Fix a mistake
Gaps and breaks in piped icing: how to fix them
The icing stops, thins out or breaks where the template carries on.
Quick answer
A likely cause is easing off the squeeze partway through, often when you change hand position. The fix: keep the same gentle squeeze all the way and only stop squeezing at the very end.
What it looks like
- Parts of the grey template are still showing with no icing on them.
- A line breaks into pieces, or a border has bare spots between units.
- A line thins to a thread before it snaps.
Likely causes
- Easing off the squeeze partway through, often when you change hand position.
- Moving too fast, so the icing stretches until it breaks.
- An air bubble in the bag, which makes the flow cut out for a moment.
- A partly blocked tip, or icing with small lumps in it.
How to fix it
Keep one gentle squeeze to the end
Keep the same gentle squeeze all the way and only stop squeezing at the very end of the line or unit.
Plan your stops
If you need to move your hand, stop squeezing at a corner or the end of a unit, not in the middle of a line, then restart on the line.
Get the air out
Twist the top of the bag closed and squeeze a little icing back into the bowl before you start, so any trapped air comes out first.
Slow down on long lines
If the line stretches thin before it breaks, move a little slower so the flow can keep up.
Where it shows up on our sheets
It is most common with line, zigzag, loops, letters, shells, scrolls, leaves and ruffle. These sheets have strokes where the scorer looks for it first:
| Sheet | Tip | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Lines and dots | 3 | strokes 1 to 3 (line) |
| Zigzags and waves | 3 | strokes 1 and 2 (zigzag) and 3 to 5 (line) |
| Loops | 3 | strokes 1 to 4 (loops) |
| Block letters | 3 | strokes 1 and 2 (letters) |
| Shell border | 21 | strokes 1 to 4 (shells) |
| Reverse shells | 21 | strokes 1 to 5 (shells) |
| C and S scrolls | 21 | strokes 1 to 4 (scrolls) |
| Leaves | 352 | strokes 1 to 4 (leaves) |
| Ruffle border | 104 | strokes 1 to 4 (ruffle) |
How Icing Coach spots it
After lining up your photo with the corner markers, Icing Coach checks how much of each template is covered with icing. Bare stretches lower your coverage score and show up as gap zones.
Every score uses the four corner markers on the printed sheet to flatten your photo onto the template, so it compares your icing with the exact shapes you piped over. How the score works.
Sheets to practise it on
These have the line, letters, shells where it shows up most. Pipe one, score it, then pipe it again and compare. You need tip 3 or tip 21.
Lines and dots practice sheet
Straight lines and round dots with a plain round tip. The first sheet everyone pipes: it teaches steady pressure and a clean finish.
Block letters practice sheet
Spell CAKE and LOVE in plain capital letters. Practise stopping, lifting and starting again cleanly.
Shell border practice sheet
The classic cake-edge shell border. Squeeze, ease, pull: that is the whole move.
Reverse shells practice sheet
Shells that lean one way, then the other, so they hug into a rope. Great for tall or vertical borders.
