Culinary Institute of America

Piping a Shell Border

Appears in
top 1000Baking & Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft
Baking & Pastry

By Culinary Institute of America

Published 2015

  • About
  1. Fit a pastry bag with a star tip. Holding the piping bag at a 45-degree angle, place the tip close to the surface of the cake.
  2. Squeeze the bag, allowing the icing to fan forward in a rounded shape, while lifting the tip slightly.
  3. Lower the tip back to the surface while slowly relaxing the pressure on the bag.
  4. Stop squeezing the bag and pull the tip away from the rounded head of the shell, keeping the tip on the surface of the cake to form the “tail” of the shell.
  5. To form the next shell, place the star tip at the end of the first shell and repeat.