Howdy,
What are your best tips for writing on cakes? I have tried everything that I have heard of since I started:
Thin icing
Thin icing with gel added to it
Do you have any other tried and true methods?
Thank you to all of you wonderful decorators. 
Christy
I have 2 tricks that I use for wrinting and printing on cakes. I use this myself and I also teach it in my Wilton classes.
I always have a piece of wax paper beside my cake when I go to write on it. I will write out everything I need to say on the wax paper first. This tells me how much room I need to write on this cake, how big a tip I should use, and whether my icing is the right consisitency.
I always write on my cake with the background color first, for example white on white, then overpipe it in the color I need. That way if you amke a mistake you can catch it before you do it in color.
O also lay a piece of thread acroos the top of my cake hook it in the sides of my cake and I then have a straight line to write on. Remove it when you are finished and carry on decorating
Hope this helps
Adamsgama
I use a battery operated laser level to make sure I am writing straight on the cake (get it in the tool dept. - they're like $10.) No marks on the cake that way!
I also figure out the center letter, put that on, and go out from either direction so I know it is centered.
I use fondant letter cutters whenever possible (I love my funky alphabet tappits, and you can get them from amazon.com or globalsugarart). When I must use frosting, I sometimes use the technique I read about here http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-666968-perfect.html+font
Basically you print out the message on a piece of paper--you can make your printer print in reverse so you can skip a step mentioned in the linked forum. Then you put it down on a flat surface like a small cookie sheet, cover it with wax paper, and trace the lettering with frosting or royal icing. Put it in the freezer for a while, then take the wax paper (with the now frozen lettering) and press it onto the cake. It will leave an imprint, which you can now use as a guide to pipe your message.
It's a bit time consuming, but it does help a lot!!!
O also lay a piece of thread acroos the top of my cake hook it in the sides of my cake and I then have a straight line to write on. Remove it when you are finished and carry on decorating
This is a phenomenal tip - thank you!
I Use tappits as well. My handwriting on and off cakes is terrible. I've also found I prefer lettering on the board instead of the cake unless it's a traditional sheet cake.
I always have a piece of wax paper beside my cake when I go to write on it. I will write out everything I need to say on the wax paper first. This tells me how much room I need to write on this cake, how big a tip I should use, and whether my icing is the right consisitency.
I always write on my cake with the background color first, for example white on white, then overpipe it in the color I need. That way if you amke a mistake you can catch it before you do it in color.
O also lay a piece of thread acroos the top of my cake hook it in the sides of my cake and I then have a straight line to write on. Remove it when you are finished and carry on decorating
great ideas 
-I find writing on cakes my least favorite part of decorating.
I use my kopycake projector!
always wondered how people did hundreds of cakes that all looked identical.
I use the Kopy Kake projector. Make my words on the computer, any font I want. Pop it into the KK and trace away. I can center the words anywhere..... make them any size.... PERFECT everytime!
I've been using that method for a very long time.
Jennifer
Love, love, love the thread and laser level ideas! It's amazing how someone just needs to point out the glaringly obvious sometimes!
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