A while ago we bought a pack of one-use pastry bags (which are essentially conical plastic bags), but the tips have since gotten lost in the huge collection of sprinkles, colored sugar, and other decorative items in the pantry (when you have kids, you make a lot of decorated cupcakes).
If you want to pipe frosting onto something but lack a pastry bag, you can always improvise with a zip-lock, or even a plastic bag from the grocery store produce section. Just lay the bag of choice in a large measuring cup, spoon in your frosting, squeeze it all down to one end, and snip off the tip of the corner (the hole size will determine your piping diameter).
I've done this a couple of times.
The results won't win any county fair prizes, but it does nicely in
a pinch.
And just for fun (at least for the geeks), here's a little bit of gratuitous baking lore: "Frosting" and "icing" are often used as interchangeable terms, but they're two distinctly different substances.
Frosting is a thick, soft, moldable substance, typically based on butter, margarine, or vegetable shortening (it's what we used on the cupcakes). Icing, on the other hand, is typically liquid and powdered sugar-based. It's thin, spreadable, and dries to a smooth, hard finish. Think of royal icing on Christmas cookies.
Are you floored? I knew you would be.
[Video] See how easy it is to add decorative frosting borders to any cake.More from bon appetit:
- The Well Stocked Kitchen
Everything you need to cook anything you want with this bon appetit guide. - Women Chefs: The Next
Generation
These six chefs are breaking ground and taking charge. We gathered them around the table to talk about "feminine" food, their favorite eats, and the value of hazing. - The BA Foodist
Restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton shares tips, trends, and his take on eating out. - Subscribe to Bon Appétit - Just $1 an issue!
