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Bag and tip decorating is one of the most fundamental skills
for cake and dessert decorating.
But first, you have to learn how to prepare the decorating bag.
I'm going to show you two different ways
to do this-- one is with a coupler and one is without.
If you're going to be using the same bag of icing
with multiple tips, you're going to want to use a coupler.
A coupler is a two-part.
It has a base, and it has a ring.
To prepare your bag with a coupler,
you're going to go ahead and open your decorating bag
and insert the pointy end of the cobbler down towards the end.
You're going to take your scissors,
and you're going to want to mark the coupler about a 1/4
of an inch below that bottom thread just like this.
I think I got a mark there.
And then you're going to go ahead and push the coupler back
out.
Take your scissors and just clip it off right at that point.
And then push the coupler, the pointy end, right
through the bottom of your bag.
And then you're going to take your tip,
place it over the coupler, and then your ring and twist
and lock it into place.
Now I'm going to show you how to fit
a bag without a coupler, which is really great for when you're
using just one tip or a large tip like the 789, 2D, or 1M.
This is a 16-inch bag.
And as you can see, it's a lot bigger than a 12-inch.
This is perfect when you're going
to be doing like cupcake swirls or anything
where you're going to be using more icing.
It's so easy to do this.
You just take your tip, and you're
going to drop it directly down into the bottom of the bag.
We're going to go ahead and make a mark
a little bit lower than the halfway mark with my scissors
here.
You want to make sure it's a bit lower than halfway
because sometimes when you're putting pressure on the bag
if you got lots of icing in there,
it can actually push the tip right out through the bottom.
And you don't want that to happen.
So all you have to do is push the tip back.
Take your scissors and hopefully I can see my mark here.
And just clip it off right there at that point.
And push the tip back through the bottom of the bag.
The key to properly filling a bag is to not overfill it.
It's really tempting to put a lot of icing in the bag
so you don't have to go back and refill it later.
But it's going to be hard to squeeze and hard to control.
So I'm just going to be using a 1/2 a cup
of icing as I fill this bag.
All right, I'm going to go ahead and cuff back
the top about halfway, making sure the top is open.
I'm going to put my hand just right underneath that
cuff, holding on to the bottom of the bag.
With my angled spatula, I'm going
to go ahead and just scoop up this icing,
and there's about a 1/2 a cup of here.
And I'm going to put the spatula down inside of the bag.
So I'm just going to squeeze the tip of the spatula
with my fingers, and I'm going to just pull it right out.
So the icing is in the bag and not on my spatula.
So I'm going to go ahead and put the whole 1/2 a cup in here.
Just the same process every time.
And you can see that this is just about a 1/2 a cup.
I'm going to go ahead and fold the top of my bag back up
and then gently squeeze the icing down
into the bottom of the tip.
Now I'm going to show you how to hold the bag.
Learning how to hold the bag is going
to help you achieve even piping.
The first thing we need to do is twist the back of the bag.
And with either a rubber band or a bag tie,
you're going to go ahead and secure the bag if you like.
You don't have to do this, but it helps, especially
for beginners.
The most important thing to remember
is you're going to be using the palm of your hand to put
pressure on the decorating bag.
This is going to help your hand from getting tired.
If you're using the top of your hand
or the bottom of your hand to squeeze or put pressure
on the bag, it's going to fatigue really quickly.
So you want to make sure that you don't overfill the bag.
This is a common mistake for beginners.
Just remember less icing in the bag
is going to make it easier to squeeze and to control.
So let's get started.
I'm going to show you how to do this.
I'm going to take the twisted part of the bag,
and I'm going to place it right between the crease in my hand,
between my thumb and forefinger, just like this.
And that's going to remind me to wrap my palm around the bag.
You can take your forefinger or your middle finger
and go ahead and put it on the coupler ring,
and that will help you steady the bag as you start to pipe.
You're always going to want to practice a little bit
before you start decorating.
You can do that on a wax paper, or a cutting board,
or any kind of flat surface.
But I have a cake circle here, and I'm
going to make a few stars.
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Doing a test like this will help you warm up
before you decorate.
Play around with it.
Practice and you're going to get the hang of it.
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