Canned frosting, just like boxed cake mixes, can be very handy in times when you don’t have the ability or desire to make frosting from scratch. It comes in a variety of flavors and is ready to use immediately. Growing up, I would simply spread frosting from a can on top of a sheet cake (funfetti, usually) and call it a day. These days, my bar has been raised and it is rare that I don’t use a piping bag to top frost my cupcakes. A piping bag, whether you use a piping tip or not, allows you to make your cupcakes look like they came straight from a bakery, even if you’re not a skilled cake decorator. I often suggest using a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off in lieu of a pastry bag if you don’t have the “real” thing, but Pillsbury is offering up another – even easier – option.
The Pillsbury Filled Pastry Bag line of frostings are prepared frostings that are already packed in real pastry bags, ready to use with no prep at all. In fact, the pastry bags even come outfitted with a plastic star tip so you can create a few simple designs with them! I picked up a package of the Chocolate Fudge Frosting at Target to give it a try.
Immediately, I was impressed and found myself wondering what took them so long to come out with this idea! The star tip was a nice size – not too large and not too small – and the pastry bag was very easy to work with. The frosting was smooth and require no mixing or kneading, though there were a couple of air bubbles in the bag that interrupted my designs. The bag contained enough frosting for a dozen cupcakes, but you could use them to decorate full size cakes, too. The Fudge has a nice chocolate flavor and a good consistency. The bags are also available filled with vanilla and cream cheese frostings.
I had a great time working with this and really appreciated the convenience. There is no need to buy (or make) pastry bags, nor to fiddle with separate tips, when you simply want to give your cupcakes a nice basic frosting quickly. They’re also simple enough that kids could use them to decorate. Of course, I’m still going to make the vast majority of my frosting from scratch, but I’ll probably pick these up for a quick fix instead of traditional canned frosting from now on.
What do you think?