I'm planning to do a practise cake to learn a few new techniques, one of them being cornelli piping. I've searched youtube for demo's of the technique but couldn't find very much at all. Does anyone have any advice on this technique? I'll be piping on fondant (sugarpaste) so plan to use royal icing - how thick should my icing be? Should my tip be touching the fondant or just above? Do i pipe fast or slow? As you can see i have no idea!! Tfl xx

http://www.wilton.com/technique/Cornelli-Lace

everything you ever wanted to know about cornelli lace. and your royal icing should also be thin consistency.

Theresa

I love that technique. It is easy once you get the hang of it.
I hold the tip a smidge above the surface. It does take a little time. I recommend the smaller tips for it. It looks better and more delicate with a smaller tip. Need the icing really thin too.
I would take a plate and practice a bit before doing it on the cake. Start slow and once you get the feel it goes faster.
Have fun with it.

...a poor example in the Wilton photo--the strings aren't suppose to touch one another, but they do in the photo example.

You'll need it very thin to use tip#1 as Wilton suggested. I usually use #2 for cornelli and sotas.

It's really just a bunch of R and S shapes that look like squiggles. Try to start at the border and end at the border so that you won't have any endings showing.

Cornelli is a good way to cover a multitude of sins.

this is my absolute favorite technique to do on a cake. I like to use a smaller tip, but have gone up to a #3 depending on the look and the size of cake i am working on. Play around with the different sizes, and remember the smaller you go the more string work you'll have to pipe so make sure you're icing is thin enough to squeeze easily.

I keep my tip up off of the cake, but only about 1/8". The strings DO NOT touch (unlike the wilton picture as mentioned) I usually start along the edge and then do about a 2"x2" square/circle/oval area and start working my way around the cake. The hardest part i had at the begining was not just zig zaging across the cake and back, i find it gives a better effect to work in small sections (as mentioned above) instead of going straight across the cake and back. (i hope that makes sense, it probably will after you do it a few times)

here are a couple of examples that i have in my photos - in both of these i did quite a bit of spacing between the lines, pulling the lines closer together or further apart can totally change the look of a cake.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=481853

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=481483

the photos leily posted are great examples of a good looking lace. I love this design also, and it pains me when I see this design in straight rows and lines and definite patterns. When you finish making this, you should NOT be able to figure out where it's going; no pattern to it at all.

A thin icing and I find that if I move my arm and not my hand, that its less tiring and I have more control.

Thankyou so much for all your replies, i'm looking forward to trying this out. Leily your photo examples are beautiful, i hope my attempts at this technique will turn out even a fraction as good as yours!

love this pattern on cake as well.
The first few times I made this, it wasn't the nicest, but with practice it came together really well..
Good Luck and have fun!
Jodi

I just made my first wedding cake yesterday that was covered in cornelli lace. Also the first time I had ever done the lace pattern. I practiced on a plate a few times but after I got the hang of getting it to look random, it was so easy! Lessons I learned were, use a small tip...I used a 4 but prob should have done a little smaller...and make sure your icing is good and thin! My buttercream was a little too thick, and my strings were breaking like crazy. I think it looks so good. Good luck!

I also found this video really helpful: