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This Mind-Blowing Cake Decorating Tip Changed My Life
I am not much of a cook, but I like everything that has to do with baking — as long as it’s easy. (Doesn’t sound much different than my philosophy of crafting, does it??) I love making cakes and cupcakes, and I think homemade frosting tastes best, BUT I have avoided making my own frosting for the past couple years for one reason. I HATE filling and cleaning icing bags! It’s such a mess, and it never quite works as well as I want it to, and it’s just generally a nuisance. Instead, I usually buy those readymade frosting sprayers at the grocery store because it just seems easier.
No more. I have found the greatest trick for filling icing bags! This idea is so mindblowing that I actually said “WOW” out loud when I watched this video by Karen’s Cookies. Then I made my husband watch the video, and he agreed that it was an awesome tip. You will never avoid using an icing bag again! Thanks to Ashley Newman, who found this video. Watch it below to learn the secret.
Project Estimate:
- Icing bag & tips, on hand
- Plastic wrap, on hand
Total: Free
Photo Credit: Passion for Flowers, licensed via creative commons
178 Comments
chocolateknits
WOW! I like the plastic wrap idea. WOW!
Jan
Oh my gosh!! What an amazing idea! I hate cleaning out tips and bags, so I usually just fill the corner of a large Ziplock bag and use it as a piping bag. No fancy fluting that way, but still pretty cupcakes and no mess. I wouldn’t mind having to clean a few tips though, with this plastic wrap method. Thanks for sharing this, Heather!
melany
Genius!! Thanks soooo much for sharing this!
Nikki
God bless you for sharing that.
Jenn Erickson/Rook No. 17
What a nifty trick! I’m going to give it a shot next time I do some cookie decorating!
Tracy
All I can say is WOW! What an amazing tip. Thank you so much for sharing….:)
Tracy
Christine
Holy cow! That is so ingenious!!
alkd
I used to work as a cake decorator, and we ALWAYS filled our frosting bags like this – although we used the fabric bags that can go in the dishwasher instead. If you don’t use the plastic wrap inside the frosting bag, it will stain the heck outta the bag!
Plus, using the plastic wrap inside of the frosting bag makes it easier to control the flow of frosting out of the tip – and with fewer air bubbles! If you ever get frustrated with the amount of air bubbles you get, it’s probably because you’ve spooned the frosting into the bag & there’s an air pocket between each spoonful. With the plastic wrap trick, the frosting stays all in one blob, so there are hardly ever any air bubbles to mess up your design.
heather
I think the most frustrating thing for me was just spooning the frosting into the bag and having it spread out all over the place, but the air bubbles were probably a factor, too. It makes sense that this is what the professionals do.
Gina
Oh Em Gee!!!!!! I love this! I’m going to be doing this forever now! I usually hand-wash the piping bag and have always felt that I had to wash it twice. Now I won’t have that problem! YEAH!!! TFS
Erin K
OMGGGGGGGGG I literally had cupcakes cooling from the oven and was going on my ipad flipping through the days RSS before I went to go frost the cupcakes (and was dreading filling the pastry bag with the icing) and then I saw this like 1 minute before I jumped up to do it… and so I grabbed some plastic wrap, did this…………….. IT WORKS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!! Took like 1 minute to twirl in the bag and then a 30 second clean up! HURRAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mrs BC
This was literally jaw dropping for me, thanks so much for sharing!
xx
Sue
wow, this is so neat. My daughter just took some decorating classes and we really hated washing the bags afterwards. Thank you for sharing! I’ll pass this on to her, sure she will luuuuuv it!!!
Madigan at madiganmade
Seriously?? This is genius! Thanks for sharing.
JessA
Heather, you are awesome for finding this and sharing it. I always used to have tons of dirty bowls, spoons and bags to clean, this is a great video!
Mrs.B
LOVE this! It’s so much better than the usual way!
Marilyn
Wow! Wow! What an awesome idea. I will now make frosting instead of buying. Thank you so much for sharing!
Crystal
I think I had seen this before and had somehow forgotten it. This will be great for getting cookie icing ready for the family to decorate for Christmas! Just don’t cut off the end until you are ready to use it and it won’t dry out! Thanks.
Laura
Wow. The plastic wrap idea is just brilliant- thank you in advance for saving me SO much time, frustration, and procrastination! I can’t wait to try it.
Diane@InMyOwnStyle
Heather –
I can see why you liked this tip – no clean up – love it. Up until now I was snipping a hole in one corner of a baggie and putting the tip through the snipped corner and using the baggie as a toss-able icing bag. This works, but having a real icing bags thickness and size is so much easier to work with. I can’t wait to try this.
Care
Amazing!!!! I might actually pipe some frosting now! :)
Michele
I agree…WOW!
Deb
This is wonderful! I took classes years ago and always did cakes and cookies for family and friends but have gotten out of doing it. Just got sick of trying to wash out greasy bags. But I can’t wait to dust off my bags and tips and try this. WOW! Thank you :)
LoriD
This is FANTASTIC!
Kim @ Sand & Sisal
Oh my gosh girl!!! You ROCK! What an amazingly simple tip! I’m hitting myself saying WHY did I not think of that! THANK YOU!!
heidi@thecraftmonkey
aw man! that’s slap your forehead tip! definitely going to use this tip next time I bake!
Lori
duh!!!! thanks for sharing!
Trisha
This is such an awesome time saver. Thanks for sharing.
Polly E
Karen, you are a genius! I wish I had seen this video demo before last weekend when I make cupcakes for a baby shower. Your method makes decorating a pleasure. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Christie
So happy I found this!!!! What an amazing idea! Can’t wait to try it out! Thanks for posting it!
Malena
Karen……..you’re magical – best tip I’ve seen yet. Thanks so much makes cake decorating a breeze.
MammaDucky
OMG. As my mouth sat agape, that’s what came out of my mouth. Holy moly. This will make my cake decorating sessions SOOOO much easier!
Rae
This is genius! I will from this day forward, never have as much dirty dishes to do after enjoying a little time baking and decorating! Thank you!
Aimee P
Thanks so much for sharing this time-saving, and CLEAN, way to decorate. Love it!
Cindy
This is sheer genius – saw this link on pinterest. Thank you – this is brilliant!!!
Liz
You stole this idea from Cookies By Design!!!!! Please don’t act like you made this up!
heather
@Liz, If you read the article (which you clearly did not), you will see that we credited the video to its originator: Karen’s Cookies. We also credited the person who we found the video from. As with all articles on Dollar Store Crafts, our policy is to credit the original source.
Christy
Ok, I can’t seem to locate the video..what IS the trick?
heather
Christy, the video is at the end of our post, or you can view it directly on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxE-pnqmsE0&feature=player_embedded
Nancy L.
Absolute GENIUS! Greatly appreciate the tip. Will definitely use this next time!
Liz
I did read the article. I was referring to Karen.
Alicia
Another way I’ve seen it is putting the icing bag inside a cup and then spooning icing in that way.
Megan
GENIUS! Pure genius! Thank you!
Krista
You are a GENIUS! Truly cool and doable for the average person like me!
Jnl2211
Aww man! I thought I came up with that idea! It’s a great technique isn’t it?
BakerBee
THANK YOU! I quit decorating because it was just too messy and time consuming… this tip is exactly what I needed to know!
Melinda T
LOVE IT!!!! I wished I found this last week! I made a HUGE mess last week icing cupcakes in 3 different colors for my dd’s bday! But, now I know! Thanks so much for sharing!
KerriM
Wow! Now, do you have a favorite recipe for icing? I struggle with something that tastes good but also looks good.
heather
Kerri, I always beat butter, a bit of vanilla, & then add as much powdered sugar as it can handle until I get the desired stiffness. It’s also yummy if you add some cream cheese to the mixture!
mamabeck
Dude.
Found this through Pinterest.
I’ve decorated cakes since I was 15. That’s {mumble} years.
I have NEVER seen a more common-sense and simple solution to the “I hate to fill and clean bags” problem.
Thank you!!!!
(my fave icing recipe, above all, is the Wilton Snow White Buttercream recipe. I’ve made it with butter, and not Crisco, as well, and it comes out perfect EVERY time. Starts with a meringue, and the texture and flavore are fantastic. EVERY time!)
beck
Nancy
Absolute genius
susu
This has just blown me away – wow!! Thank you for sharing…..
ShrRee
I can’t wait to try this!!!!!!!!!!
Jen
Wow! this is awesome. Thanks to pinterest for leading me here!
Trish
That is amazing!! I love that you discovered this, shared it and thank you Pinterest for existing so I could find it. I’m so excited to go and bake something!!!
Jaclyn
That is the coolest thing I have ever seen! Awesome! I’m certainly going to try this next time I want to do some decorating!
Megan
Wow!!! Thank you so much for sharing that! This will cut down on a lot of stress I have when making birthday cakes.
kristi
OMGosh!!! Genius….thanks so much for the saran wrap tip!
amy g
HOLY CRAP this is amazingly brilliant! i watched it TWICE it was that awesome….i want to go bake something right now just so i can do that! just………wow……..my mind has been blown :O
Rhadonda
Seriously? People are amazing with their creativity. Wow. Thanks for sharing.
Celeste
I will never fill my pastry bags any other way…thanks for this awesome tip!
misbah
thanks for this amazing tip :)
NaDell
Used this cool tip at a birthday party my daughter went to Saturday afternoon and they thought I was rad (#1 for helping and #2 for using a fun and useful tip.) Thanks for sharing this. =)
Julie in Edmonds
A-MA-ZING! Best tip EVER!
lisa
The plastic wrap tip is genius, but the red hidden in the blue? Blue doesn’t normally have red dye in it, so those of us who are allergic to red dye assume we’re safe eating cookies made for us with blue icing, or cupcakes with blue frosting. It’s one less insulting “no I can’t have that” we have to say to our friends. Hiding the red dye (one of the more common food allergens) in the blue is not safe.
jenni-wren
Seriously this a great idea, i’m not denying it, but isn’t it a bit wasteful to use clingfilm (saranwrap? sorry, don’t know how to spell it…) like this?
heather
@jenni-wren, I don’t think it’s more wasteful than washing half a cup of frosting down the sink, which is what I usually do when I load a bag the traditional way!
Laura
Wow…so clever!
Ashlyn
You are a GENIUS!! Plastic wrap is now one of my best friends. ;)
Thanks so much for sharing this GREAT tip!
Rita Curry
Liz, you epitomize the term “sour grapes.” Unless Cookies By Design has been in business for 50 years, this idea didn’t originate there. Thanks, Karen and Heather for sharing. I’d long forgotten this great idea.
Kristen
Love this idea. Pinning it!
Vicki
Yes, this is just what I need! Can’t wait to try it out!
me
looks like a realllly good idea, but is the trade off of wasting that much saran wrap worth it, if it really only takes a minute or so of washing the bag, and a bit of patience? this makes too much garbage especially if more than just a couple colors of icing are to be used.
Lorissa
Love it! I always end up using ziplocs and throwing them away, but it’s much nicer to use the bag, no explosions and wasting frosting!! I guess the waste is a draw, either a quart size ziploc or a piece of plastic wrap!!
Sharon
Thanks for sharing. Using the saran wrap is awesome, but I’ve never tried the rubber band on the end of the bag! Binder clips didn’t work for me, hopefully, the rubber band will!
Jennifer
So so brilliant! Thanks for sharing.
Jennifer
The Kamikaze Shopper
Olivia
Genius! I will definitely be using this tip when creating my son’s birthday cake! Thanks!
Kristi
WOW! Just WOW!
Ruth
OMG…I can’t believe it. I just threw out my decorating bags because they were such a pain to clean. Guess I need to buy more now :-).
kami @ NoBiggie
I am dying over this trick! Not sure why I am just now seeing it?
I’m excited to see you at CHA Heather! :)
Colette P.
Spectacular idea! Never did my tweaky little crafty brain come up with anything to make decorating this darn easy!
sonya
super idea and tip gonna try it this weekend on my cupcakes for my nieces baby shower !!
Tracy Pulliam
Please add me to your email list. Thanks.
DianeScraps
Thanks for the saran wrap idea – we will be trying that!
