Line
Squeeze lightly and evenly, and drag. That's it. Here are some different line types and what to use them for.
- Thin line - writing tip
- Thick line - balloon tip
- Thick flat line - rose tip or basket tip
Works a lot like paint pens. Steady pressure, steady line, no erase or undo.
If you hold the frosting bag a little bit away from the cake, and squeeze harder, and move slower, you can make it curl. Use a writing tip for laces or balloons that curl, and a rose tip for streamers and ruffles.
Dots
Hold the frosting bag perpendicular to the surface of the cake. Squeeze. You've made a dot! It will be in the shape of the frosting tip.
Pull up on the dot slowly before ceasing to squeeze to make it taller - this is great for quick-flowers or shaped tips used as flower centers.
For a flat dot, stop squeezing at all before pulling away from the cake. If any frosting still points up after, this can be flattened carefully with an offset spatula.
Balloons
Squeeze really big, and then pull away to one side to leave a little tail. With an open coupler tip, this makes a BIG balloon! Perfect for adding a little writing-tip string to, or writing on. With a shaped tip, it makes that shape a little offset.
Balloons strung together are often used to make borders; layering the fat part of a new balloon over the tail of the previous, all the way around. Most commonly done with balloon tips to create bead borders, or with shell tips to create shell borders.
Balloon shapes with the tails together make a daisy.
Leaf tips make leaves, but use the same technique as a balloon; squeezing a fat end of a leaf, and then pulling the pointed tip away to the side.
Circles
A circle is almost like a dot, a balloon, and a line all at once. While squeezing the frosting bag, move the tip in a circle, going all the way around the outside, moving inwards in a spiral, and finishing in the center. This is how most cupcakes get frosted! Usually with a star tip, but not always, and built up a bit in the middle to look a bit more conical. Designs can also be added with other tips using the same technique.
For a flatter looking circle, reduce pressure near the center and smooth with a spatula.
For a two-color cupcake, put one ring around the outside, and one big dot in the center.
Odd Shapes
Odd shapes use primarily line; use a line to outline where the shape will be. Fill in as much as possible, using the same tip or a different tip. Smooth the shape lightly with an offset spatula; pull inward from the borders to the center to keep the outlines clean, like in base icing but a little smaller.