Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

please can someone guide me as to what size/shape icing nozzle is best for royal icing large snail trail /shell/ thanks

Hi jellbean0458

The shape and size of nozzle is entirely up to you. However, it’s wise to choose something which will look attractive and not out of place.

Beginners usually experiment with round nozzles of different sizes and progress to different shapes. Mostly round or shell nozzles are used for snail trails to seal the gap between board and cake. Other shapes are used for much more elaborate and ornate borders and embellishments.

My advice is to either google or search on YouTube for the many tutorials on royal icing nozzles and ways to use them. There are hundreds of very good nozzle guides which may also help. Please google ‘royal icing nozzle guide’ to see the different ones. I’d give you a link but there are just too many.

Just so you are informed, there are many different nozzle manufacturers so, tips are not always the same size. They are not that far removed from each other but it is worth being aware.

I was always taught the bottom tier is piped with a bigger nozzle, graduating in size according to size of the next tiers. It’s to keep things looking balanced.

There are several lovely royal icing tutorials right here on the Cakeflix site. Please take a peek at beginners tutorials here:

Beginners Royal Icing Course

Hope suggestions help ?