Hey everyone,

I am looking into getting an edible ink/image printer. What is a good one to get? I usually just buy the sheets at my local grocery store for $5 a page but last time they were all messed up so I'd like to get my own. TIA

Hi There!

First of all, $5.00 is cheap, please do not value yourself and your time that low when you get your own edible printer! You need to charge people wanting image $10 plus and less if they are upgrading one of your cakes.

Lucky you!  You are about to embark in to what can be as fun and creative as you want to make it! Not only is edible printing for printing a picture, but you can do so much more when you are in control - whatever is in your computer, you can print out!  The sky is the limit!

First let me caution you.  If you are not printing at least 2-3 times per month, please do not spend your money on a printer.  (depending on the company you choose for supplies, some companies require you to print more or jump through hoops to clean your printer between use) You will need to keep having others print for you. It sounds like that is not the case however.

So to start, you need to decide what kind of printer and if you want to purchase that printer from a company such as mine or buy everything separately. 

The two advantages to buying from an edible printing company, one is one stop shopping and the other is the warranty.  Our company has a good warranty, One year on the entire printer and one month on the printhead.  If you buy from an edible printer company then make sure they are reputable and will stand behind a product.  Before choosing a company I would suggest that you look at their websites, look at reviews here on Cake Central and give them a call.  After all, that company is who you will be dealing with if you have problems and when you need supplies.  Also check their Facebook.  Facebook does tell a person a lot.  Do people like them? Have they been around?  If you order from an edible printing company, it will be more expensive but again, look at the whole package including the warranty and other supplies or bonuses.  Will you use them? Or are they something that is just thrown in to make the package look better.  Moving on to purchasing everything separately.  This is much cheaper.  If you have a printer problem you will have to fight your own battles with Canon who does not like to warranty edible printers.  They are winnable, but you have to fight them!  If you choose purchasing from an edible printing company, make sure they have a warranty that's more than 30 days on the unit itself.  Printheads are usually fine if you use your printer and if you buy good ink.

What kind of printer. Canon or Epson.  I have used both and still go back to Canon as long as you are using quality supplies.  Canon printers now have bottom feeding printers where the paper has to roll threw the bottom of the printer and then back out the top creating a U turn. If you have quality icing sheets, it won't matter.  But if you don't you may be asking for trouble as icing sheets that dry out quickly will not work well in these printers.  I will be talking about icing sheets later in this reply.  If you are using icing sheets that dry quickly and tend to fall off their backing then you may want to look at the Epsons.  I tend to shy away from the Epson as they do not have a removable printhead.  If you are using high quality ink, it won't matter as much, but once an Epson clogs, it is no fun trying to get the clog out, and if you can't, then you are out the printer.  Plus I have found Epsons to be finicky and frustrating, but that is a personal view point, they just frustrated me!! Which Canon's.  Keep in mind that posts on Cake Central will be on for decades, so look at the date of this as printer models do change yearly.  in 2015, we like the Canon MG6620 or the ix6820.  The MG6620 prints up to 8.5x14 and has a scanner bed.  It is wifi compatible blue tooth and all that fancy electronic stuff!!!  The ix6820 is a wide format printer that pulls paper from the rear of the printer. If you are looking to print 11x17, or A3 and do not need the scan bed, this is the printer for you.  If you plan to use lower quality icing sheets then you may want to consider this printer as well as it pulls from the rear of the printer.

Supplies: Edible Paper and Ink.

First let's talk Edible Paper:  There are two basic types an Icing Sheet aka, frosting sheet, sugar sheet and other less common names all have one thing in common, they have a base made of sugar.  There are different types and they do react differently. Icing Images sells two types:  Icing Images Premium Icing Sheets which are chosen 99.9% of the time due to their flexibility, their resistance to falling of the backing, their flavor, their ability to easily peel, but not fall off the backing prematurely, their flavor and their edge to edge printing. You can actually roll a Premium Icing Sheet.  There are a few companies besides Icing Images that does sell the Premium, but make sure it has edge to edge printing to be sure you are buying a true premium icing sheet.  Oh, and they have a clear backing which also sets them apart. 

