I am a newbie to cake decorating and have grown to enjoy it. However, I loved tje book called "The Art of Royal Icing" by Eddie Spence MBE and I want to get the ideal icing tubes for string work. I knew of the PME icing tubes but just learned of the Bekenal icing tubes. What are your thoughts on what is the best icig tubes for RI stringwork?

You can use any brand of tube/tip as long as they are either stainless steel, or nickel-plated brass.

Other brands are Ateco and whatever Wilton sells (sometimes their own factory, sometimes not). These brands have sizes 00 and 1s for lace work.

Also, your royal icing is a bigger factor than the actual brand of tube/tip. Use real eggs white, and add only as much sugar as needed. Some recipes use 3 white per pound of sugar (good) but some use only 2 (much harder to work).

There are elcheapo tips sold on ebay which are made in a country with a very bad reputation for safety. Please stay away from these. Buy tips with a brand engraved on them, and take good care of them.

Many thanks! I have both Wilton and PME complete tip sets. I'll just stick w/ these.

I have used a few PME and Bakels. I can't see much difference between the two but a big difference to Wiltons As was said, just be sure to stick to well known brand names.

Bekenal ceased trading years ago - their piping nozzles they are considered to better than PME. Both Brands are the tubes-of-choice of the UK Royal Icing fraternity.

I have found some sites that offer Benkenal tips but will only ship within the UK. That is very disappointing. Money is money right?

Anyhow, I will continue to use my PME tips and Wilton tips. I love the Nirvana, Lambeth, and Oriental Methods of cake decorating. So I practice, practice, practice.

I'm excited about taking a couple of classes with Kathleen Lang...

Well, thanks for the input everyone!

I have found some sites that offer Benkenal tips but will only ship within the UK. That is very disappointing. Money is money right?

Anyhow, I will continue to use my PME tips and Wilton tips. I love the Nirvana, Lambeth, and Oriental Methods of cake decorating. So I practice, practice, practice.

I'm excited about taking a couple of classes with Kathleen Lang...

Well, thanks for the input everyone!

I have found some sites that offer Benkenal tips but will only ship within the UK. That is very disappointing. Money is money right?

Anyhow, I will continue to use my PME tips and Wilton tips. I love the Nirvana, Lambeth, and Oriental Methods of cake decorating. So I practice, practice, practice.

I'm excited about taking a couple of classes with Kathleen Lang...

Well, thanks for the input everyone!

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the tips have no seam when working with royal icing for string work? In particular, the size one and lower sizes? Wilton tips tend to have seams.

Yes, the Wilton tips have a seam. I use those for regular cake decorating. I was questioning what was better for RI between PME tips and Bekenal Tips. These have no seams.

The Bekenal tips really are the very best--the cadillac of tips/tubes. They're longer, seamless, and truly round on the ends. They are also free of burrs on the inside. And, of course, they cost 5X what Wilton and Ateco tips cost ;0(

According to Geraldine Randlesome, the original Bekenal producers went out of business and the tubes are now being produced by............PME.

I can't justify the expense for anything but a few for stringwork, but I LOVE my #00, 0, 1, 1.5, & 2. I clean them very carefully using a tiny, soft bristle dental pick so as not to scratch the inside (or the icing will curl and sugar crystals will gather on the scratches/burrs).

Rae