Piping Swirls

Fill a piping bag, choose a tip, squeeze with steady pressure and practice swirls on parchment before you pipe cupcakes.

Piping means squeezing frosting through a bag and tip to make swirls, stars and dots. In this lesson you will set up a bag, control the pressure and practice.

You will learn

• How to fill a piping bag
• How pressure controls the shape
• How to pipe a cupcake swirl

What you need

• A piping bag
• A round or star tip
• Buttercream
• A tall glass
• Parchment paper
• Cooled cupcakes
• Your grown-up

Steps

1. Drop in the tipWash your hands first, and check every ingredient with your grown-up for allergies. A piping tip is the small nozzle that shapes the frosting. A star tip makes ridged swirls and a round tip makes smooth ones. Drop it into the bag, and if the bag needs an opening, your grown-up snips the end.
2. Fill it half fullStand the bag in a tall glass and fold the top over the rim like a collar. Spoon in buttercream, a soft frosting made from butter and sugar, until the bag is about half full. Then unfold the top and twist it closed.
3. Hold it rightYour stronger hand holds the twist and does the squeezing. Your other hand lightly guides the bag near the tip, like steering a pencil.
4. Practice on parchmentParchment paper is nonstick baking paper, perfect for practice. Squeeze with steady pressure and pipe dots, lines and swirls. Scrape it back into the bag and try again.
5. Pipe a swirlHold the bag straight up just above the cupcake. Squeeze as you circle in from the outside edge, then pipe a smaller circle on top. Stop squeezing first, then lift away.
6. Keep it coolWarm hands soften frosting, and soft frosting loses its shape. If your swirls droop, rest the bag in the fridge for a few minutes.

Try it

• 
  Rising Chefs

  Vanilla Buttercream

• 
  Junior Bakers

  Vanilla Cupcakes

• 
  Junior Bakers

  Funfetti Cupcakes

Check yourself