Did I mention that I stink at piping! If I haven’t, let me say it now. I stink at piping!
My niece had her 1st birthday the other day and I wanted to make a little cake just for her. I decided to try my hand at piping a basketweave design. But, I guess I should have practiced first because it didn’t come out exactly like I had hoped. I started by piping all the vertical stripes. Big mistake. Then I piped all the short horizontal stripes. This wouldn’t have looked so bad if I could have at least made my lines straight. But, since I stink at piping, this is what you get.
See those horizontal stripes, they should look like they’re tucked under the vertical ones. (I’ll show you the right way in a bit).
But, if we just look at it from above, it looks pretty good. Almost straight, even.
I do love the little Hello Kitty topper I made though.
It was molded from rolled fondant
that was tinted with different icing colors. The whiskers and eyes were drawn with an edible ink pen
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Just too cute!
Now, let’s see what the birthday girl thought about my poor piping skills.
Hmmm… she’s really thinking about it.
Yay! I don’t think she noticed.
Want to try piping a basketweave?
Make some buttercream frosting (recipe here). Tint it with the icing color you want and get the following:
one decorating bag
one coupler
one decorating Tip #47
Here’s what it all looks like…
Don’t be scared. It has teeth, but it won’t bite. Promise.
Once your bag is ready, take a look at the diagram below. It’s from Wilton’s Course Book 2: Flowers and Borders
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It’s too bad I didn’t look at this first. Oh well… at least you guys can do a better job.
- Basically, you pipe a vertical stripe first.
- Then pipe horizontal stripes with spacers in between to make sure your widths stay consistent.
- Then you draw another vertical stripe covering the ends of the first set of horizontal stripes.
- Then you pipe another set of horizontal stripes. Start by burying your tip under the first vertical stripe to hide the end.
- Then you draw another vertical stripe to cover the ends of the second set of horizontal stripes.
- Take a deep breath. Take your time. Repeat.
That’s the abbreviated version. Hope the pictures help. The The Wilton Course Book gives much better directions.
Good luck!
And if your wondering. I used the same cake and frosting recipe from here.
And rope border was made with decorating tip #21
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These instructions are for your personal use only. To create Hello Kitty products for commercial sale, you must obtain permission from Sanrio. Visit http://www.sanrio.com/business opportunities/.
