn this stuff again...I'm starting to feel old

So piping gel will help with breakage? About how much should I add per egg white? I had a go again today and my wrist has just about had it. Had some icing consistency issues at first but I still couldn't pipe anything longer than a 2 inch strand.

I make my icing to soft peak consistency maybe a little stiffer since I am adding gel. I add about 1/4 tsp of piping gel to 1 cup of frosting, mix gently. Then I paddle my icing to get rid of the air bubbles. Then load into the stocking to strain and into a small bag. I'm talking about a 7" parchment folded into a cone, use the small tip with no coupler and I fold the bag and hold it like a pencil. but everyone is different. Never fill the bag more than half full or your hand will get tired too fast.

Good luck and keep at it.

Thanks sweetflowers. Hope you don't mind me picking your brain like this. But any tips on the scrollwork? I was looking for tutorials online and found precious few.
Hopefully that will be a little less stressful on my wrist than those strings.....or is that just wishful thinking........