Icing Tip Tuesday!

I know as a cake decorator that changing out the icing bags from one colour to the next can be a pain in butt. Things are greasy, there is colour everywhere and decorating takes so much longer. The alternative is to have many different bags on hand but who wants to spend that kind of money in today's world? With today's tip, be frustrated no longer and work much faster with amazing results.

 I first saw this idea months ago on Karen's Cookies Youtube page and instantly fell in LOVE. 

 Take a look at her video to see this idea in action: 

Using saran wrap to hold your icing before placing it in your icing bag...INCREDIBLE isn't it? This way you can  change out the colour with minimal mess. Why didn't I think of this myself??

I have of course I have added my own twist to this concept...

Materials required are:

Saran Wrap - I use the dollar store brand for this as it is much cheaper than name brand.
Toothpicks
Gel Food Colouring - The remaining items are found at Michael's or your local cake decorating store.
Icing Bag
Icing Tips
Coupler



Lay out your piece of Saran wrap onto the counter. Pick your colour of choice and dip a tooth pick in it. Run the toothpick along the Saran wrap creating stripes up and down on the surface.

 When you are happy with the amount of striping in as many colours as you would like, it is time to add the icing. Take a scoop or 2 of icing and place it in the middle of the Saran wrap. Wrap the icing up in to a little cocoon as seen in the video.

Pick up the long ends of the Saran and gently begin to circle your hands creating a spinning cocoon of icing in the middle.(I forgot to take a picture of the next 2 steps but hopefully you will understand after having seen Karen do it in her video) Once you have wound that baby nice and tight place it down into the icing bag and pull the long, loose end of the Saran through the coupler. Pull it down as far and as tight as you can and SNIP the end off with your scissors. Now attach your icing tip of choice and be AMAZED!! 


Here are some cupcake flowers that I did with this technique...looks incredible and people are always amazed at the 2 toned colours I get with my decorating. This technique helps to make your cupcake flowers look that much more realistic.

I did take a picture of the inside of the icing bag after I was done icing 40 cupcake flowers just so you can see how minimal the mess really is after using 4 different colours in one icing bag with one coupler.

The most I find myself having to clean in between each colour use is the very end where you see the purple in the picture. I just stick a toothpick in there and pull out whatever icing happens to be blocking the end. That's it...so easy and so much faster than ever before. One last thing...just as Karen suggests in the video...use the lighter colours first and then work your way to the darkest. Most times this will allow you to use only one bowl for colour mixing and leftovers of one colour can be used up in the next batch of darker colours. Of course this will not always work if your colour needs to be a specific shade but more often than not it will save you time and money.

I hope this tip, these tips save you time and money.