We do avoid mixing the food dye colors in our house though, due to food dye allergies.
Stephanie
I found this yesterday, tried it today…SUCH A GREAT IDEA!! It worked like a charm!! I teach cake decorating classes and will definitely be teaching this trick to my students!
Narelle @ Cook Clean Craft
I’m a little late finding out about this one, and am not really adding anything to the discussion, but I just had to add my “Oh wow! How cool is that!”. I want to mix up a batch of icing now just to try it out, but then I’d have to make sugar cookies or cupcakes too… Hmmm, maybe tomorrow…
Aimee
I just use a sandwhich bag and throw it away when I am done. Of course I don’t use all the extra tips.
Erka
Found this tutorial via Pinterest. Tried it. And I’m so thankful! It works really well- icing became much more easier. Thank you for sharing. :)
Ann Winder
This is so ingenious. I love tidbits like this they are so helpful. Thanks for posting!
Ann
jami
Sad that the video is no long there :(
heather
@Jami – it is there for me! Also, if you click on the lower right corner of the video where it says “YouTube,” it will take you to the Youtube page where the video is.
jami
You are awesome! Thank you :)
Erika
Mind. Blown.
Wendy
OMG IT WORKS! Like a dream! Thank you a hundred times. I am definitely never going back. I love this. You’re an awesome person for sharing this with the world!!!
Cari
I do this all the time when I frost using two colors at the same time using this method. Great clean up, and it isn’t too hard to do. I hadn’t thought of doing it with only one color…
Cristina
OMG! What a great tip! I can’t wait to try it!
Mary
Wow! How wasteful. I’d rather wash a few dishes than throw more plastic in the trash.
Janellie
That is amazing! I had sworn off frosting my cupcakes for ever, when I used it for the first time on chocolate frosting that I made. It took me like 15min, and it still smells like chocolate. This idea is the best thing I have ever seen. Thanks for posting!
Jeanne
Genius! I’ve been decorating cakes for a long time but never thought of this :) Thanks for sharing.
Endji
Amazing idea, thank you.
Becky
Hpw have I never seen this trick?? Amazing! Thank you for sharing – I can’t wait to try it! :)
KimK
I LOVE you :) What a simple but amazing tip that I am SO glad I found. Thank you!!!!!
Lolliebelle
I am a total convert! LOL, this is the kind of stuff that makes me go, “why didn’t I think of that?” Thank you!!!
Julie
Dare I say “life changing”?!?! I always spend SOOO much money on icing bags, and make so much mess… this is AMAZING! Thanks!
Alyssa
GENIUSSSSSS!!!!
DeeDee
YOU ARE A GENIUS! Thank you for sharing the awesome tip. I hate filling the bag, but I hate cleaning it up more. You are a lifesaver!
Val
Okay, I think this is just brilliant so I tried it last weekend when I needed to make cupcakes. Here is some things I learned the hard way – make sure the plastic wrap is well sealed, don’t put too much icing and spin it the right way so you are not unwrapping the tube. I had some velocity on mine and it unwrapped along the tube leaving a nice trail of icing from my stomach, up my face and around to the wall across from me. It was hysterical but messy. :P It is still a brilliant idea, even if i didn’t execute it brilliantly the first time.
Alyssa Schroeder
Wow, this is brilliant. I am not dreading filling the bags anymore. Can’t wait to try it!
Sonia
I wish I would have known this years ago! All those birthday cakes I iced. The thought of cleaning the icing bags made me want to just buy the cakes at the store. Thank you for sharing!
Pat Bernitt
Wow, what a wonderful idea. I don’t do much cake decorating, but definitely will be using this approach in the future. Thanks for sharing this tip!
Nicole
Wow, wow, wow!!! Love this idea! I got into decorating my kid’s cakes a few years ago and loved the way they turned out. But after a couple of years quit doing it because I hated having to clean multiple bowls, bags and tips. This tip is AWESOME! For my next kid’s birthday I think that I am going to make a pretty cake again! Thanks so much for posting this tip!
BarbieM
OMg..what a GREAT idea.
juliemarg
Wow you are doing a great job for sharing such a helpful idea. Thank you for posting!
Christine Hickey
That is one of the best tips I’ve seen in a long time! How come I never thought of that? Your the Best tks.
Carolyn Hamill
Wow, wish I knew this before I iced 400 cupcakes for my daughter’s best friends wedding.
Jacki S
Liz, seriously relax. It’s just a video of someone showing an idea that’s worked for her. Obviously there are a slew of people who didn’t know about this and find the video valuable.
As far as the plastic being wasteful, it’s really not all that much, especially if you don’t do a lot of baking. I used this technique when I worked at a bakery and we used less saran wrap that she did. Worked just as well.
Kudos for posting this tip. :)
Wendy
So Cleve. Great tip. Thanks for sharing! Looks so easy!
Kelly
They taught us this in culinary school! I thought everybody knew! LOL Thank you for sharing =)
Karen
Thanks so much for sharing the tip! Nope, I didn’t get to go to culinary school! Lol! This will save so much time and cut out the part of decorating that I hate. Another thing that I do is likely to send some of the frugal posters spinning into oblivion. I use disposable bowls and plastic utensils to mix the different colors into my icing. With this tip, the only thing I’ll have to wash, is the tips and couplers. Thanks!
chichicho
That is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it would work for everything! all the whippped cream and cookie paste!!!!
those cookie bags aren’t cheap either! I never knew you could save them.
Steven
wow, nice tips to efficiently decorating my cake . i’m still working on it
Chelsea
This is such a brilliant idea! Will try this tomorrow when I bake! Thanks for sharing!
Mandi
WOW! You have just made my life so much easier!! Thank you so much for this tip! I have 2 cakes due this weekend and I’m looking forward to utilizing this new information!! Thanks ;)
Carol B.
Thank you sooooooooo much for sharing,I hate cleaning my bags and this idea is great!
Jessi
I tried this once, and only once, because I covered my boyfriend, my kitchen, and myself in frosting when the twirled and the plastic wrap blew frosting EVERYWHERE.
Sierra
I cannot view the video on here or on youtube or anywhere. Can anyone tell me the trick?! I’m dying to know!
Anita
I love the idea!!! I did the same as Jessi– twisted it too tight and covered everything with RED icing. I will try it again.
Cool Cake
Wow, this tip is going to make my life so much easier! Thank you for sharing :)
stacey
what’s the tip?! this video is gone! :_(
heather
@stacey, the video is showing for me. You can also view it directly on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxE-pnqmsE0&feature=player_embedded
Kelly
I have to admit – if I don’t feel like going through all that cleaning, I just use disposable bags. I did this a few times but I guess I figured if I’m throwing away plastic wrap anyway, I might as well just be throwing away a disposable bag.
Marcia Lane
You have saved my day!! Now, I an mot afraid to use the icing bag and tips again. Thanks for this.
Karen
This idea is a winner! I used it today and it worked perfect. It made decorating and clean up a breeze! This is one of the best ideas I have ever seen in Pinterest! Thank you so much for posting it!
Norma
Thaks for this wonderful information. God Bless you
Mary
I have just started with cake decorating. My daughter found this and sent me the link. This is sooooo cool. Haven’t tried it yet, but can’t wait. Clean-up and waste is minimul. Awesome! Thank you for putting this on video.
Karen Conley
I worked at Baskin Robbins for 18 years and that’s the way they’ve always done it. With. Plastic wrap!!
Steven Johnston
Do not approve. It was not cost effective nor ethical. I would have used a rubber spat to get it all in the bag and used it like it was designed for, side not they are disposable bags.
Perth Cake Decorating Supplies
Wow, its really amazing how plastic wraps can do the trick! Awesome video, will share this to my friends.
Nova
“only dirtied one spoon, and one bowl.”
Yeah…and threw out a ton of plastic in the process. If you think your convenience is worth contributing to the ever growing problem of pollution then this is great…
Oh, you recycle your plastic? That’s nice. It gets trucked down to an area of the southern U.S. known as “cancer alley”. All that plastic gets melted down at high temperatures causing highly toxic chemicals to be released into the air and leeched into the water table. But hey, who cares right? You just saved yourself about 5 minutes worth of washing.
