Kuhn Rikon’s new Squeezable Decorating Kit looks very cute at first glance. It consists of two tall decorating bottles, three short decorating bottles, five steel decorating tips (round, ribbon, leaf, star and basketweave) and a frosting spatula. It’s a great looking package and most of the equipment really will be useful in the kitchen. While I prefer to use a pastry bag (or a plastic bag) myself, the squeezable decorating bottles do handle pretty well and offer much more control to kids, who don’t usually have the steadiest hands when it comes to piping frosting.
The problem with the kit is the “three short decorating bottles,” which have an accordion-like design. The idea is that it is easy to compress the bottle in the palm of you hand and force out the frosting. I still like my pastry bag, but the problem that I have with these is that they are incredibly difficult to clean. Butter, cream cheese and other bits and pieces of the frosting stick into the accordion ridges and, unless you are extremely carefully (and have a set of pipe cleaner-type brushes), it is very hard to get them all out. If you don’t, you could end up with frosting that takes on the flavor of whatever was in the tube before – or worse, with bits of old, dried frosting flaking off in the newer batch.
Mike
March 6, 2009I’m still a fan of the pastry bag. Being forced to use both hands keeps me steady and focused. Still, if I see these in the store I’ll try them out for sure.
Mike
mike@foodea.com
eko
March 6, 2009These are clever, but I could see cleaning them being a royal pain! What would be smart – is for them to be made like those horrible nose snorkler thingies (sp!) for babies – which now have at the bottom, that can be popped open, enabling one to clean them out…
But then what do I know? – I still use a ziploc with the corner snipped. 😀
dawn
March 6, 2009cleaning these would be a challenge!
Amanda
March 6, 2009I actually got these for christmas. I put a chocolate sauce in the accodiane one and did not have trouble cleaning it. I filled it with water and let it soaked. I put a red icing in one of the tubes and it did stain it. So that is the only problem that I have had. I love that they have the different tips.
Jen
March 6, 2009I have a similar decorating set that came with my cookie press from Williams-Sonoma. I also prefer a pastry bag, but I have used them a few times when making multiple icing colors.
To clean, I always run them under really hot soapy water and let them soak. Then, use the hand sprayer from the sink to blast out the (now softened) leftover bits of icing. It usually does the trick, although it can be a bit messy.
amy
March 6, 2009I am going to find these and try them. I have had two broke wrist and can not use a pastry bag. It looks like my 4 year old decorated a cake. These might be better. I will just have to soak them and see if they come clean.
Sophia
March 6, 2009i have some similar to these, and they are incredibly hard to clean
chumpman
March 8, 2009The design of three short bottles do make it easier to force out the frosting. But when I think of how to clean it, I rather stick with pastry bag.
Cathy
March 16, 2009i have found that anytime i have something hard to clean you just soak it in polident! that’s right–any effervescent denture cleaner works like a charm. i use it for vases, my bleach trays for whitening my teeth, cooking utensils that are hard to clean around/in/through whatever. my husband collects old bottles and finds some in the woods with lots of dirt caked inside. you guessed it–i let them soak in water to loosen the debris then soak them in polident. try it!
Condos Toronto
March 18, 2009Combine Marsala and gelatin in small bowl and stir until gelatin is softened. Combine yolks and sugar in top of double boiler and beat until thickened, abut 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in rum. Set over simmering water and continue beating until mixture is hot and foamy. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture and stir until gelatin is thoroughly dissolved. Set pan in ice and beat just until cool, about 5 minutes.Melt chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water. Add espresso powder and stir through. Remove from heat and beat in butter one piece at a time. Blend into egg mixture. Set in bowl of ice and continue beating until mixture is smooth and cool. Fold in whipped cream. Turn into prepared pan and refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of springform pan. Pat remaining half of crumb mixture around sides and top edge of mousse. Decorate top of mousse with chocolate leaves if desired. Can be frozen up to 2 months. Yields 10 to 12 servings.
Mattie
November 1, 2010I have these and love them! Being able to put any decorating tip on a squeeze bottle is very, very handy.
You may find it easier to clean them by filling them with warm, soapy water, covering the tip with your finger and shaking (those with talent may do two at a time while dancing). If there is a great deal of material still inside, pop the bottle in the freezer for a few minutes first and then knead the hardened bits until they break into small enough pieces to fit through the mouth. Once all the stuff is gone, pull the bottle to maximum extension (flattening the accordion folds) and swipe the indside with a narrow brush or washrag over a utensil handle. This has worked well for me with both icing and chocolate.
My only issue with these is that the tips (like most on the market) are metal; this makes it difficult to keep tempered chocolate from solidifying and blocking the aperture when doing a large batch of truffles. For this I keep multiple bottles warm and switch them out as they cool. This is a lot easier to do with bottles than pastry bags!
wendy
January 27, 2011got a set of these as a present and love them, really easy to clean just use a bottle brush
Cindy O'Keefe
March 27, 2012I have these and they clean up beautifully, no pipe cleaner needed. I just pop in a little Dawn soft soap and my pointer finger slides in easily to clean in the accordion pleats, rinse with warm water soooo easy!
I was sceptical to begin with so I didn’t even use them at first, but when my daughter and I were decorating butterfy cookies these worked so much better than bags.
love love love them