Sweet Caroline’s Royal Icing Tips

If you’ve ever wondered whether disposable piping bags can actually be reused, the answer is yes — and I’ll show you this couple of little hacks which changed everything for us!!!

For a commercial kitchen that has to go through lots of piping bags, this is a game changer.

By using a coupler, one piping bag, and royal icing wrapped in cling wrap, you can change piping tips easily, keep one icing consistency, and avoid throwing bags away after every design.

Watch the video to see how we do it; but here's the low down.

Instead of filling the piping bag directly, we wrap the royal icing into a small “sausage” using cling wrap, knot one end, and place it inside the bag.

This means when you’re finished, the icing comes straight out — ready to be replaced with a new one — while the piping bag stays clean and reusable.

We also show how a coupler works inside the piping bag, allowing you to swap between different piping tips without changing bags. In this video, I demonstrate the tips we use most in the Sweet Caroline kitchen:

✅ Tip 47 for creating a snow effect along the edges of gingerbread houses
✅ Tip 12 for decorating and assembling walls and roofs
✅ Tip 4 (and finer tips like 1 or 2) for detailed work and lettering

This method is especially useful for gingerbread house decorating, where you need to move quickly between effects while keeping your icing consistent and your workspace tidy.

But this technique can be used for anything else you want to put icing on.

All of the tools shown can be purchased from your local cake decorating store, and the technique works with both large and small piping bags.

These are practical, real-world decorating tips we use every day — designed to save time, reduce waste, and make decorating easier and more enjoyable.