Reddit mentions of Ateco Disposable Decorating Bags, 12-Inch, Pack of 100,Clear

It's so nice that you want to do this for your wife! Does she like to do cupcakes/cakes? Do you know what equipment she has?

For tips, I would recommend a nice set from Ateco. You can buy a less expensive version by Wilton, but I feel like their tips warp/bend way too easily. I have the 55 piece, but there is also a 14 piece version available:

https://www.amazon.com/Ateco-55-Piece-Stainless-Decorating-Storage/dp/B0000DE12F/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1492868478&sr=8-2&keywords=ateco+tips

https://www.amazon.com/Ateco-14-Piece-Cake-Decorating-Set/dp/B000BVFYTA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1492868478&sr=8-5&keywords=ateco+tips

I (again) prefer Ateco's piping bags, but Wilton will also work fine. Wilton bags have split on me before, but I am also a semi-professional and very picky. :D I also prefer the smaller 12-in bags in general, because I can control the flow a lot easier.

https://www.amazon.com/Ateco-DISPOSABLE-PASTRY-BAGS/dp/B01EXHJCTA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1492868619&sr=8-6&keywords=piping+bags

https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Disposable-16-Inch-Decorating-Bags/dp/B00175TFJ4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1492868619&sr=8-5&keywords=piping+bags

She might like using these bag ties. Much easier than a rubber band.

https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-417-173-Icing-Bag-Ties/dp/B000PBZHOS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492868890&sr=8-1&keywords=wilton+bands

For cake pans, I like Fat Daddio. They're relatively inexpensive and bake evenly.

https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-Anodized-Aluminum-Inches/dp/B0000VLIH8/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1492868964&sr=1-3&keywords=cake+pan+fat+daddio

I'm not a super big fan of cupcakes, but I got my pans from Sur La Table, but there are definitely cheaper options on Amazon.

Some other general tools that are helpful are straight/offset spatulas in different sizes (Wilton, OXO, Ateco all make them), cookie scoops if she's into cookies (OXO makes very sturdy ones that have lasted nearly 10 years for me). I would also get her a kitchen scale or measuring cups spoons, parchment paper, cooling racks, cake tester/toothpicks.

I like OXO scraper. Do you plan on leaving out the sipping stand? If so, this one is what I have. Ateco and Wilton are my go to for tips and bags. Here are some links.

Also, come check out r/baking There are a ton of helpful people there ♥️


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BVFYUO/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01EXHJCTA/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A35NO8HBZ6S6IT

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008VMATVO/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00004OCNJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502920863&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=oxo+bench+scraper&dpPl=1&dpID=311FAYKN2DL&ref=plSrch

Pretty much if you realize that cooking is mostly just assembly work (moving stuff around with your hands) & that it more or less boils down to chopping, stirring, and not burning the food...well, you've now acquired Master Chef status, because you can now cook pretty much any recipe on the planet lol. So techniques & knowledge is part of it, but another big part is simply trying out a bunch of recipes.

I mean, I've been cooking for a long time now and have contributed maybe three unique recipes to the culinary world in total, so unless you really want to reinvent the wheel or else work hard to produce a unique creation, the bulk of your regular cooking is either going to come from (1) following recipes, (2) following a flowchart system (such as the Wok Star's fantastic stir-fry system), or (3) just kind of throwing basic stuff together (like chicken + whatever sauce, with some noodles or rice or whatever..."food").

On a tangent, baking is a little bit different because it's more hardware-based, i.e. you gotta buy tools if you really wanna dive into it. Kind of like buying power tools at Home Depot, this is actually pretty fun. I typically add one item to my inventory every month. Over the years, I've done everything from homemade bread to incredible homemade pizza, just as kind of a hobby-based approach to building up my baking skills.

Like, a few years ago, I bought a Twinkie pan (called a canoe pan), partly because the replacement Twinkies are pretty mediocre after Hostess got sold (not that I'm a big Twinkie fan, but they're a fun little snack, although $25 for the pan is probably more than I've spent on Twinkies my entire life, hahaha), and partly because I had had handmade ones at a bakery & wanted to try making my own in different flavor. So basically for a one-time hardware investment, I've been able to make a variety of designs over time. Just off the top of my head:

• Yellow cake filled with vanilla cream (the classic)
  
• Yellow cake filled with strawberry cream & roasted strawberries (strawberry shortcake twinkies!)
  
• Chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse (ridiculously good)
  
• Chocolate cake filled with peanut butter frosting (if you love Reese's, then this is your jam!)
  
• Deep-fried (actually not as good as you'd think, lol)
  
• Raspberry cake with coconut cream (I'm not even a big coconut fan, but these are SO GOOD!)
  
• Chocolate-dipped (dark chocolate shell, striped with milk chocolate)
  
• White-chocolate-dipped (well, Candiquik/Almond Bark), which you can also easily "tint" with flavoring extracts & food colorings (note: gel-based food colorings are the new hotness!)
  
• On a stick (because why not)
  
• Banana-bread-style sponge cake filled with banana cream (surprisingly good)
  
• Lemon twinkies (either lemon cake with vanilla cream filling, or with lemon curd if you really love lemon, or with raspberry jam...all of them are better than you'd think!)
  
• Protein version (each one has like 10 grams of protein, they're actually pretty good - protein twinkies FTW!)
  
  Now, exactly zero of those were difficult to make. If you wanted to go the ultra-lazy route, you could just bake up some box cake mix & pour it in the molds, then pipe in some Cool Whip. Or realize that it's only like two extra ingredients to make your own homemade, 1000% better cake mix, and that you could whip up some heavy cream with powdered sugar & vanilla into a really rich cream filling. Stir in some peanut butter & make a peanut butter cream filling. Endless variations!
  
  Going back to the basics of assembling ingredients for either cooking or baking...you're either chopping, stirring, or "not-burning" the food, haha. In the case of homemade Twinkies, you stir up the batter, pour it into the mold, bake until golden-brown, let cool, then fill with cream (I just use disposable decorating bags with a metal piping tip, for convenience). The initial equipment is an investment, as are the ingredients, and it may take a few batches before you really nail down the end result you're looking for, but then you "own" that recipe!
  
  So the key thing I would share about getting better is first, have the confidence that you can cook or bake anything you want to - the foundational processes are the same, just customized specifically & in an order suited to each recipe, per the ingredient requirements for that recipe. Cooking isn't hard, but mentally it can be (like how doing the dishes feels sometimes), but I've found that having a good meal-prep system (as detailed in my other post...have a Look Book & weekly meal plan & go shopping & all that) is a big help in actually cooking consistently at home. And second, it just takes time & practice to get good at stuff. That's the rite-of-passage for cooking: you're not going to hit home-runs the first time, every time, but the people who push through that & keep working at it to improve are the ones who get good, so that's the magic formula for getting better at cooking!