Russian piping tips pipe all of the petals of a flower, in several colours, with just one squeeze! They’re easy to use once you know how so in this tutorial I’ll share 6 hacks for Russian piping tips!
Russian tips are bigger than standard piping tips so you’ll need to cut larger holes in your piping bags. I like to cut a little bit less than half way up the tip. With the tip pushed to the end of the bag, score a line about a third of the way up. Push the tip out of the way and cut along that line. Now it should fit snugly and won't pop out while you're piping.
The technique for piping with Russian piping tips isn't complicated. However, you won't be successful unless you use these six hacks before and after you pipe.
Maybe the most important hack is to get the right consistency of your frosting. This is my 4 Minute Buttercream and you should be able pull a spatula through it easily to stir it. You'll leave texture behind that holds its shape and doesn’t sink back down into the buttercream.
This is what a flower looks like when buttercream has the right consistency.
Buttercream will be too stiff when it’s too cold or there’s too much sugar in it. It will be difficult to squeeze through the tip and the petals might pull away with the tip instead of sticking to the cake. You'll notice jagged edges on your petals.
Buttercream will be too runny when it’s too warm or there’s not enough sugar or too much milk in it. The petals will lose their definition and blob together.
Fix buttercream consistency by adding more milk to stiff buttercream or more sugar to runny buttercream.
One of the biggest advantages of Russian piping tips is that they pipe different petals in different colours. But how do you get different colours into a piping bag? I like to drop the piping bag into a tall glass or cup. Fold the top over the rim to hold it open. It’s easiest if the bag is pulled tight, with the tip visible at the bottom of the glass.
Spread your first colour around the piping bag, pushing it against the glass to cover the bag all the way around. Spread it all the way down to the piping tip. You want a fairly thick layer so that the outer petals will all be this colour.
You can layer another colour or two on top of this using the same spreading tehcnique. For a quicker option, spoon your next colour in and push it down to the bottom of the the bag. You want it to go all the way down to reach the piping tip.
Now pull the bag out of the glass and twist it to push the buttercream down. When you squeeze the bag you should see the colours coming through the piping tip.
If you don't push any colours down to the piping tip, they won't come through the tip when you pipe. This is most common with the middle colour. If this happens, squeeze the bag until you see all the colours coming through and now you’re ready to pipe!
Before you pipe with Russian tips onto a cake, the frosting should have set. Put the cake into the fridge for about an hour and it will get cold and firm. Now when you pipe onto the cake you won’t cause any bulges in the frosting.
After chilling the cake, the frosting won't be sticky anymore. That means you really need the frosting in the piping bags to be sticky. Otherwise, the flowers you pipe won’t stick to the cake because they'll pull away with the piping bag.
This happens when you leave piping bags out for about 30 minutes. The exposed buttercream at the tip crusts. which means it gets hard and loses its stickiness. Squeeze the bag to push the crusted buttercream out through the piping tip. The buttercream left in the piping bag will be soft and sticky and ready to pipe!
To prevent crusting, cover Russian piping tips with plastic wrap when you’re not using them for long periods of time.
Piping with Russian tips is very straightforward - it’s the consistency and that seems to cause the most problems. When the consistency is right, the flowers will stick to the cake and the petals will pull out and break away neatly from the piping tip, leaving gorgeous flowers behind on the cake.
But as you keep piping flowers, you might notice the petals getting less defined as the details merge together. This happens when your buttercream gets too warm, usually from the warmth of your hands as you pipe.
Put the whole piping bag into the freezer and set a timer for 1 minute. This is enough time for the buttercream to cool back down and firm up.
Then pipe and notice how much more defined your flowers are!
Sometimes petals will be too long if you squeeze the bag with a bit too much enthusiasm. There’s a hack to fix drooping petals and it’s simple: Use a toothpick!
Hold it where you want the petal to end and spin it as you push up. You’ll lift away the extra part of the petal, leaving a neat edge behind on the remaining petal.
I hope these hacks for Russian piping tips have been useful! Ask me any questions in the comments and visit my cake school to learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs.
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 6 hacks for Russian piping tips:
