The good news is, if you are afflicted with bad piped handwriting, you CAN change it!
I have created an extensive list of some of the best tips and tricks I have offered to my in-person decorating students, to help them better tackle piped writing, without needing speciality tools to get it done.
Now, this DOES involve PRACTICE, so don’t think you are going to get this accomplished overnight, without time and effort. Many people simply use a projector or a stencil BUT it is smart to know how to do this by hand, when your tools inevitably break or falter at some point in the future. Plus, it’s just nice to save money and do it yo’self!
Plan a few days in the near future to give some of these tips a go, and work on your writing boss skills!
How to Write on Cakes and Cookies with No Speciality Tools
Tips from an Expert Design Instructor
NOTE: Piped Writing has a lot to do with practice, personal style and piping pressure.
1. Choose Fonts to Practice With
Go online and pick out at least one cursive style type font and one block letter type font, in both lower and uppercase. Print these out, tape to a table and cover with a piece of acetate or plastic wrap. Fill a piping bag with tip #3 and less than a handful of buttercream. Go over the letters at least 25 times, maybe more.
You will be using these letters to create your "cake writing style". I write differently on cakes than I do in real life.
A good script font is Alex Brush. Download a zip file here.
A good block letter font is Teen. Download a zip file here.
Another good block letter font is RM Typerighter. Download a zip file here.
Browse all other Free Fonts for Commercial Use here.
Pay special attention to the capital H, B, C and M. These can sometimes look strange in cursive type font and you want them to be very pretty, as you will use them a lot.
In the block letter, pay attention to how the a is shaped. I chose an a that had character and was fun to write. This set my writing apart from others. You want to make sure that the writing style you choose flows easily from your hand and makes sense for your products and themes.
2. Align Letters and Words
After you have practiced letters, to keep them aligned well, you can start by taking a ruler and very gently pressing it into the top of the cake to give you a slight indent for a line.
Or you can take a toothpick and trace out your letters beforehand, into the icing. (If you are piping onto dried royal icing, check tip #6 on how to remove the icing and try again.)
You can also pipe on the back of the correct sized cake pan to give you a practice go at the writing.
3. Space Letters Correctly
A good tip is to always start writing closer to the left side of the cake or cookie than you think you need to. As a beginner, you will almost always run out of room as you write.
It is a lot easier to slightly stretch spacing and words as you move to the right, than to squeeze and scrunch in letters.
You can also begin by placing the central letter of the word you are trying to write FIRST, in the center of the item. Then fill in the left and right side letters to fit.
4.No More Than a Handful of Icing
Keep in mind that you do not want to write with more than a handful of icing in your piping bag.
The weight and pressure with more than that amount will cause lots of issues, including extra shaky and sweaty hands, plus application issues.
If that small amount of icing begins to get hot and runny, simply pipe it out into a bowl and fill the bag with another scoop of cool icing and remix the warm icing, as needed.
5. #2 Tip Goal
Your goal is to eventually be writing with a #2 tip, and then a #1, when needed. Practice with a #3 or even a #4 until you get the shapes of the letters and flow down.
Learning to move to a smaller tip will also help you with delicate piping like lace and super tiny details.
6. Fixing Mistakes
If you mess up the writing, it can usually be fixed.
Get a toothpick, pin, exacto knife, tweezers or something very small and try to pull the letters up in pieces or chunks. This is delicate. If you can get all the color up, and you are using buttercream, you can use a paper towel to smooth out the area and try again. A dampened spatula will also smooth a small area of buttercream in a pinch.
If you've made a mistake on fondant, you can usually use a paint brush to get the excess lettering off after you gently scrape up the letters, and use vodka to brush and remove most of the residue to try again.
If you’ve made a mistake on dried royal icing, you can usually wet a towel or fabric and wipe the newly piped icing off, without an issue. You want to keep the moisture levels to a minimum, and if you wipe too many times, you could damage the icing below. You can use a Q-tip or small brush instead of a towel, to remove smaller details.
7. Shaky Hand Syndrome
Many people have shaky hands when it comes to detail work. It could be do to many things, including physical or mental issues.
As I mentioned above, please make sure you are only having a scoop or so of icing in your bag while piping with tiny tips (writing, detail work, etc). The more icing you are trying to push through the tip, the more pressure (shaking) will occur.
To combat hand shaking, you can:
Not drink caffeine 1-3 hours before piping detail work.
Make sure you are rested and have eaten within the last hour.
Have good lighting in your work area.
Use your none piping hand to steady the piping hand. Grab the wrist, forearm or elbow of the piping hand with the none piping hand, while anchoring the none piping elbow into your side or chest, to create a solid structure to help steady the piping arm/hand.
Take in a deep breath and release, then do not take in another breath until the detail line has been made. Make sure to work slowly and breath at a normal rate.
Mental visualization is key here. Literally SEE yourself creating a great movement and piping section. Play it through your mind how you will complete it and be successful, then complete the detail work as envisioned.
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