I just finished putting the chocolate buttercream roses on a 10" chocolate doberge cake I made for my DH's girlfriend (that's a joke, but that's what I call her). The cake came out beautiful and, of course, I decided to try one more time at writing Happy Birthday on the cake. Well, I'm not any better tonight than I was the last time I tried it. I absolutely HATE, HATE, HATE trying to write on a cake. Now, what was a beautiful cake looks like crap and looks like a 6 year old wrote on it - ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least I know it will taste good and I hope they enjoy it.

oh....I feel for you -- I really do.

just go look at my BC cakes.

now isn't that just the awfullest handwriting you ever did see?

hey -- let's have a pity party, feed each other chocolate and swear off writing on cakes forever!

(I've made up my mind to only do fondant -- i like fondant -- you can use cutters to cut out nice little letters0

just practice writing on the counter....it will get better.

Have you tried putting a small amount of icing in your bag? I seem to have better control this way.

My writing's usually okay on a cake, but right before I write on them, I just freak out. I'm just SURE I'm going to mess up and have to scrape a big chunk of the cake and re-ice it, and then my hands get hot and shaky and I DO mess up! Every time it's just a practice cake or something and I don't care, it comes out perfectly, but if I'm just a little nervous- it looks like I wrote it with one of those vibrating pens with my left hand...

The other thing that makes me nervous is thinking that I'm going to be concentrating so hard on making my writing nice that I'm going to misspell something. I would never live that down. I'm a grad student working on my MA in English! I can just see myself writing, "Cognratulations!" or "Happy Brthday" or something.

What I found helpful, was when I was first learning how.. I couldn't do it with a round tip, no matter what size.. I have no idea why. So, I learned how to write on cakes with a #17 star tip.. It was so much easier, for some reason. After doing this (at work) for a few days, I found one day I didn't have the convenient little star tip to use, so I had to use a round, and it was SO much easier than the first time I had ever tried. (yes, I was made fun of by some of my coworkers for using the star tip, and one of them even got mad at me for it.. I still think she's the one that hid the tip from me)

Best thing to do is just take your time. Don't try to rush it like you would if you were writing a letter. Have the tip close to the cake, so you have more control, and don't have too much icing in the bag.

If all else fails, follow Dougs example, and lets just eat chocolate.

Hope this helps,


Holly


p.s. I'm still not great at writing, but I think that's because my handwriting is really really bad. I actually write better on cakes, than I do in real life.

Wilton has the stencils that you can use, they have the prewritten happy birthday, congratulations and whatever in a set, or a set where you have all the letters and can make your own. When I just started out and had trouble writing on cakes, I used these alot, they aren't perfect for everything but it did help.

I can only do it with the presses. I have 3 or 4 sets of them, including the one with loose letters so I can create any saying needed.

I HATE writing on cakes. When just using a regular pen I have nice handwriting and can do some calligraphy, but forget it when it comes to frosting!

Case in point: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=873643

It was an ugly cake to start, but add the writing and WHOA! At least I know it tasted good. Hasn't anyone created the 'Frosting Pen' yet? Just fill with frosting and use like a regular pen, batteries not included.

Brickflor: But your 2-toned roses look great!

The problem I have with the Wilton sets...

The print is so small height wise for the cakes to me.

It's like there's a giant cake and little letters on it.

Honestly I love the fondant letterings. I can tilt them up, twist the letters at an angle, and do single or multi colors if I want.

That's how I used to do, and will again do all my messages.

If pressed for traditional writing I'll make the person initial on the contract they were warned that my freehand/tracing of pressed letters sucks big time.

I have terrible handwriting on paper, but it's not too bad on cakes. Be sure to use your whole arm, not just bending at the wrist. And go S-L-O-W!

Keep practicing, it'll get better.

Thanks debi! That was a crazy night, I dropped a rose trying to get it on the cake and had to pipe a new one, then the one in the back right almost slid off, and when hubby got it to work, the front right one fell off. The roses didn't look that great in reality but they look nice in the pic

I use a calligraphy printed alphabet and trace what I need to say onto tracing paper, place it on the cake and write over the tracing lightly with a cocktail stick or I make a fondant plaque and do the same, as it is off of the cake you can mess up and make another one

I HATE writing on cakes, not because my writting looks bad, but because I just don't see the point of it.

