Piping a Box of Cupcakes – Piping Techniques

There is nothing better than a box of beautifully piped cupcakes, and with Christmas just around the corner these would make the perfect gift. Often one of the hardest things when it comes to piping cupcakes is knowing what piping tips to use and what effect they will create.

This week I’m piping 6 different cupcakes, using a whole range of different piping nozzles in different sizes, to make it easier for you to choose your favourites the next time you want to pipe some cupcakes.

Click below to watch me pipe the cupcakes ⇩

The Cupcake Recipe

Before I jump into the individual cupcake designs for these cupcakes I wanted to mention that I used my vanilla cupcake recipe which you can find here: Vanilla Cupcake Recipes. I also used my American buttercream recipe. One thing I did want to mention is this type of detail on the top of the cupcakes did use a little more buttercream than normal, so you may want to make a little more than you usually would.

The Cupcake Designs

For the first cupcake design you will see in the tutorial I start with 2 small classic rosette swirls. For this I used the classic 2D piping nozzles which is always perfect for this effect. I then used 2 different sized star tips to create cute little domes on the side. The thing to remember is the more teeth cut into your piping nozzle the more texture you’re going to get on the dome itself.

I then finish off all the cupcakes with some pretty sprinkles. These are the Princess Diary sprinkles by Happy Sprinkles. Scroll down in the blog post for a 10% off discount code.

Ok so onto cupcake design number 2. This cupcake features shells, or I think they look like rolling waves, a rosette and some of those pretty lilac domes. You’ll find to the side of each cupcake the piping nozzles I used for each. You’ll notice that the piping tip for creating the rosette in this cupcake was actually the 1M rather than the 2D. These 2 piping nozzles give quite a similar effect and I actually have another tutorial comparing the 1M vs 2D which you can watch here, but usually the 2D gives a slightly more ruffle finish.

Now I have to admit I think cupcake number 3 with the border around the edge is actually my favourite. It is super simple but gives such a pretty effect. I started by covering the center of the cupcake in a small amount of ivory buttercream so we couldn’t see the cake. I then piped a pretty boarder around the edge. To do this, tilt the piping nozzles slightly and as you pipe swirls move the cupcake around. It’s hard to rotate the cupcake all the way around, so if you need to stop at any point just make sure you stop at the bottom of a swirl. This way you can just join the next swirl on and you won’t notice.

This cupcake design would also look great with a small round cupcake topper in the center. You’ll then see those pretty swirls coming out from the side.

For cupcake number 4 I introduced some different techniques including this pretty wave using the #124 petal tip. You can also see that by changing the nozzle you use for the rosette you get a completely different effect. The 1E had so many more teeth than the 2D and it gives the prettiest rosette, a little like a peony as the buttercream lies flat.

Now who said the 2D could only be used for swirls and rosettes! I absolutely love this pretty wave effect down the side of cupcake number 5. You get the classic ruffled texture, but by moving the nozzle back and forth as you pipe it fills the space with such a pretty wave effect, which is also very different to the previous wave effect in the cupcake above.

The whole point of this tutorial was to show how by changing the piping nozzles you can get a completely different effect for your cupcakes. The last cupcake had all the same elements as cupcake number 2. There are waves, rosettes and small domes, but by using different nozzles you get a completely different finished cupcake.

The Sprinkles

For these cupcakes I used the Princess Diary Sprinkles by Happy Sprinkles. If you want to get your hands on some of these sprinkles or any of their sprinkle mixes, Happy Sprinkles have kindly given me a 10% off discount code for me to share with you.

To receive 10% off Happy Sprinkles all you need to do is visit their website www.happysprinkles.com or The Cake Decorating Company and enter the code HAPPYLYNZ10 at the checkout! (This code can not be combined with any other discounts)

I really hope you enjoy the tutorial and will be able to use some of these techniques the next time you want to pipe some cupcakes. If you haven’t already you can subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Free cake decorating video tutorials.

Tools I used

I have put a list below showing all the tools that I used throughout this video or if you would like to see all my favourite cake decorating tools just click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/cakesbylynz

Wilton 1M piping tip: http://amzn.to/2zRsJyl
Wilton 2D piping tip: http://amzn.to/2xqSpQN
Wilton 1M & 2D set: https://amzn.to/3czDGqq
124 piping tip: https://tidd.ly/3V4NlMI
1E piping tip: https://amzn.to/3XoLtjg
22 piping tip: https://amzn.to/3Eu0PKM
4B piping tip: https://amzn.to/3Xxa19R
6B piping tip: https://amzn.to/3AGIx88
12 piping tip: https://amzn.to/3XxaiJV
105 piping tip: https://amzn.to/3VnqbRk
Piping bags I use: https://amzn.to/2WdT5dt
SweetStamp Pink Gel Colour: https://bit.ly/3VtGYSC (Use code ‘CAKESBYLYNZ’ for 10% off)
SweetStamp Violet Gel Colour: https://bit.ly/3Xxb61p (Use code ‘CAKESBYLYNZ’ for 10% off)
Cupcake Cases (similar): https://amzn.to/30cKY0O
Princess Diary Happy Sprinkles: https://www.happysprinkles.com/en (Get 10% off with code ‘HAPPYLYNZ10’)
Wilton Coupler: https://amzn.to/3XzlsxZ
Olbaa Cupcake Box: UK https://amzn.to/3u4x1j1 USA https://amzn.to/3Ue0B00

~ Please note that the links above are affiliate links. If you click the link and purchase any item through that link, I will receive a small commission from the website but this does NOT add any additional costs to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog x ~

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