Cornelli Lace with Wilton 3
One unbroken squiggle that turns a bare cake side into antique lace in twelve minutes.
Wilton 3
Soft
Beginner
Lace & Fill
Sugar craft reference
Icing stages and what each one will carry
Ninety percent of failed piping is an icing problem, not a hand problem. The peak stage decides whether a ribbon stands, a bead rounds, or a lace line breaks - and the difference between two stages is usually thirty seconds of mixing or half a teaspoon of liquid.
Three stages, three tests
Soft peak folds over at the tip and does not hold; medium peak bends like a folded finger and holds the bend for two seconds; stiff peak stands straight and holds for five. Test on the paddle, not in the bowl: lift the beater out, hold it vertically and count. Buttercream at 20 to 22 C settles into a stage cleanly; below 18 C it reads one stage firmer than it is, and above 25 C one stage softer.
Temperature moves the goalposts
A bowl at 24 C that tests as medium peak will pipe as soft peak within ten minutes. Working rooms in summer should hold a bowl of iced water next to the mixer and stand the piping bag in it for thirty seconds when the ridges start to soften. The reverse works too: an icing that has firmed in a cold kitchen can be brought back by holding the bag under your arm for two minutes. Never microwave a bag - it melts the fat unevenly and the icing cannot be recovered.
Adding colour changes the stage
Gel paste is water-based, so every toothpick tip of colour loosens a mix slightly. Deep colours - burgundy, black, poppy red - need three or four toothpick tips per 250 g, which can drop a stiff-peak icing to medium. Mix the colour first, rest the bowl for twenty minutes, then re-check the peak and tighten with sifted icing sugar at a spoon per 200 g if needed. Colour then rest then test, in that order.
Royal icing is a different animal
For overpiped work, royal icing is measured rather than judged: 1 part pasteurised egg white to 4.5 parts icing sugar by weight, beaten 8 minutes on medium and rested 20 minutes under cling film. It crusts hard in about 45 minutes at 18 C, which is exactly what a second piping pass needs. It must never be refrigerated - condensation dissolves the crust - and it is the only mix on this site that a fan helps rather than hurts.
Fixes when a mix drifts
Too soft: add sifted icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, or chill the bowl for ten minutes and re-whip for five seconds. Too stiff: add cream or milk in quarter-teaspoon steps - water alone makes icing grainy. Split or curdled: the mix is too cold; stand the bowl in warm water for one minute and whip on low until it comes back. Grainy after adding liquid colour: you used too much liquid; beat in a spoon of icing sugar and accept a slightly softer finish.
Cards that pair with this page
Cards that pair with this page
These are released cards, ready to pipe from.