Getting Ready

• Before you start, it's important to have everything as cold as possible. Your cream should be chilled to just above freezing, and your mixer bowl and whip should be refrigerated as well. Heavy cream makes a foam because the beater forces the globules of milk fat -- stiff and cold from the refrigerator -- to break and then rebond as the wire passes through. Like creaming cold butter when you make cookies, this traps fine bubbles of air inside the relatively stiff fat. As you whip, the cream forms a light and stable foam that can last for hours if it's kept cold.

Your Piping Bag

• The piping bag you use for your cream can be either disposable or reusable, depending on your personal preference. In either case it will be a tough, conical bag, ranging from 10 inches to 18 inches in length. Reusable bags have their point removed, making an opening of a standard size, or you can snip a disposable bag to the correct size yourself. Tips are available in large and small sizes, or you can mount a coupler to the bag and swap tips on and off to create varying effects. Whether you opt for simple or complex designs, the basic piping technique is simple enough.

Fill the Bag Properly

• Hold the bag in your nondominant hand, folding the edges down over your fingers so it's splayed wide open with only about one-third of the bag available for filling. Scoop whipped cream into this bottom portion of the bag with a spatula or spoonula, pressing down firmly to squeeze out any excess air. When the bottom third is filled, adjust the bag to create more space. Spoon in enough additional cream to fill the bag halfway, then twist the ends of the bag in your dominant hand so it seals in the cream tightly. Give it a squeeze, forcing out any remaining air bubbles and a small amount of cream back into your mixing bowl.

Pipe Your Cream

• You'll pipe your cream by using your dominant hand to gently squeeze the bag from its fullest point, while your nondominant hand guides the tip. Each decoration starts with the tip pressed against the surface of your dessert. For example, to make a simple rosette, you'd use a star tip on your bag, press it to the dessert, then squeeze and lift gently. Give the bag a slight twist to release the cream and form a tapered point, once the decoration is piped. Many books and websites provide illustrated guides to more complex decorations. When you're finished, squeeze out any remaining cream and reserve it for another use. Clean your tips and reusable bags immediately, or the cream can sour and leave them with an unpleasant odor.