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See why.Piping Sets
We tried five sets, priced from $11.63 to $29.95, each containing between nine and 12 pastry tips and either cloth or plastic bags.
Published Feb. 1, 2016. Appears in Cook's Illustrated March/April 2008, Cook's Country TV Season 10: Pork Tacos and Churros
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See Everything We TestedWhat You Need To Know
Whether decorating an elaborate wedding cake, swirling frosting atop cupcakes, filling deviled eggs, or piping pâte à choux for churros, the best way to instantly upgrade your game is to use a piping bag outfitted with a decorating tip. But unless you’re a professional, it’s hard to know what to buy: There are hundreds of bags and tips sold in all different sizes, materials, and designs. We wondered if decorating sets—kits that come with pastry bags and a selection of decorating tips—make getting started any easier.
We tried five sets, priced from $11.63 to $29.95, each containing between nine and 12 pastry tips and either cloth or plastic bags. Most sets also came with a large threaded plastic nozzle called a coupler, which adheres the tip to the bag and makes it easier to switch tips in the middle of a project.
Professional and novice testers sampled every tip in each set, piping lines, flowers, leaves, swirls, stars, and borders with colorful buttercream. We also decorated cakes (including a three-tier wedding cake), piped out stiff pâte à choux for churros, swirled mounds of hot duchess potatoes, and filled curried deviled eggs.
By the end of testing, it was clear that reusable cloth bags weren’t worth the fuss. No matter how many times we washed them, reusable bags either clung to smells or looked tie-dyed from food stains—spotted pink from frosting and yellow from curried deviled egg filling (though these smells and stains didn’t leach into other fillings). Most were too floppy and drooped uncomfortably over testers’ arms as they piped. One canvas bag was too stiff and took extra effort to squeeze. We preferred disposable plastic bags, which were less floppy, easier to handle, and effortless to clean. (Gallon-sized freezer bags can be outfitted with a pastry tip in a pinch, though their wider angle makes them prone to ripping when used with thick or heavy fillings like pâte à choux and duchess potatoes.)
Unfortunately, the only set with disposable bags was also the only set lacking a coupler. While not necessary for most tasks, a coupler was helpful for decorating cakes, where we frequently switched between tips with different designs.
We asked our pro testers to sort each set’s decorating tips into three categories: essentials, nice-to-have, and weak links—tips that were too similar, weren’t sized properly, or were designs they’d never use. We were left with six essential tips: a small round writing tip, a larger round tip for bigger designs, a large open star tip, a large closed star tip, a leaf tip, and a petal tip. Surprisingly, none of the sets had all the essentials—every product was bogged down by duplicate...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Cleaning: 3 stars out of 3.
- Usefulness: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease-of-use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
- Quality of decorations: 3 stars out of 3.
This set has all the essentials: six core tips in the right sizes, twelve 16-inch disposable pastry bags, and a set of four reusable couplers. The six tips make topping cupcakes, decorating cakes, piping pâte à choux, and filling savory foods effortless. all the components are available at craft stores such as Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, or Jo-ann Fabric and Craft Stores.
Recommended
- Cleaning: 3 stars out of 3.
- Usefulness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Quality of Decorations: 2 stars out of 3.
This set was almost perfect: It came with five of our essential tips, including a large open star tip for cupcake swirls and rosettes. The plastic bags were easy to handle, effortless to clean up afterward, and durable (we only once broke a bag, while piping duchess potatoes). Unfortunately, this set lacked a large closed star tip and a coupler. Some pros also thought the 12-inch bags were too small. Most agreed that this is a great starter set if you buy a few extras to round it out.
Recommended with reservations
- Cleaning: 1 stars out of 3.
- Usefulness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Quality of Decorations: 2 stars out of 3.
There were a lot of nice-to-have tips in this set, including fun tips for piping basket weaves, ribbons, and scalloped edges. Unfortunately, it lacked basics like large star-shaped tips, so buttercream swirls, churros, and duchess potatoes all turned out too small. Testers also took issue with this set’s floppy cloth bag, which drooped over our arms as we piped, hung on to smells, and looked tie-dyed from food coloring after testing.
- Cleaning: 1 stars out of 3.
- Usefulness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Quality of Decorations: 2 stars out of 3.
This set made perfect deviled egg swirls and beautiful buttercream flowers with its leaf and petal tips, but its star-shaped tips were too small for larger decorations like cupcake swirls and yielded messy churros and duchess potatoes. Testers preferred this moderately thick cloth bag to other reusable pastry bags but still lamented that it was troublesome to clean and clung to stains and smells.
Not Recommended
- Cleaning: 1 stars out of 3.
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1 stars out of 3.
- Quality of Decorations: 2 stars out of 3.
These stainless-steel tips had tiny openings, which easily clogged with thicker pâte à choux and duchess potatoes. While the tips were fine for small leaves, flower petals, or writing, they were too teensy for classic cupcake swirls, thick borders, or churros. Testers struggled to squeeze this heavy canvas pastry bag, which also trapped frosting and filling along its thick seams.
- Cleaning: 1 stars out of 3.
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1 stars out of 3.
- Quality of Decorations: 1 stars out of 3.
These oversized plastic tips resembled toys more than tools and made gloppy, smudged, and imprecise decorations. No petal, leaf, writing, or closed star tips here: Nearly every tip in this set was a variation on an open star or round tip. Its thick silicone pastry bag flopped around while testers piped and clung to smells after washing. The one useful item included was a stand for holding the pastry bag while not in use—but it certainly wasn’t worth this set’s nearly $30.00 price tag.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
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