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Russian piping tips: 3 types to catapult your decorating and sales

Russian piping tips, MINI ones? You haven't heard of them before? Oh sure the big ones, but I mean the ones that are perfect for sugar cookies. That is what the video above is all about.

The minis have been out for a while but seemingly not gained much traction in the United States.

Topics on this page:

-showing each of the mini-tips

-an overview of the large Russian nozzles

-an overview of the Russian ball tips

-where you can get your own set of the minis

The ones I will be talking about in this section, for sugar cookie decorating (here is my delicious and best sugar cookie recipe), are the mini-Russian piping tips.

These mini-Russian piping tips, Nifty Nozzles, are rather difficult to find in the United States. Find the non-affiliate link where I purchased mine near the end of the page. Many cookiers do not know the minis even exist.

The very large ones are terrific for buttercream. Royal icing is too wet and heavy for them. They sink in before they can dry. 

When the mini ones came out, I HAD to have a set! These are great with royal icing. (Remember to get my Superior Royal Icing Recipe download here--works ideal for these mini tips).


The image shows the set of 13 mini Nifty Nozzles.Set of 13 mini Russian piping tips

The mini Russian piping tips are so perfect for decorating our sugar cookies. Say buh-bye to those big bulky tips we use for cupcakes and hello to the minis for sugar cookies...yay!

Did you know there are hundreds of regular nozzles? The original ones were created by a man from Russia who deemed them ‘Nifty Nozzles’.

He partnered with a business in Europe, Sugar and Crumbs, to promote them outside of Russia. There are a great many look-a-likes around. But if it’s the real Nifty Nozzle, it will have the name as well as the number on it. Many of the other brands for the large kind do NOT have a number, which makes it a real pain.

The image shows the size difference between the mini Nifty Nozzle and the large Russian piping tip.The picture shows the size difference between the mini Nifty Nozzle versus the large Russian piping tip
The image shows mini flowers made of royal icing and piped using the Nifty Nozzles, mini Russian piping tips.little flowers made with the minis

The Russian Piping Tips: showing each nozzle in the mini-set with their design

Here is the breakdown of each tip with a photo example of their respective design with my Superior Royal Icing.

First, have your delicious sugar cookies baked on the perfect baking sheets (and know how to professionally bake them). Cool. Flood them like an expert. Let them dry overnight. Then get to decorating!

Here are the 13 mini Nifty Nozzles with their numbers:

Nifty Nozzle #1180.M, mini Russian piping tip1180.M
Nifty Nozzle #143.M, mini Russian piping tip143.M
Nifty Nozzle #145.M, mini Russian piping tip145.M
Nifty Nozzle #1510.M, mini Russian piping tip1510.M
Nifty Nozzle #149.M, mini Russian piping tip149.M
Nifty Nozzle #139.M, mini Russian piping tip139.M
Nifty Nozzle #148.M, mini Russian piping tip148.M
Nifty Nozzle #146.M, mini Russian piping tip146.M
Nifty Nozzle #1050.M, mini Russian piping tip1050.M
Nifty Nozzle #110.M, mini Russian piping tip110.M
Nifty Nozzle #147.M, mini Russian piping tip147.M
Nifty Nozzle #114.M, mini Russian piping tip114.M
Nifty Nozzle #144.M, mini Russian piping tip144.M

These are the tips with the flowers they make right under them. For the bottom flower, I added leaves so you could see the finished flower. Aren't they just lovely and delicate? Ugh, I'm in love!

Imagine how grand they will look on 'Graduation Sugar Cookies' or 'Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies' where flowers are always a must!

The image shows the set of Nifty Nozzles, called mini Russian piping tips along with the flowers they make and an extra flower of each finished with leaves.

Imagine these beauties for a Mother's Day cookie bouquet.

I have piped these mini flowers, let them dry, then airbrushed them for as a beautiful enhancement. So worth it! I now have 2 airbrushes, meaning 2 types:

-regular one with the air hose and compresser

-cordless one--again, I'm in love! I seem to be doing that more and more. You can read my page on them and why I'm crazy about both: 'Airbrushing Cookies' or I've entered the amazon descriptions below:

PointZero Airbrush Cake Decorating Kit - 3 Airbrushes, Compressor, and 12 Chefmaster Colors
9.5/10 WeCookier's Golden Cookie Award!
  • Professional-grade: Kit features the PZ-260, PZ-258 and PZ-276 airbrushes for cakes; a premium-quality set ideally suited for creating a variety of spray patterns, from fine detail to wider coverage. Kit also comes with an Elite-125X compressor that delivers excellent power (1/5 HP) with very little noise (55 dB).
  • Advanced control: Featuring airbrushes with both single and dual-action functionality, this airbrush cake decorating kit is ideal for both beginners and advanced users. Single-action, external mix design is easy to use, a single press of the trigger of releases both air and paint, and is less prone to clogging. The dual-action, internal-mix design controls both air and fluid, ideal for precise, sharp details.
  • Easy-to-use: Simple, compatible design allow for easy interchanging of airbrushes to suit desired need, with a high-performance and lightweight compressor that delivers clean, dry air to airbrushes for uninterrupted use. Includes an informative, instructional DVD to master use of the equipment and tools, and a tabletop stand for convenience.
  • Includes 12 premium Chefmaster paints: Airbrush Cake Kit includes 12 bottles (.64 oz. each) of highly concentrated, spray-on food-coloring paints from Chefmaster. These non-toxic, deeply pigmented paints provide superior coverage, even on hard-to-color, non-dairy whipped toppings and icings.
  • 7 Bonus airbrush guides: As a bonus, includes access to 7 exclusive e-Book airbrushing guides: Top 8 Cake Airbrushing Tips, Guide to Airbrush Cake Decorating, Developing Basic Artistic Skills, 10 Essential Airbrushing Tips, Airbrushing Strokes and Techniques, Airbrush Cleaning Manual, and the Airbrush Lettering Guide
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Photo shows Nita, owner of WeCookiers.com holding a cordless airbrush.Me, Nita, proudly holding my little gem of equipment.
Airbrush-Kit Rechargeable Cordless Airbrush Compressor -Auto Handheld Airbrush Gun, Airbrush Set Portable Wireless Air Brush for Barber, Nail Art, Cake Decor, Makeup, Model Painting
9.5/10 WeCookier's Golden Cookie Award!
  • Beauty Machine New Structure & Use Widely: Stylish appearance, no apertures on body. Portable and Compact Size, easy to carry anywhere. lower pressure rating is 20PSI, which is very suitable for airbrush gun makeup. The higher 27PSI is designed for the field of airbrush painting: art painting, cake decoration, nail art, handicrafts, model coloring, illustrations, temporary tattoos, hobbies, etc.
  • Higher Air PressureLarger Airflow: The air pressure has increased by 50% compared with similar airbrushes on the market, it is higher up to 20-27psi and the air flow reaches 6-8L, others are only 12-15psi, 6L. The nozzle of this airbrush is only 0.3mm, so it can only spray watercolor pigments, inks and dyes, as well as properly diluted paint, NOTE:Please dilute acrylic paint with distilled water or or with good quality commercial thinners specifically made for acrylic paints.
  • Auto Airbrush & Battery Level DisplayThis dual action airbrush have a white switch,just press it and the trigger to work, air will be sprayed, move the trigger back, the liquid will be sprayed, you can freely control the liquid output The amount of paint will automatically,stop working after releasing the trigger. In addition, there are one indicator lights at the bottom of the air compressor to display battery power. Before using the spray gun, please fully charge it.
  • USB ChargingFaster Charging Tech & Longer Working Time: The airbrush gun comes with a USB charging cable, because of the upgraded circuit and battery, it supports 2A fast charging tech, recommended to recharge it via a DC 5V-2A charger, it is much faster. Working time reaches 1-2 hours after fully charged, others can only reach 30-50 minutes. It is not recommended to use the airbrush kit while charging, nor is it recommended to use a charger less than 1A or more than 2A.
  • Package include1Liquid Extraction Dropper, 5 Spray Gun Cleaner ,5 Wash Needles,3 Kinds of Capacity CupsUSB Charging Cable,User Manual,A Pink Art Airbrush gun
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You could stencil some cookies with a DIY silk screen stencil or with an acetate (plastic) stencil with the scrape method with royal icing, then add the little flower beauties you created above! These ideas would be perfect for wedding sugar cookies.

What's that? Did I hear you ask if I knew how to stencil cookies for mass production? Well, yes! Here is that page too: Silk Screen Cookie Decorating.

Russian piping tips: an overview of the large nozzles

These are the ones most decorators are familiar with. In the video, I will be working with dreamy American buttercream. Grab the free downloads: Best American Buttercream Frosting AND the Dreamy Chocolate American Buttercream.

*Please note: Swiss buttercream is a little too delicate (not stiff enough), for piping with the large Russian tips. I've not tried it with the mini tips. I assume since the mini tips work better being shorter flowers, it would probably work.

Some cookiers choose to decorate with buttercream frosting instead of royal icing or glaze icing for their cookies. You are also welcome to get my free download of a wonderful Glaze Icing as well!

Now that you’re set with the buttercream frosting, royal icing, and glaze recipes, here is the detailed video tutorial. Again, I’m using Russian piping tips in the large/standard size with American buttercream in this section.

Here are some large Russian piping tips that I selected (out of hundreds out there), with the designs they make:

The image shows a Russian piping tip. When you see holes in the middle of these, that means they are representative of and will pipe stamens. This is a cue to make the middle a different color.
The image shows a Russian piping tip. When you see holes in the middle of these, that means they are representative of and will pipe stamens. This is a cue to make the middle a different color.
The image shows a Russian piping tip. When you see holes in the middle of these, that means they are representative of and will pipe stamens. This is a cue to make the middle a different color.
The image shows a Russian piping tip. When you see holes in the middle of these, that means they are representative of and will pipe stamens. This is a cue to make the middle a different color.
The image shows a Russian piping tip. When you see holes in the middle of these, that means they are representative of and will pipe stamens. This is a cue to make the middle a different color.
Russian tip 3
The image shows a Russian piping tip. When you see holes in the middle of these, that means they are representative of and will pipe stamens. This is a cue to make the middle a different color.
Russian tip 4
Russian tip 2

Overview of the Russian ball tips

This image shows a set of 4 Russian ball tips.

