I'm not sure what to do... I have 2 cakes I need to do that will be buttercream. One cake will have 3 different college logos on it and the other will have an extreamly ornate monogram. I was thinking about having them done as edible images but I want to apply them to fondant or gumpaste allow them to dry then attach them to the cake. Is this possible? I've never done one before. Also if I order them, can I get the logos done. I know copywrights etc... this is just a one off.

Next question. I was reading a little about using a regular inkjet printer with edible ink to make images. Has anyone done this? This could save 100's of $$$! Is it just a matter of switching the ink and using edible paper?

Any other ideas are welcome.

Sorry so many questions.

For the printer, you have to use a new, dedicated, food-color only printer. You can't just switch back and forth.

You might try the frozen buttercream transfer technique for you logo. And you could put it on a fondant plaque

i bought an epson cx7400 (it was on sale during Christmas time for $39) Then i bought ink from KopyKake. I use it all the time and i have never had a problem.

I usually do a color flow piece for something like that. (Always make at least two in case of breakage) I have done the FBCT, but not on a project with a lot of details, sometimes my FBCT's don't come out as clear. Of course, that could be me doing something wrong!

You might run into problems finding someone to do a college logo on an edible image.

Thanks JoAnnB for that information about the dedicated printer, I was wondering the same thing myself . I cannot afford to have edible images done professionally & I was wondering if I could just buy the sheets & print my own images. So let me understand this? If I have my own image sheets & just a regular color printer that I dedicate for this purpose only, it will work OK? Do I need to buy any specific printer for this? Printers nowadays are pretty reasonably priced so this may work out better for me. Thanks for any additional help you can give me.

When Im out of ink, I use my regular printer with my frosting sheets; however I always leave the protective backing on the frosting sheet , when I place the pic on the cake.. So to answer your question yes you can. I have not had any complaints nor have any one become sick. Just make sure you tell them not to eat the pic and remove THE edible image before they cut the cake. Look at my website. O yeah I DO NOT USE THE SAME PRINTER. LIKE I SAID I HAVE TWO DIFFERENT PRINTER. ONE FOR MY HOME USE AND ONE FOR MY FROSTING SHEETS ...

For your images you can take them to a Walmart bakery and they will print them for you for about $8 as long as they are not copy right. You could also do a RI color flow or chocolate. I prefer chocolate as it's not as fragile. If the image is not too fussy you can also print the image out and make a stencil and cut it out of fondant. I did this with the Seahawks logo on my helmet cake.

For the printer. Yes they are only certain ones that are edible ink compatible. I use the Canon ip3500 that I got for $80. I use to purchase my ink from kopykake.com but I found icingimages.com and they have inks and supplies for Canon printers. I love them so far. They provide wonderful instructions with your ink when it arrives and they also have a print head cleaner for $20 (versus $60 for a steamer from kopykake). You'll need this as your print head will clogg over time of non useage.

On the kopykake website they have a chart of what types of printers you can use and the edible ink that goes with them.

Thanks so much for all the great info!!! I think this might be just what I need. I'm sure I can get a new printer and some ink etc. Does anyone know what which printer is better the cannon or epson for the images?

Another question? Is there any special software you use?

Edible Artist is free software you can download and is very easy to use. I prefer the epson printer because I can leave it sit for months and it never clogs like the canons seem to do. Here's link to the edible artist site http://deco.uk.com/

Who do you order your supplies from? For the Epson?

Does the software help you make the images bigger without becoming blurry?? I tried to enlarge an image without specific software and it just gets blurry.

Good question bsalto I'd like to know that too.

Hi All!!!

I am just fascinated by this thread!!! I thought it would be a bit pricey to purchase this type of equipment but it seems like all you need is an economical printer and you can purchase the food color ink and edible paper rather at a decent price.

So what types of cakes have you guys done with edible images? Do you have pictures of examples! I would love to use this technique in the future...thanks!

I buy my supplies for my Epson Edible Image printer at kopykake. I have several cakes in my photos with Edible Images on them if you want to take a peak !You can also put the Images on cookies. and not just on top of the cakes but wrap an Image( icing) sheet around the sides etc ! Theres tons of things you can do with it !

Fiddlesticks, I saw your images from the cakes, beautiful!!! I just want to make cakes for my boys and their class parties. Do you use a special software or how do you make the images bigger so they don't come out blurry??

Barb

Fiddlesticks, Can you apply the images to fondant or gumpaste?