Lucks:  We sell this brand too as it is a little thinner but still responses well for edible printing and tastes great.

There are other brands which are thinner that are sold.  Some people prefer a thin brand.

Wafer Paper aka, rice paper, potato paper. These are a thin sheet that does not have sugar as the backing.  Often times people call potato paper rice, but when you look at the ingredients you will see Potato as being the key ingredient.  This paper has been around forever and it is less expensive than the icing sheets but it has a strange texture when you eat it and up until now did not taste that great.  Icing Images just came out with a flavored wafer paper and we even have it in colors. There are several thicknesses, the thicker the wafer paper, the more experience you will need to use it.  The thicker wafer will break unless you use it properly.  It can be printed on as well.  But when would you use wafer paper verses an icing sheet? In very, very, very humid environments, wafer works great. I am talking extremes like Hong Kong.  Wafer paper holds its shape better than an icing sheet.  When cutting intricate details, wafer is the way to go.  The Sweet Accents food safe die cutting and embossing system has some very detailed die cutters with very intricate detail that wafer paper is excellent for.  You can make wafer paper flowers as well as the wafer holds its shape.  But I don't care for wafer paper laying on the top of the cake use to the texture when you go to eat it.  The Icing Sheet is much better for laying on a cake.  Icing sheets, at least the premium icing sheets, can be used for detailed die cutting and a great for electronic cutters.  Again, perfect for covering a cake in. 

Inks and their cartridges.  There has been some false stories going around talking about different types of cartridges.  A newcomer to the market is spouting off untrue statements saying that the cartridges that has been used for over 25 years is not safe due to the sponge inside the cartridge. This is not true as these cartridges with edible inks have been tested and have shown them to be safe.  The false theory is that the sponge in it carries bacteria since as they believe sponges contain bacteria.  However, the fact that alcohol is in most companies edible ink, for several reasons.  One is to keep the ink and its container bacteria free.  The other reason is to hold the ink color true so there is very little fading. (inks without the alcohol tend to shift in color after it sits) Bacteria can appear whether there is a sponge or not.  Look at cheese...no sponge, but it grows mold spores.  Look at counter tops.  Look at our hands. There is bacteria everywhere.  What is important is that there is a food safe cleansing agent to keep things sanitary. So be careful and think,  just because a company claims it doesn't mean that it is true.  Understand how things work and make sure that you purchase inks from a reputable company, that has been around for a long time adhering to strict US food safety standards.  When purchasing ink, make sure that you purchase from a reputable company. 

The other ink factor is colors.  Edible inks are never going to be 100% perfect.  They do not carry the toxins that are required to get true color.  But the closer you get the better.  Look primarily at the reds, the blacks and the skin tones.  Look for companies that have a reputation in the field for consistent improvement and innovation.  Finally, edible inks clog.  That is a fact.  But if you use your printer, most inks will not clog as frequently.  If a company tells you their inks wont clog, don't believe them.  Check the forums, listen to what people say about clogging.  Cheaper is not better.  If you are buying from a company that has been around for a while and their inks are a little higher in cost, there is a reason.  Quality is not cheap, but I will tell you from experience is that you get what you pay for. If an ink is cheap, there is a reason and you will pay for it in clogs which in the end will cost you time and money.

Printing programs.  You can use any graphics program you are familiar with but companies like Icing Images offer specialized edible printing programs.  iPrint™ is free and you can check it out and some other companies have some other programs out there that are available as well.  iDesigns™ is also available at a price, but it is a different type of program.  It is actually a collection of over 1500 different images that are licensed for edible use.  It keeps everything legal when printing designs!  It even can print out continuous edible patterns for creating wraps and so much more!!! We keep adding custom edible printing software and expect to do so in the future.

I bet I have given you way more information then you bargained for. I have owned Icing Images and personally tested, retested and never been satisfied with anything, always striving for quality and never settling for good enough. It hasn't been easy.  The internet has given rise to many companies that do not have much experience and end up costing the end users a lot of money and frustration.  No, we are not perfect and we will never be, but we try and share are experience, what we have learned with everyone.  We help those in need whether they are our customers or not as we believe everyone can find success amazing success with edibles!  We are here to answer any questions, either here, or email or give us a call at 540-869-5511

I have a question

My Black ink isn't printing very black, it looks greenish. If use the copier to print its black...why?