Robin P
Thank you so much. I just tried this today and it worked perfectly. I was able to put colors packs back into the icing bag if I needed more of the color with no issue.
Tam
Been doing that for years.It makes clean up so easy=)
Sharron
This is so great! I am always frustrated by the mess and this will make decorating cakes for 8 grandchildren’s birthdays much easier! Thanks for posting!
Nana
Ok..I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I have never seen this. As a senior now, I hesitate doing decorating because of all the mess and fuss of cleaning my bag, tips, etc. NOW!…look out! You are just magic.. : )
Christine M
Wow, I had given up fancy decorating because of the mess and clean up, but I will be back to doing it after seeing this. How easy, how clever!
Erts
Wow! This is super cool….. thank you so much will save me a lot of time. Godd Bless!!!!
Lindy
This video was made by my friend, Karen of http://www.karenscookies.net. I really think she should recieve a little more credit and a link to her website!
Paula
I really don’t have much experience in decorating cakes so thank you very much for sharing this!
Elise
Holy cow!! You’re a genius! Thank you!
Serena
What can I say that hasn’t been already said? Thanks so much for sharing this great tip! No need to fear messy pastry bags and clean-ups anymore!
Sara
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I made a rainbow birthday cake this morning. This probably saved me hours of time, and certainly my sanity. By the 4th color I didn’t even clean the tip. I just squeezed a test pipe onto a paper towel until the color came out clear. Thanks for posting.
Imjacobsmom
THANK YOU!!!
sheila
I would love to give you a great big hug right now. Too bad I hadn’t seen this awesome video a few days ago when I made my icing flowers for Easter cakes. I could have saved myself a ton of work and mess. Nevertheless this trick is soooo cool that I will remember to use it next time. Thanks for sharing!!!
Alice
Can you use this trick with out a coupler? I often use larger tips without couplers and would love to try this but really love the larger tips.
heather
@Alice, I’m not sure. You’ll have to try it and let us know.
Alice
So I decided before I even tried, it probably won’t work without the coupler as the openings won’t be big enough. Off to get a larger coupler! Thanks.
Alice
I used this method today – fabulous!
Keli
This is the best!! Thank you do much for sharing! I am the helper for
My 11 year old daughter that has taken up decorating. For the tips
Without a coupler I snip it off close to the end and drop it in. Works
Great also. Not as much washing of the bags and my hands stay frosting
Free!
Nueyer
That’s definitely a wow!!!
Debra Pickenpaugh
WOW…SO GOING TO SHOW MY AUNT THIS :) SHE WILL BE HAPPY:)
steph
This is the coolest thing. I usually just make my kids wash them out. I know, I know, child labor.. laziness.. but whatever. It still makes a mess though. This is probably the coolest trick I’ve seen when it comes to cake decorating and I will be using it very often.
Jennifer
WOW!!! This is the ONE thing I think I hate the most about filling/frosting cupcakes and cookies. Thank you for finding this and posting! Much appreciation!
Shelly
It had to be purchased at one point so it’s not free.
Cherie
I wish people would just be thankful when someone gives them a good idea or a hint. As a cake decorator myself, I don’t know if we can really trace everything back to its originator and does it really do something special for the originator to get the credit. I mean, it’s nice but is it going to make a difference if someone else takes the credit? Huh? I mean, be a little more adult would you people? I have done this for over 35 years but you don’t hear me barking about who the originator was and truthfully, I don’t even remember where I got it from but I can tell you — it was a family member. How about them apples ladies?
Laura
I’m from Cookies by Design and have been doing this for over 25 years and it’s a lifesaver! And another little trick if you are using decorating bags that are non-disposable is to use colored hair ties that are the same color as the frosting inside. This way you just grab the bag with the color tie on it instead of trying to look closely at each tip to check which color is inside. And the bands last a long time and won’t snap on you!
heather
@Laura, Love the hair tie tip – that is great!! Thanks for sharing.
Deena
GET OUT OF TOWN!! THAT’S GREAT.
Brandy
Wow!!! Thanks so much!!! I have to make a ton of cupcakes AND cookies with icing and this will be a lifesaver!