Prepare yourself for all this delicious piping of colourful frosting. I love the look of piped cakes, reminiscent of motherly baking and celebration. Which inspires my ceramic work greatly (gallery below of some of my work) and I have been keen to learn the traditional piping skills of yesteryear. My learning to pipe has come partly from fantastic cake decorating creators on instagram where I can look closely at their piping techniques.
There are some seriously talented and creative people in this field but it can be hard to find them in a field of thousands. The hashtags #cakedecorator #pipingskills are useful but my taste is specific when it comes to piping. I love the kind of piping designs that are traditional, neat, made up entirely of piping from several different nozzles, and especially kitsch in style. Here is a list of my favourite Cake decorators I have found on Instagram and who I think YOU should be following for all that piping content you didn’t know you wanted.
coven_bakery
London based bakery Coven Bakery make these stunningly piped cakes. Ribbons, swirls, wiggle patterns with pearls and cherries make up these nostalgic iced lovelies. I’m a big fan of contrasting colour palettes and anything pastel which these gals supply in abundance.
Follow them here.
aprilsbakerlondon
London based April’s Baker create these dreamy heavily piped celebration cakes. This bakery combines so many different piping styles and nozzles so expertly to create these intricate and elegant piped creations.
Follow them here.
thegeminibake
The Gemini Bake is based in New York City. Retro Kitsch, bright and creative; this bakery artfully pipes all sorts including borders, draped swags, wiggly lines and flowers. They also post nostalgic photos and videos of vintage cakes and piping.
Follow them here
3rdiam_cak
3rd I Am is a Korea-based bakery which expertly creates elegant vintage-inspired. They also teach and host cake making and decorating classes for beginners and advanced. Their piping is so neat and perfectly spaced. It’s handled expertly between the line-work, ribbons, swirls and shells.
Follow them here
Juujuucake
I really enjoy how this maker is able to create cute characters and creatures using piping techniques. Their traditional techniques are creative and original on each cake created. The star-shaped nozzle piped font here creates lovely texture with the smiling daisy characters. And I love the leaf-nozzle ruffle with nostalgic bow and cute piped poodle faces.
Follow them here
hebe_konditori
I love this UK-based bakery’s creative designs. Beautifully decorated and unique in designs. I enjoy their use of sarcastic statements on their cakes like “beige” on a beige cake, “sugar high”, “here comes another heartbreak”. I enjoy their feminine pastel colour palettes and piping is varied in styles and nozzles. Lots of fun and clever designs. They also published their own ‘Vegan Cakes’ recipe book that I have on order to look forward to reading.
Follow them here
benny.cake
This bakery’s use of whipped frosting on their vintage style cakes to create kawaii cutesy-style characters with chubby faces and big pink cheeks brings a child-like nostalgic feel. Their use of double font piping, where the cursive attached message is piped first and a contrasting colour is repeated on top. I am obsessed with a good basket weave (harder than it looks!) and here it is paired with piped roses, daisies and leaves.
Follow them here
ashleyshotwellcakes
This artist and baker creates beautifully creative designs. I love the kitsch Americana designs especially, there are cowboys, 90’s Firbies, mountain scenes, dinosaurs and lots of piping videos to watch. The koi fish pond cake is one of my faves – The water and koi fish are almost painted on the surface and then you have the lovely texture of perfectly piped lily pads and flowers. Their use of bright colours and perfectly blended scenes is something to admire.
Follow them here
1308_cake
A new find for me! And I love their work already. The piping is spot on, so neat and well positioned. The cursive double piped font is lovely and I particularly like their use of a traditional grid pattern and making it look like tartan in a bright palette. I appreciate a well piped ruffle on a cake too.
Follow them here
white_ate
And lastly another brand new find for me. I included them not only because of their perfectly piped creations but because I have not seen such beautifully piped flowers before. The carnation example here is so beautifully realistic. And the daffodils here are expertly created to produce a professional and clean spring design *chef’s kiss*
Follow them here
By Christina Goodall
www.christinagoodallceramics.com