Russian piping tips | Bewitching Kitchen

For several months now I’ve been including cupcakes in my weekly box of donations. I try to vary the buttercream component and come up with different styles and colors each Friday. Because variety is the spice of life, right?

You can find my buttercream recipe with a click here. I used it for all cupcakes, except the Chocolate Cardamon with Espresso Icing.

RUSSIAN ICING TIPS

A long, long time ago I tried my hands at these funky looking icing tips, and promised that I would never touch them again. But trust Marlyn from @montrealconfections to make me change my mind. She had a nice video from years ago showing exactly how to use them, and I could not resist giving it a second chance (check it out here). She demonstrated two ways to using them, and I tried them both. First, the usual piping of flowers by dropping little blobs of two-color icing. If the consistency is just right, it works like a charm…

For these I used two color buttercream icing, half dyed pink, half left with no added color. The Russian tip was used to drop 6 tiny roses to the cupcake. A little buttercream dyed green added the final touch, which is of course optional.

This fun ruffled look is also given by a Russian ball-tip, piping and twisting the cake from one side to the other. Check Marlyn’s video to see exactly how it is done. The central portion is then filled with a drop flower as in the previous cake.

SIMPLE ROSES

Probably one of the simplest designs to pipe but with a nice visual effect, the 1M tip never disappoints. It looks nice when used with two tones of icing, but as you cam see below, it will work as a single color also.

The cupcakes above used a wonderful recipe from my friend Caroline, which you can find in her blog with a click here. Chocolate Cardamon Cupcake with Espresso Icing (OMG!). I added a little chocolate flower, made by painting tempered chocolate over a real leaf and then dusting with golden powder.

OPEN STAR TIP

For this look I used the Ateco 865 tip, but any open star should work. Just make a swirl starting from the center. It will give a more flat top that is nice coupled with any decorations you’d like. Above I used tempered chocolate painted on transfer sheets to add a design, and cut into small circles.

The same type of frosting will also go well with meringue sticks, in this case leftover from a cake of my recent past.

These cupcakes are Pink Lemonade flavor, and I used this recipe from Food Network (I made only half which was more than enough for 12 cupcakes).

SPRINGTIME FLOWERS

For the cupcakes above, I used either a petal tip or a Wilton tip #81, as shown in this video (around 19 minutes).

Petal tips such as 102, 103 or 104 can also make beautiful flowers by laying them more flat on the surface. I like the simple elegance of a fully white flower.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration in case you need to bake a batch of cupcakes to share with friends, family, or co-workers.

ONE YEAR AGO: Two Deliciously Refreshing Cucumber Salads

TWO YEARS AGO: Grilled Shrimp with Parsley Oil over Black Rice Noodles

THREE YEARS AGO: Chicken Shawarma, the Easiest Way

FOUR YEARS AGO: Marshmallow Macarons

FIVE YEARS AGO: Mango-Lime Macarons

SIX YEARS AGO: Honey-Glazed Sriracha Meatballs

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Slow-cooker Braised Lamb Shanks

EIGHT YEARS AGO: How about some coffee with your steak?

NINE YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Spiral Kick

TEN YEARS AGO: Carrot Flan with Greens and Lemon Vinaigrette

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Granola Bars

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Awesome Broccolini

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: A Twist on Pesto

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Ciabatta: Judging a bread by its holes

I’ve had a set of Russian icing tips for years. They were sitting in a drawer, minding their own business, not harming anyone. What possessed me to grab them to decorate some vanilla cupcakes? I have no idea. All I know is that I managed to produce ONE cupcake. Let’s call him Neo. Never again, my friends. Never again. A few more months of my life expectancy are gone.

NEO CUPCAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM FLOWERS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

1 recipe for yellow cupcakes (for ATK recipe, click here)

buttercream:
1 cup butter, slightly softened (I used Kerrygold)
1 pound icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
purple, yellow, and green food gel dye
Russian piping tip
1M piping tip (optional)

Make the cupcakes according to the directions from America’s Test Kitchen recipe. It is a very simple and straightforward method that works great, I highly recommend it.

Make the buttercream: add the butter to the bowl of a KitchenAid type mix, fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix for a couple of minutes until the butter is creamy and lighter. Add the salt and vanilla, beat a little more. Turn the mixer off, add the powdered sugar and turn it on the lowest speed.

Once the risk of powdered sugar explosion is over, increase the speed, and beat for a couple of minutes, until very creamy, adding milk just to have the perfect piping consistency.

Separate a small amount (1/4 cup maximum) to dye green to pipe leaves. The rest of the buttercream divide in two, one large portion for purple, one smaller portion for yellow. Fit a large piping bag with the Russian tip of your choice, add the purple icing to the sides of the bag, leaving the center empty. Fill the center with yellow buttercream. Close the bag, pipe small amounts of buttercream on a piece of parchment paper until you are sure the yellow is showing through in the center. Pipe flowers on the surface of the cupcakes.

Add green buttercream to a small piping bag fitted with a leaf tip. Pipe leaves around the flowers.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Don’t you think that icing tip looks like the most innocent gadget in the universe? If you watch youtube videos teaching the secrets of the Russian tips, they make it all seem like the most peaceful walk on the most beautiful tropical beach. They are not telling you the truth. Not the full truth. I advise you to go for a tip that does not need a clear separation between the two colors. I wanted the yellow to be at the center, and the purple around it, and yes, I managed to do that in this single cupcake.

But as you go along, the colors tend to mix, the buttercream also gets a bit less firm, and instead of keeping open like a flower, the outer edge collapses in, and you are left with an “almost flower” next to a blob of undefined shape, next to another blob of even worse shape, and pathetic color. Accordingly, my reaction went from “ooops” to “what the heck is this?” to words unfit to print.

As I mentioned, I could only pull one cupcake decorated with “the Devil’s tip.” I had to scrape all the blobs, mix the icings together, spoon them in another bag fitted with my trustworthy 1M tip, and call it a day. It’s a good thing I don’t drink, because the tequila bottle winked at me. Twice.

As the road to get to the final icing was quite rocky, I was not too fond of the resulting color. If you mix yellow and purple, you’ll see what I mean (don’t do it). So I air-brushed some with a rose gold dye, and painted edges with gold luster. I am happy with the way they turned out, and for that my husband is elated.

Now, if you like to live dangerously and want to try “the Devil’s tips”, I advise you to pick one that you can use either with a single color or that would work well with a marbled design. You can then add two shades of the same color to the bag, so that mixing during piping won’t be a problem. Thinking back, I think it would be possible to add the yellow color to the center enclosed in a second bag, and spoon the purple around it. I might give it a try, but not in the near future. I need to recover from this adventure first… It’s not as if I am a young puppy with plenty of life expectancy to waste.

ONE YEAR AGO: Smoked Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Parsnips

TWO YEARS AGO: Fresh Take on Farro with Roasted Veggies

THREE YEARS AGO: Secret Recipe Club Reunion 2018

FOUR YEARS AGO: Parsnip and Tomato Soup

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Retro Dessert

SIX YEARS AGO: Cauliflower Tortillas: Going low-carb and loving it!

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Clementines in Cinnamon Syrup

EIGHT YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2013

NINE YEARS AGO: Thrilling Moments

TEN YEARS AGO: Maple-Oatmeal Sourdough Bread

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Pork Trinity: coffee, mushrooms, and curry