Hi Bakerof2,

My first question would be what brand of ink are you using.  What printer?  Some brands of ink will have a color hue to them.  Some have a greenish hue, some have a redish hue and some have a blueish hue. Some inks can actually change hues after they are printed if they do not have some sort of alcohol in them holding the color true.  Icing Images inks are pretty close to true in color so if you are using our inks and having this problem then it is being caused by incorrect settings or not using a graphics program. But sometimes settings can help.  Incorrect settings can also cause the problem too! So, to help with this problem only on Canon printers, go in to you printer properties and change paper type to "Matte".  Keep your print quality on "normal"  Then go in to your maintenance tab and click on custom settings, then on "prevent paper abrasion", then send or ok depending on the model.  Some Canon models will differ a bit in the instructions, but they are similar.  If you are NOT using the Icing Images Premium brand you may see vertical pinfeed lines appear.  These instructions should help to avoid those, however its just the nature of other brands of icing sheet.  Brands other than the Premium Brand and Lucks it happens less frequently, are harder and drier causing pinfeed build up.  If you are our customer, you have free access on how to fix this problem on our site.

If this does no correct the problem, and it only happens here and there, the problem could be your picture or the program you are using to print.  If you are printing from a non graphics program such as Word, this could distort your colors as well.  We have iPrint, a free online graphics program for our icing sheet customers.  You can also use other graphics programs you may already have and be familiar with. 

I look forward to hearing back to see if this helps. 

Hi Bakerof2,

My first question would be what brand of ink are you using.  What printer?  Some brands of ink will have a color hue to them.  Some have a greenish hue, some have a redish hue and some have a blueish hue. Some inks can actually change hues after they are printed if they do not have some sort of alcohol in them holding the color true.  Icing Images inks are pretty close to true in color so if you are using our inks and having this problem then it is being caused by incorrect settings or not using a graphics program. But sometimes settings can help.  Incorrect settings can also cause the problem too! So, to help with this problem only on Canon printers, go in to you printer properties and change paper type to "Matte".  Keep your print quality on "normal"  Then go in to your maintenance tab and click on custom settings, then on "prevent paper abrasion", then send or ok depending on the model.  Some Canon models will differ a bit in the instructions, but they are similar.  If you are NOT using the Icing Images Premium brand you may see vertical pinfeed lines appear.  These instructions should help to avoid those, however its just the nature of other brands of icing sheet.  Brands other than the Premium Brand and Lucks it happens less frequently, are harder and drier causing pinfeed build up.  If you are our customer, you have free access on how to fix this problem on our site.

If this does no correct the problem, and it only happens here and there, the problem could be your picture or the program you are using to print.  If you are printing from a non graphics program such as Word, this could distort your colors as well.  We have iPrint, a free online graphics program for our icing sheet customers.  You can also use other graphics programs you may already have and be familiar with. 

I look forward to hearing back to see if this helps. 

Thanks! I'm using kopykake ink and a5560 cannon printer ( if I'm remembering number right) 

mu am using word sometimes or Adobe   I'll have to check the settings again I've been trying to change them but the black is my only issue  its strange

The settings may help, but that is the nature of the black that they have.  I beleive KK does have a program that is free that you can use that may help since I think it is a graphics program.  When you say adobe, do you mean the graphics adobe? or the pdf adobe? But the ink does tend to have that hue issue. Sorry.

Hi all! There is another thread that I started a while back, and it has some more edible printer information. Icing Images, thank you so much for your contributions to both threads! I love having the ability to get answers from a knowledgeable source on the subject. 

Here is the link to the other thread if anyone is interested in reading it as well. :) 

http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/783423/best-edible-image-printer-paper-etc#post_7627117

Thank you all so much for the help! I'm thinking I might wait a little longer for now because I don't use them that often but I really do appreciate it & I'll keep this thread so when I'm ready I can decide which one would work best for me. Thanks again! 

Thank you I will be checking it out

If you need any help, let us know, even though its not our ink we can try and help. You can reach us at 540-869-5511!