Star Tip Cake Decorating

Star shaped piping tips are one of the easiest piping tips to learn to decorate with. There are three basic types of star tips: open star tips, french star tips, and closed star tips.

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You can use star tips with any kind of frosting, but it’s best to use American, Swiss meringue, or Italian Meringue. Softer frostings or store-bought may not hold their shape as well.

Your options for patterns are endless, but three basic piping patterns are stars, rosettes, and shells. Any of these patterns can be piped with any type of star tip.

How To Pipe Stars

Stars are the easiest shape to pipe, all you have to do is squeeze out a small dot! Try to hold your bag perpendicular to your piping surface, and stop squeezing just before you pull away. You can vary the shape of your star by changing the pressure and movement of your bag. Use a larger or smaller sized tip to create larger or smaller sized stars.

How To Pipe Rosettes

Rosettes require a confident hand and steady pressure. Hold the bag perpendicular to your surface and start squeezing with the tip where you want the center of the rosette to be. Then, in one smooth motion, swirl once around that central point. Stop squeezing as you pull away. Continue to follow that swirl pattern as you pull away so that the tail of frosting tapers off nicely.

How to Pipe Shells

To pipe shells, start by holding the bag at a 45 degree angle to your surface. Hold your piping tip in one spot and squeeze until the frosting starts to mound up on itself. Stop squeezing as you pull away. Start the next shell over the tail of the previous one. Squeeze until the frosting starts to mound over the previous shell and pull away.

Now that you know these basic patterns, you can use them in any combination you like to decorate cakes! Watch the video below to see a demonstration of each technique and how I used these basic piping patterns to decorate three different cakes.