Favorite Piping Tips for Frosting Cupcakes

In this baking tutorial post, I will share with you my top 6 favorite piping tips for frosting cupcakes. If you are looking to build or add to your cupcake supplies, these are the piping tips I recommend to create beautiful buttercream swirls.

Top 6 Favorite Piping Tips for Frosting Cupcakes

When I first started baking, I thought I needed to buy every single piping tip ever created to decorate beautiful cupcakes. After many years of baking and frosting probably thousands of dozens of cupcakes, I found that I kept reaching for the same 6 piping tips over and over again.

In this post, I will share with you my top 6 favorite piping tips for frosting cupcakes. Each of these piping tips have unique features that create gorgeous bakery-quality buttercream swirls. Not only do the shape and features of the piping tips create different swirl patterns, but the way you use the piping tip can also create buttercream designs. Plus, for each piping tip, I will show you a brief video tutorial to show you the piping process!

For each of these piping tips, you do not need a coupler. All you need is a piping bag and the piping tip. Simply use scissors to cut the piping bag opening to be smaller that the large end of the tip, drop in the tip, and fill with buttercream frosting.

How to Create a Buttercream Swirl

For each of the cupcakes pictured below, I created a traditional “ice cream swirl” design. Basically, the swirl looks like a soft-serve ice cream cone.

Here is the basic breakdown of how to pipe this type of buttercream swirl.

1. Position the decorating tip on top of the cupcake in the center of the cupcake. Hold the piping bag at a 90 degree angle (perpendicular) to your work surface.
2. Apply pressure to the top of the piping bag, slowly squeezing out the frosting. Without releasing pressure, pipe a swirl of frosting around the center, continuing to the outer edge of the cupcake.
3. After you have reached the edge, continue to pipe and move the tip upward and inward.
4. End the swirl in the center of the cupcake. Stop squeezing and pull the tip upward.

1. Wilton 1M Piping Tip

The Wilton 1M piping tip is my absolute favorite, go-to piping tip for cupcakes. It is an open-star piping tip, which means that the teeth of the piping tip do not curve toward the center. It creates a beautiful buttercream swirl due to its deep teeth.

You can create many different swirl patterns with this one piping tip. If I had to recommend only one piping tip for your cupcake decorating needs, this one would be it.

Click here to find the Wilton 1M piping tip!

2. Ateco 826 Piping Tip

The Ateco 826 piping tip is another frequently used tip in my kitchen. It is another open-star piping tip, but unlike the Wilton 1M tip, the teeth are wider. The buttercream swirl this open star tip creates remind me of soft-serve ice cream.

I love using the Ateco 826 tip when I am piping a buttercream frosting that contains cookie crumbs, such as my cookies and cream buttercream frosting. Sometimes, the tiny cookie crumbs can get stuck in piping tips that have finer teeth, but because these teeth are so wide, it pipes like a dream.

Click here to find the Ateco 826 piping tip!

3. Wilton 2D Piping Tip

The Wilton 2D piping tip is not one to sleep on. This piping tip is a closed star tip, which means that the teeth curve in toward the center of the opening of the tip. It creates a buttercream swirl with tighter and more deeply grooved swirls.

This piping tip is my go-to tip when I want to create a ruffled swirl on cupcakes. Because the teeth openings are so small, if you add a good amount of pressure on the piping bag, the buttercream will create a ruffle pattern when it pipes. If you apply regular pressure to the piping bag, you can also create beautiful rosettes.

I don’t recommend using this piping tip with frosting that contains cookie crumbs as they can easily clog up the opening.

Click here to find the Wilton 2D piping tip!

4. Ateco 869 Piping Tip

The Ateco 869 piping tip creates beautiful, elegant buttercream swirls. This piping tip is an open-star tip because the teeth do not curve to the center of the opening. It is considered a French star tip, meaning that the teeth are very small and fine.

You can pipe several different ways, depending on how you swirl and position the tip. Just be aware that it pipes out a ton of frosting because of it’s relatively large opening. The close teeth, however, can easily clog if you have a buttercream with cookie crumbs in it, so I would recommend sticking with a very smooth buttercream with this tip.

Click here to find the Ateco 869 piping tip!

5. Wilton 1A Piping Tip

The Wilton 1A piping tip is a very versatile tip. It is a simple round tip which creates a perfectly round pipe. You can use this tip for so many different baking projects including cake and cupcake piping, piping macarons, eclairs or cream puffs, and filling mini cheesecake pans.

You can use the Wilton 1A piping tip to pipe on cupcakes several different ways. It is definitely a good, multi-use piping tip to have on hand as a baker.

Click here to find the Wilton 1A piping tip!

6. Ateco 857 Piping Tip

The Ateco 857 piping tip creates beautiful, elegant swirls. Essentially, this piping tip is a closed-star French tip, which means that the teeth are very narrow and curve to meet in the center of the opening. It pipes similarly to the Ateco 869 tip, but will deeper ridges.

Similar to all the piping tips mentioned, you can create several different designs with this tip depending on how much pressure you apply and the way you are positioning the tip.

Similar to the Wilton 2D tip, I don’t recommend using this piping tip with frosting that contains cookie crumbs as it can clog up the tip.

Click here to find the Ateco 857 piping tip!

Bake Up These Cupcake Recipes

• Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting
• Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting
• Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
• Confetti cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (and sprinkles)
• Lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting
• Banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
• Cherry almond cupcakes with cherry almond buttercream frosting
• Strawberry cupcake with strawberry buttercream frosting