Piping

Squeezing frosting, batter, dough or cream through a bag and tip to make shapes, borders, writing or even portions.

Piping: A piping bag with a star tip piping rosettes of buttercream onto a sheet of parchment
  • Techniques and preparation methods

Also called: pipe, piping technique

The tip shapes the result: round tips for dots, lines and macarons, open and closed star tips for rosettes and shells, petal and leaf tips for flowers. Holding the bag at 90 degrees makes dots and rosettes; at about 45 degrees it makes borders and shells.

Frosting should be firm but smooth. If it's too soft, chilling it briefly helps; if it's too stiff, a few drops of milk loosen it. Choux pastry, meringue and cookie dough are piped the same way.

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Tools for this

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Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Piping (Q1569661), Wikidata