Cake Decorating Made Easy With Royal Icing & Ateco Decorating Tube Set

Disclosure: Grandma Bonnie's Closet was not compensated for the review of this product. I received a free product from ShopAtDean.com in exchange for an honest opinion. The opinions expressed are my own.

If you are a long time reader of Grandma Bonnie's Closet then you know that one of my favorite hobbies is cake decorating. I am always looking for new and interesting cake decorating products to play with. I often browse online in my spare time looking at cake decorating sites and supply companies. That is how I came across Dean Supply Online. I sat for at least an hour looking at all their kitchen and baking supplies. Then I came across the Ateco 55 Piece Decorating Pastry Tube Set. I began to dream of all the lovely cakes I could make with this awesome set. I thought why not ask for a set to review. My readers enjoy making cakes for their grandchildren/children. You all do, right!
Dean Supply Online is a family run business of 63 years. If you ever visit Ohio and are in the Cleveland area you might want to visit their showroom on Woodland Ave. Hmm, I bet that would make a good blog post.

On with the review. A little over a week ago I received this lovely 55 piece Tube Set. I was impressed with Dean Supply's friendly service and amazingly fast shipping. That is one reason I like to support family owned and run businesses. A good family business puts their customers first and works to see that they are happy and satisfied. I am indeed happy and extremely satisfied.

The set includes two Rose/Flower nails, a coupler for changing tubes and 52 decorating tubes(tips). Included in the 52 tips are multiple writing tips, string tips, star tips, border tips, and leaf tips. Best of all, these beautiful tubes came in a nice heavy duty case for storage. 

This is a pastry filling tip. Imagine how easily I can fill donuts and cupcakes with custard fillings. I will be testing this tip out soon and let you all know how it works. 

The tube to your left is a grass or hair making tube. The tube at the right makes borders and can be used to make a basket weave design on cakes. (Stay tuned for a basket weave cake post in the near future.)

I found the tips easy to use, easy to clean and fun to decorate cakes with. The important thing about getting tips clean after use is a brush made for tube cleaning or a pipe cleaner. I found the tubes easy to clean with pipe cleaners. The coupler that came with the set makes it easy to fill one pastry bag with icing and easily interchange tubes through out the decorating process.  

I used the coupler in this pastry bag. Just drop in the first piece of the coupler. Then add the tube on the outside of the bag and place the ring over the tube. I dropped the bag into a glass and folded the bag over to make it easy to fill with Royal Icing. I then covered my cake in white fondant. I selected a few interesting tubes to test. 

First I used tube #070 for the draped border on the top edge. Then tube #32 for the bottom edge. Next, I tried the rose tube #127 with the large rose/flower nail. It took lots of practice to get a few flowers to even begin to look like a rose. Well, at least they resemble a rose of sorts. Finally, I used tubes #34 and #4 to make leaves and vines. 

Now, I have a surprise for you. This is my first attempt at a YouTube video. I would love for you to watch this short video. I am demonstrating the use of the above tubes while decorating a cake with Royal Icing. It is a short video and I do appreciate your support. Thank you for watching.

I hope you enjoyed the video. Follow Dean Supply Online with Facebook and Twitter. 

Cake Decorating: Royal Icing

Today we are going to make Royal Icing. What is Royal Icing? Cake decorators use royal icing to make edible decorations to put on cakes. Royal icing is not for frosting a cake. This icing is stiff and drys hard. When making decorations to place on a cake they are usually made and left to sit on waxed paper until they are dry(24 hrs). Then you can gently place them on the cake where you would want them.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Meringue Powder

4 cups confectioners sugar ( powdered sugar)

6 tablespoons warm water

Makes about 3 cups of icing.

Instructions:

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks. ( 8 to 12 minutes this will depend on if you use a hand mixer or a heavy duty mixer) The icing should be smooth, firm, and thick. When you touch the icing with your finger tip it should leave an impression but the icing should not stick to your finger. For stiffer icing use one tablespoon less water.  To thin icing add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time and be very careful. It is extremely hard to thicken once thinned.

I made some decorations from royal icing today. Please forgive the roses as I left my rose nail at home.
Also just a reminder I am not a professional cake decorator this is just a hobby.

Note:  

1. When making royal icing make sure all your mixing utensils and bowls are free of grease. 

2. This icing drys very quickly so put what you need in your decorators bag and seal the rest in an airtight container and refrigerate.

3. Be careful when mixing this icing the stiff consistency has been know to burn up the motor of a hand  mixer.

4. Once flowers and other decorations are dry they can be stored in air tight containers for two weeks or more.