How to Use a Piping Bag: A Step-by-Step Beginner Guide

• Lynsey Macdonald

How to use a piping bag in a nutshell...

  1. Snip the end off the piping bag and insert piping tip
  2. Fill half to two thirds of the bag with buttercream
  3. Hold at 45 or 90 degree angle and pipe your design (90° for stars and flower decorations, 45° for finer borders and lettering!)

Learning how to use a piping bag is one of the first things anyone who is getting into baking needs to do. Whether you’re making a simple batch of iced cupcakes or a larger, more elaborate cake, it’s a necessary skill! If you’re brand new to the cake world, don’t worry - it’s simpler than it might look!

By following this step-by-step guide, you will get to grips with a standard piping bag and learn how to pipe simple designs on your cakes and cupcakes.

We’ll cover everything from the supplies you’ll need to the techniques we recommend, and we’ll even do some troubleshooting to help with any piping bag issues you encounter.

What You'll Need

Reusable vs. Disposable Piping Bags

Type of Piping Bag Pros Cons
Disposable Piping Bags Hygienic Do not need to be washed Cheaper to buy initially Less environmentally friendly Costs more in the long run as you need to keep repurchasing
Reusable Piping Bags More environmentally friendly Cost-effective over time Requires thorough washing after each use May absorb colourings which could transfer

Step-by-Step Guide to Using a Piping Bag

Step 1: Gather your supplies

Bring together everything you need to get started. If you’d prefer not to practice on an actual cake, you can just use a cake board or even a plate.

Step 2: Check the consistency of your buttercream

In order for your piping bag to do the best job, your buttercream needs to be the right texture. It should be soft enough for your spoon or palette knife to glide through, but still hold its shape when lifted. You want it to be soft enough to move easily through the piping nozzle, but without falling apart.

Step 3: Snip the end off your piping bag

Piping bags are supplied as a bag with a closed end. In order to use it for piping, you need to snip about half an inch off the bottom. This will allow the icing to flow through the piping nozzle.

Step 4: Insert your piping tip

Push your chosen piping nozzle into the bag, right to the bottom. Ensure that you’ve cut enough off the end that no plastic covers any of the teeth or edges of your piping tip. If it does, remove the piping tip and snip a tiny bit more off.

PRO TIP! You can use a product called a coupler with your piping bag, which makes it easy to switch between different nozzles. It comes in two parts, which screw together - place the inside part in the snipped piping bag, and then attach your piping tip to the outside part, and screw the two parts together.

Step 5: Fill piping bag with buttercream or royal icing

Using a spoon or a palette knife, scoop your icing into the bag and push towards the bottom. You want a good amount of buttercream, filling up at least halfway to ensure smooth piping. But don’t overfill - you need plenty of room at the top to squeeze the bag, and don’t want to overfill and have it burst!

PRO TIP! Fold the top edge of the piping bag over a glass, or the hand that is holding it, while you fill the bag. That way, when you’re finished, you can unfold it, and it will give you a clean, mess-free area to hold on to!

Step 6: Gently squeeze the piping bag

Twist the empty part of the bag and squeeze until you can see your buttercream appearing in the piping nozzle.

Step 7: Hold the piping bag at either a 90-degree or 45-degree angle

If you are piping stars or flat petal flowers, hold your piping bag vertically, at a 90 degree angle.

On the other hand, if you’re piping a border or writing a message with a fine line nozzle, hold your piping bag at a 45 degree angle.

Step 8: Pipe your design

Now it’s time to pipe your design onto your practice board or your cake. Start off with something simple - we have a tutorial for a simple rose swirl!

Troubleshooting

We spoke to our friend Grace from @sweetgeebakes, who made the brilliant video above, to get her top troubleshooting tips for piping bags!

Issue #1 - Air bubbles in your buttercream

Solution - "I give the piping bag a nice massage with my scraper or hands (don't over do it with your hands if they run hot!). This should push any air bubbles to the bottom of the piping bag and then just before I'm ready to pipe, I'll squeeze the first bit of buttercream back into the bowl, getting rid of those final air bubbles."

Issue #2 - Coupler doesn't fit with piping tips

Solution - "Couplers and piping tips don't always fit. In this case, you can add the piping tip to another bag, and this allows you to interchange tips and colours easily!"

Issue #3 - Struggling to control the flow from the piping bag

Solution - "I prefer smaller bags, you'll refill them more often but working with smaller quantities of buttercream will put less pressure on your hand and give you more control - this is really useful if you have shaky hands."

Over to you!

Now all that’s left to do is practice! Don’t forget to head to our piping bags category to shop all our different options, and check out our piping nozzles too.

Once you’ve mastered filling the piping bag and piping the basics, the world is your oyster! We can’t wait to see what you create. From vintage-inspired Lambeth cakes to simple cupcakes, tag us in your creations on Instagram - we’re at @the_cake_decorating_co!

More Beginner Guides

Cake Advice: What Size of Cake Board do I Need?

The Best Way to Prevent Cakes from Sticking to the Tin

The Ultimate Guide to Food Colourings for Cake Decorating

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