I was working in the deli at a grocery store right next to the bakery one night. I was closing by myself and had about 5 customers in line when this lady comes up and wants a cake written on. I told her no one was in the bakery and it would be about 10-15 minutes before I could get to it. She just threw a FIT. She wanted me to give her the icing so she could do it herself I said I couldn't do that but suggested she buy a tube of icing in the baking aisle. She didn't like that idea and just kept on ranting and yelling at me. One of the deli customers started to yell at her-I thought I was going to have a fight on my hands! When I got to the cake she wanted Happy 1st Birthday. GRRR All that for someone who can't even read and more than likely doesn't know what a Birthday is!

I have my good times and my bad. Unfortunately I never know which it will be until after I'm done and it's too late to fix it.

Some times I wish I had just listened to that teacher that said "Practice makes perfect"

Hind Sight.

cCc

Put this behind you so you can say, "I used to hate writing on cakes!"

Practice practice, practice. Turn a cake pan upside down and write on it 20 times. That would take only a few mins, just scrape it off every time you mess up. All you have to learn to write is Happy Birthday! The main thing you need is the confidence that you CAN.

If I have a big cake and I'm a little nervous about it, I take a larger round tip and write in the same icing color as the cake, then I take a colored icing with a smaller tip trace over the tops of it. It gives it a two toned and 3D effect.

I also stop after every couple letters, lean back from the cake and see where I'm at as far as spacing and letter size, etc.

You can do it! I had to learn to write on Ice cream cakes! yeah, and the only ones that needed writing were ones customers were paying for.

So I pretty much had to get it quick, though, I became adept at using a wet spatula to scrape off a letter or two!

I have terrible hand writing anyway, so writing on cakes is really hard for me.
Really though... PRACTICE! Just take a full bag of icing some day, and pipe it all out! Study different scripts and find a style you like and just keep practicing. I found I got a lot better, faster, when I practiced with a really small tip (#1 or #2). Some people get better practicing with a large tip (#5 or #6) or a star tip (like someone else mentioned above).
Personally, I think writing on cakes looks stupid most of the time. IMO it detracts from the pretty cake, but WHATEVER! People seem to *NEED* writing on cakes....

Doesn't matter what I do....I practice...and practice AND practice some more but my handwriting gets worse and worse....I dream of the day when I can write a big frilly, beautiful message on a cake and everybody on cc can say....OHHHHH look at her handwriting ....On that crappy cake LOL

Oh we are all our own worse critics. I took calligraphy when I was younger, and I did pretty good. But I still look at my work and have to redo it a few times because it never looks right.

And if I practice on paper it always looks better than with icing.

But every once in a while I get that one that I say wow that's great.......Now how did I do that again.

Some day I'll learn.

cCc

i suck at writing to, i try and try and it just never comes out right. thats why i always put flowers in the middle. hehe

I too hate my handwriting on cakes, but found a way to get around it. I believe it is called the pinprick method, but what I do is write what I want the cake to say on the computer in a nice font and print it out on cardstock paper. Then I poke holes in the letters with a pin and then press the paper lightly into the cake, just enough so there is small indentations and then I just follow the lines with the icing. Yes, it does take a little longer, but if you really hate your handwriting it beats messing up a perfectly beautiful cake!

Check out my Happy 30th Birthday cake that's how I wrote those words! HTH

Ah Jamilyne-- Cheater Cheater. Actually I haven't done it that way yet but I have thought about it alot lately. There are also the letter presses. But I think the pin prick method has a better outcome and is much cheaper.

cCc

I cheat too. I used the letter press/stencils but tried writing when I did a chocolate transfer and loved it. I just type up in a font I like [usually a script or print] and print it "mirror image" and it's very quick for me. I can fix it before it goes on the cake.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=569983

Where to begin...Writing on a cake is the biggest arguement between my mother and i!!! when i finally finish a cake i call her to come over to the house "to look at the finished cake" and then i tell her you write on it...i la la la love her writing and of course she hates it...she loves mine and mine is the worst....so we argue for like 1/2 hr EVERYTIME!!! before my 9 yr old son tells us "someone better write on that cake before i do" hahahahahahahha well at that point my mom will walk out and i will be left to do it....but man does my writing suck!!!! you really do feel like you just ruined a perfectly great cake!!!!!

I will join the hate my writing party. The yellow roses cake was for a multi birthday family party, I made the cake and decorated it, and my mother in law (who by the way got me into the cake craze) had to do the writing at the party site. I have writing like a dr's!!!