Whether you want to save money, make your own birthday cakes for your kids, start a new hobby, or start a new career, one of the easiest ways to decorate cakes is to add a picture to the cake sheet. You can spend as little or as much as you want to fulfill this desire…but in the beginning, the “desire” is to fulfill all your goals!
The fastest way to add photos to your cake would be to make your photos “edible”. This website sells desktop imaging systems that work with your PC and they also offer a wide range of prices.
Another possibility would be to use an airbrush. Kopykake sells two completely made of brass for cake decorators as well as projectors to illuminate the features of your cake surface. This would not be a “quick fix”, although not only is it more expensive than edible pictures, but it also takes a lot of practice to learn how to control color from an airbrush.
A popular method is called the “buttercream transfer” method. Detailed instructions for this method can be found here, complete with step-by-step photos! She wraps the icing design on waxed paper, fills it with icing color, freezes it, and then peels it off and places it on the cake.
The method I commonly use is probably the fastest way (not counting the image selection). All you have to do is find the image you want, such as one of the coloring book pages or one you have from the cod factory. Ideally you want to have that mirror image of the final picture you want on the cake. When you have your mirror image, place the wax paper on top of it, and draw on it with a pen or a black food pen or with some black gel varnish. Then immediately turn the wax over the paper, decide where you want cake-designs”>cake/a> and place it carefully. Press it down and rub the black lines on the cake.
Now you have an image drawn on your cake! All you are doing now is outlined with black glue (you can also use store bought black glue with a small round tip attached or a small tube of black gel (if you don’t decorate the bags or tips) and fill the design with colored pins or colored glue. If you use vinegar, wait until the vinegar rises a little and then you can smooth it gently with your finger lightly sprinkled with cornstarch. When I’m tracing an image, I like to put the original image in front of me so that I don’t miss any details.
I found a picture of a Superman cake I recently made using this method and colored gel online. I used cloud cutouts on a cardboard cake, used food coloring aerosol spray around them, and then removed them to show the clouds. I didn’t do the top edge for this one, just the bottom edge. If you want to avoid making a border and make homemade icing buttercream, you can use a clean paper towel lightly lined with icing on top and around with the corners raised to give it a rounded appearance.
You don’t have to have all the cake decorating to make these cakes! Just a bowl of buttercream on the cake, decorated with some colors, and your imagination! You might just be so excited with what you just created that you’ll be first in line at the next local cake decorating to learn the class even more.
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- For more ideas, visit Cakes by Cam!
