What are Russian Piping Tips?
Russian piping tips are large piping tips with flat ends that have several openings. The openings come in different patterns and produce a full flower when you pipe.
Which type of icing is best for Russian piping tips?
In order to get nicely defined flowers, you’ll want to use a medium to stiff consistency icing. I like Italian meringue buttercream, but you could also use Swiss meringue buttercream or American buttercream.
The temperature of your icing is also important, because temperature affects consistency. I found that working with IMBC, I had to keep the buttercream fairly cool to get crisp flowers. After handling my piping bag for a while, the buttercream warmed up and made piping the flowers a lot harder.
To prevent your buttercream from getting too warm, try working with small batches. You can always refill your piping bag with fresh, cooler frosting.
If all of your buttercream is too soft, place it in the fridge for 5 minutes, then mix again until smooth. Repeat as necessary until you get to the right consistency.
Piping Bags and Couplers
Because Russian piping tips are so big, I think it’s easier to work with a larger piping bag. I’d recommend using at least a 12 inch piping bag.
Be very careful not to cut too much off the end of your piping bag. Cut only far enough so that the end of the piping tip sticks out. Russian piping tips are not as angled as regular piping tips, so this makes them more prone to popping out if you cut your piping bag too far down.
Russian piping tips are too large for standard couples, but you can buy over-sized couplers to fit them.
If you don’t want to buy a coupler, you can simply make your own by using two different piping bags. To do this, prepare a large piping bag with your Russian tip. Next, prepare your different icing colors in smaller bags without tips. You can then place the smaller bags inside the larger bag and switch them out when you want to change colors or tips.
Making two toned flowers with Russian piping tips
If you want to make two-toned flowers, you’ll have to layer the colors inside your piping bag.
Prop your bag up in a glass, and use a small spatula to paint one color down the sides of the bag, leaving the center clear. This color will be the outer petals of your flower. Next, carefully fill the center of the bag with a different color. Push the second color down so that the bag is filled but try not to let the colors mix.
Use this technique to create two toned flowers- which have a lot more visual interest than a single color. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even use this technique with three colors!
How to use Russian piping tips – practice, practice, practice!
It’s a REALLY good idea to practice piping these flowers before you pipe on your actual cake. There’s a certain knack to getting them to pipe out cleanly, so you just have to practice until you get it.
You can practice on a cakeboard, a plate, whatever. Anything flat surface will work, and you can scrape the frosting up to reuse after you’re done.
How to Pipe:
Spread some frosting on a cake board or plate to create a sticky surface to practice on.
Hold the piping tip so that it’s completely vertical. Don’t touch the tip to your surface, but do make sure the frosting attaches when you begin to pipe.
Give your piping bag a good squeeze and quickly pull upward until the flower is the right height. Stop squeezing and pull the bag straight up, away from the flower.
The best way to ensure crisp flowers is to be really confident with your piping. Squeeze the bag firmly and pull away quickly, rather than trying to pipe slow and steady.
I found the right height to be about half as tall as the piping tip. If you pipe them too short or too tall, they won’t look right.
Also be sure to keep the end of the piping tip clean. If it gets clogged up, just scrape away the excess frosting.
Piping on your cake
Russian piping tips work best when piped onto a tacky surface. So if you frost your cake ahead of time, you’ll want to spread a fresh, thin layer of frosting before piping your flowers to help them stick.
Accenting with leaves
Piping leaves really completes the look of Russian piping tip flowers!
You can pipe leaves directly among your flowers using a leaf tip, or you can pipe individual leaves on parchment squares. If you pipe individual leaves, you’ll need to refrigerate them until firm, then you can transfer them to your cake.
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