I wondered if any of you could help me. On the wilton forum, one of the posters makes beautiful transfers for her character cakes, and then she uses toothpicks or lollipop sticks to make them "stand" on the cake. Her work is awesome. She does it similar to a "non-frozen" buttercream transfer, but with royal icing instead. My question is how do you keep the icing from running into all the other colors? I would think royal icing is pretty runny before it hardens. Does anyone here use this technique? The details of her faces on the transfers are amazing, so the colors obviously don't run together...but I'm just not sure how. I wanted to try this this weekend, but I figured I need some helpful tips first. Has anyone done this? It seems like it would have to be somewhat runny so that it flows to create a smooth look, but yet stiff enough that it doesn't run into the other colors. I'm confused...can anyone help?

Here is a synopsis of how she does it - I don't think she'd mind that I'm sharing her technique:

1. Copy the outline onto wax paper (using pencil, pen, etc.).

2. Make royal icing and tint in the colors you need.

3. Trace first the outline and then fill the inside of the picture.

4. After the picture has been filled in, put it in a flat surface and let it dry for at least 48 hours.

5. After 48 hours, you can peel it off or leave attached to the wax paper and trim around the edges of the picture.

6. Once you have done #5, use a toothpick or if the picture is medium to large size, use a sucker stick if you want, carefully tape to the pack of the picture and insert only the stick onto the cake, leaving the picture "standing" on the cake.

Any ideas????

If not too thin, it may not run together .. either that, or you could do one color, let it start to get hard, then do the next color and so on and so forth

Sounds like color flow (run sugar) method. You outline with thick royal and then thin the royal down until it flows and use that to fill in the design.

Here are some instructions
http://members.nuvox.net/~zt.proicer/cakepict/colorflo.htm

I think that you first outline the border - if you have different colors for different areas - I would do the border of one color wait till it dries, then the border of a different area with a different color spearately. If they are not touching eg. face and then legs or pants (which are not touching face), you can do them at the same time in the respective colors. Once the borders are dry you fill in with thinned royal. Again do not do 2 adjoining colors together or they may run and bleed into one another. I have filled in the thinned icing without waiting for the border to dry sometimes, when I am short of time. Hope that helps.

Wow! Those are definitely awesome instructions! I printed them out and it looks more like a manual! Thank you so much.

This board is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! The quick responses and genuine interest in helping people is amazing.

I know that color flow breaks down if placed directly on bc, does royal icing do the same? or is it safe from harm?

wow, I didn't know that! I was going to make something to put right on the cake with the color flow. I am so glad you mentioned this.

I think I will go with the buttercream transfer and see what happens. I am just nervous to try it, but whenever I see people's photos of ones that were from their first times, they still look great. I guess I shouldn't be so nervous.

Thanks!!!!