These are the ball tips I used with the flowers/ruffles they make. Watch the video to see how they are achieved.

The image shows a Russian ball piping tip for buttercream flowers.
This image is of buttercream flowers, piped with the same tip, in two different ways.
The image shows a Russian ball piping tip for buttercream flowers.
This image is of buttercream flowers, piped with the same tip, in two different ways.
The image shows a Russian ball piping tip for buttercream flowers.
These are buttercream flowers made with a Russian ball piping tip. Piped with two different techniques. They have a ribbed effect.
The image shows a Russian ball piping tip for buttercream flowers.
These are buttercream flowers made with a Russian ball piping tip. Piped with two different techniques.

Russian piping tips: where do you get them?

The large piping tips can be bought through a number of online stores. I believe the very best bang for your buck would be on Amazon. For everything you get, it is an amazing set and super cost-effective! The image below takes you to this astonishing 150 pc set.

RFAQK 150PCs Russian Piping Tips Complete Set - Cookie,Cupcake Decorating Supplies Kit -Cake Piping Tips Set(24 Icing Tips+25 Russian+7 Ruffle+Leaf&Ball+41 Pastry Bags+EBook)
9.5/10 WeCookier's Golden Cookie Award!
  • All-in-1 Premium Cake Decorating Set: 150pcs Russian Piping Tips Kit includes all that you need to decorate your cakes, cupcakes, muffins and pastries. 25 Numbered Russian Piping Tips, 24 Numbered Icing Tips, 7 Korean Tips, Ball and Leaf Tips, 40 Cupcake Liners, 40 Disposable Icing Bags, 1 Silicon Bag, 2 Silicon bags ties, 2 Icing Coupler, 1 Tri Coupler, Single Coupler, Scrappers Set, 1 Cleaning Brush, Flower Nail and Lifter, Pattern Chart Booklet
  • Only Set Giving 50+ Versatile Numbered Tips (Icing + Russian Piping Tips): No matter even if it's flower frosting, leaf icing or simple cake decorating this set brings plenty of tips. 25 Numbered Russian Piping Tips + 24 Numbered Icing Tips + 7 Ruffle / Korean Tips + Ball Tip & Leaf Tips = 57 Piping Tips
  • Complete Beginner Kit with Storage Box, Pattern Chart, and eBook: We empower you to Level Up Your Cake Game. The Russian Piping Tips Organizer Box, eBook, and a Pattern Chart Booklet in the package help you achieve your personal best within no time
  • 304 Stainless Steel for Modern-Day Cake Decorating: The finely carved tips with smooth edges and perfect outcomes are all assured with premium 304 Stainless Steel quality
  • We Are Always Here For You - 100% Customer Satisfaction: Our quality products speak volumes, and it gets even better with our extra mile approach to always assure 100% Customer Satisfaction. Still, if anything falls short of your expectation, we solve it within 24hrs, no matter what
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As far as using the Russian piping tips, the set of the 13 minis, there is only one place in the United States I see sells them. As often as I use their name on this site, you would think I was affiliated with them…but I’m NOT, I just love their products and shopping from them! Click this link if you want to check them out: countrykitchensweetart.com


I purchased the original Russian piping tips through Amazon some time ago. This is the company I purchased from and was quite pleased.

Suuker 3pcs/set Cake Icing Nozzles,Professional Ball Russian Piping Tips Lace Mold Pastry Cake Decorating Tool,Stainless Steel Cream Buttercream Cake DIY Baking Pastry Tools(Silver)
9.5/10 WeCookier's Golden Cookie Award!
  • Professional cake lcing nozzleWe offer 3pcs/set of Ball Russian Piping Tips, with the right tools, making your own beautiful and unique cakes or pastries is so easy.
  • Made Of Food Grade Stainless SteelExceptionally sturdy, durable and reliable, so you get a pastry decorating set that will not only serve you for years to come, but also ensure that your family stays completely safe.
  • Easy To StartThe baking accessories included in this set are quite easy to use, which is why they are recommended for beginners or master cooks. So you will now create beautiful cake frosting designs, cake decorations, large pastry tips for beginners, and the perfect cupcake can be as easy as pie!
  • Best Baking GiftsOur 3pcs/set Ball Russian Piping Tips is the perfect gift for any occasion, such as birthdays, Christmas, weddings and more. It is perfect for your baking needs
  • Excellent Customer ServiceDon't worry about wasting your money, Our team provide 12 months with 12h 365 days customer service even you bought our products for a long time before, If you unsatisfied products quality or other reason, Please contact us or Amazon service for solve it.
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As you see, using Russian piping tips enables you to expand and make even more professional cookies for your customers. They will love them and think you spent hours piping flowers.

Here is my page on regular piping tips. It shows the 6 basic ones beginning cookie artists need for well-rounded decorating. I've also included lots of pictures and videos there. Just click on this thumbnail link:

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