Russian Piping Tips - Opinions?
Decorating By theresaf Updated 11 Feb 2017 , 4:51am by 4theloveofcookies
I am a professional baker and I too bought the tips from Amazon. Before I bought them, I did some research. SugarArt's website has a really great informational video by Chef Alan that tells you all the do's and don'ts for using the tips. You can search on the Sugar Art website OR on You Tube.
Biggest do - make sure your buttercream is stiff! I used an Italian Buttercream that I made and added powdered sugar to stiffen the consistency. My kitchen was hot that day so half of the flowers I did were great and the rest.. well, blobs. But I knew what I did wrong after watching the video. I rarely use the American style of buttercream with butter and powdered sugar, but in the case of Russian tips, perhaps it would have been best.
In the "Chef Alan" video, he shows a REALLY cool tip to make your flowers with 2 colors! I recommend watching the entire video! Here's my first try.
Rebecca
I ordered a set of 17 tips on eBay. A lot cheaper than Amazon or other places. I've only tried them once so far. I gave them a shot with SMBC and that doesn't work. The first one piped was perfect, but after that, just a big blob. I'm going to try again with a much stiffer icing when I get a chance.
@jselle Oh those aren't mine, just some that I admire! I have the tips and have played with them a little bit, but not enough to master them. I used SMBC with some success but as it heated in my hand the blobs started happening. I got another bag and wore gloves and it was better.
I ordered mine. I paid $6.07 for a set of 7 tips on ebay, free shipping. Warning, you are wandering into the abyss of a bunch of really inexpensive cake cr@p. I am now the proud owner of things like a baby-item cupcake topper silicone mold ($1.31) and a squeeze silicone cake writing pen ($1.23). c:
It's easy to see from the photos that it's all about the buttercream, and getting sharp edges that hold up. I'm alrady thing a bit of gelatin disolved in boiling water, or maybe some meringue powder. You know, stiffness without too much density.
The Sugarcraft video is a must-watch.
I bought mine from a local shop who carries them. I think they are an option on flowers, although a mix of Russian tip flowers and standard buttercream flowers would look good. Here is the first cake I did with them. I use SMBC and the tips worked perfectly with it.
[postimage id="4038" thumb="900"]
Your posted cakes in this thread inspired me to try the tips, because you did them so well.
i have just treated myself to a set of the nozzles - bought from amazon (I'm in the UK). Had my first stab at using 3 of them this morning - my icing should perhaps have been a tad thicker and i found that sometimes when lifting the nozzle away that the entir flower wanted to lift off the cake surface but here are 3 i did and that look OK.
[postimage id="4040" thumb="900"]
I think they might do better when going onto a layer of frosting. I used my standard SMBC to pipe the flowers. I did have a thin layer on top that I piped the flowers directly onto.
Quote by @hep275 on 19 hours ago
i have just treated myself to a set of the nozzles - bought from amazon (I'm in the UK). Had my first stab at using 3 of them this morning - my icing should perhaps have been a tad thicker and i found that sometimes when lifting the nozzle away that the entir flower wanted to lift off the cake surface but here are 3 i did and that look OK.
Wanted to add, I think yours look good despite the issue you had. (sorry the post looked like it would allowing editing but then denied me)
I would love to see pics of them as well. They are interesting from what I can see of them.
Quote by @rychevamp on 13 hours ago
Has anyone seen the sphere / ball shaped ones?
I was just curious about them...
I just got those today. I'll give them a try tomorrow hopefully.
Hi everyone!
Happy to see this is a topic everyone wants to talk about - and the more people respond we all see how many different versions of these tips there are. I only experimented with one set and they are large so no coupler. But because I wanted to change tips I 'double bagged' it - I put the tip I wanted in the bottom of one bag and just took out the bag (or saran wrap) and popped in a new tip.
From what I can tell so far, the trick is all in how you set up your icing bag and color placement - if you want the center a different color than the outside petals, etc. And of course, a stiff enough consistency! I agree with above, you need an icing coat underneath it all.
Here's my one experiment and there WILL be more! And thanks for sharing!!
Best
T
[postimage id="4052" thumb="900"]
You all did a wonderful job with your Russian tips. I may sound like an old stick in the mud, but I don't like the Russian tips. They remind me of something that came out of a factory, not detailed
The flowers are a little rough looking, meaning that it isn't like a meticulously crafted, work of art, rose.
But let's be real. How many times have you made a cake, and if you honestly counted your shopping and driving time, materials, supplies, gasoline, utilities, baking and decorating time, and every single speck of product you used, you either made nothing on a cake, or you spent an entire day on something that was simply meant as a nice gesture.
I'm always looking for few shortcuts: I'm not uppity! And, I think some of this work is awesome!
The sweet granny across the street is getting some cupcakes tomorrow, which I will decorate in 5 minutes, and move on to other things. She will think they're breath-taking!
Got them from Amazon. They arrived much faster than expected. They are amazing. No pictures to share.. but I used it twice. First to see what it is and how to get the technique. Learned that best is a between medium to stiff consistency for the BC. Double or triple color also made it nice.
Enjoy them
Quote by @littlejewel on 4 days ago
You all did a wonderful job with your Russian tips. I may sound like an old stick in the mud, but I don't like the Russian tips. They remind me of something that came out of a factory, not detailed
I'm with YOU on this one...I don't like the end product tho I agree it has a place I guess in this fast food world. Don't let punters hear you say you can knock out a cake in five minutes... asking a fair price for our hard work is hard enough as it is..!!! I just spent 60hrs making gumpaste flowers for a wedding cake....
Some of these are very pretty; especially where clustered together. But it just seems like an awful lot of frosting, whether on a cake or a cupcake. Ewww. So a lot of people will likely scrape a great portion of that off & just throw it away, which seems like such a waste.
So is there anyway to know what size tip you are ordering? Do they have style numbers are anything? I want to order the small ones to use on cupcakes. I don't want the large tips. So how do I know what size I'll actually get if I order on EBay or Amazon?
My cheap ones arrived from Ebay, just over $6.00 US for 7 tips. They are great.
In Bee Cakes' photo above, the tips at far left and far right are swirly looking.
There is another set commonly offered that has one LESS swirly tip, and one MORE that is a flower-y looking tip. I got the latter set.
My cheap ones are big. I thought I would like smaller ones, but these are fine.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%