Piping and Icing

For a century, however, cake decoration would remain a mostly professional matter, made possible by the 1840s French invention of piping. First extruded from paper cones, then later from metal tubes (also called tips), piped icing made elaborate cake decorating possible for all levels of bakers. With practice—and the help of colored icing and pastry school courses or printed instruction—bakers could now apply elaborate trims directly to the cake itself or attach them when they were dry. Unlike other sugar ornamentation, most piping did not have to be removed before eating.