I'm doing my first FBCT & I have a stupid question.
In the directions from this site it says to "smooth the back while gently pushing without bleeding your colors underneath".
I'm sure this is pretty obvious to everyone else but does that mean to just push down with the spatula & pull up or am I supposed to smooth it over like I would if I was icing a cake?

I just sprinkle a light dusting of cornstarch on the final icing coat (the coloring of the icing on your cake) and gently push down to fill in any spaces that might have been left. It just makes sure your icing is firmly in place!!! I tried the spatula technique they describe.......NOT!!!!


Amy

Ok - I tried moving it onto my cake and part of it worked & part didn't. I think there's 2 reasons....

1 - The frosting on my cake hadn't crusted over yet ( it was fairly sticky but I didn't notice until after I already laid the parchment paper down...

2 - Part of the design was done in star tip & part was done using a round tip & just coloring in the lines...

Would either of these things make the FBCT not work or do I need to search for something else that I may have done wrong???

FBCT typically aren't done in star tip. Just use a tube tip appropriate for the size of area you are filling in. If you want the star effect you can go over it once the transfer is laid out and outline it and what not but that would defeat the purpose (IMO) of doing the FBCT!!!

For curiousity, what are you doing a transfer of? I'd like to see it. How long did you freeze it? I would freeze for a minimum of an hour for a smallersize transfer. When I place mine on the cake I make sure that I am good and ready to place it before I take it out of the freezer. I gently turn the transfer over in my hand and gently peel off the wax paper. You might need to gently tug the wax paper along in different spots as you peel it instead of just sticking to one continuous pull. (Does that make sense?)

I really hope this does work out for you!


Amy

I wasn't going for the star tip look - I just figured that was the easiest way to cover the area.
It's of the logos for Seahawks, Steelers & Superbowl. I'll upload a pic of how it turned out when I take one tonight. It's actually 3 seperate images but I did them all on one sheet of parchment paper since they were being put side by side. I think maybe that;s part of the problem because the first one came off just fine but the other 2 are the ones that had issues. I froze it for about 8 hours before I got around to putting it on the cake. I took it out of the freezer & put it on the cake within 30 seconds. What you describe sounds like how I took it off except that I put the whole thing (parchment paper & all) right on the cake. Was I supposed to remove it from the parchment paper first??


I really like the look of the one that worked properly so I will definately try again on my next cake & hopefully it works better the next time!!

Oh I definately want to see this cake! Sounds great! Good idea about using the star tip. I mostly use a tube #5!

I remove my transfers from the parchment before I put them on the cake. If you have bigger than a hand size transfer then you did the right thing by putting it on the cake. That's what I would do. HMMMMM!!!!! Did the outline of the transfer come off on the parchment? I'm sure it will be perfect!

Like I said, I can not wait to see this cake!!!!!!!


Amy

No help, just wanted to add that I can't wait to see the cake!

Actually, you should be able to remove the parchment from the transfer even if it is the same size as a whole sheet cake and it shouldn't give you any problems. I am wondering if you made it thick enough. Also, most people have better luck making transfers with an icing that includes butter than an all-shortening one.
You would be better off keeping all three on separate pieces of parchment and keeping the other two in the freezer while you attach each one separately. I think this was likely the problem if one came off fine and the others didn't.
Hugs Squirrelly

Ok, I think I figured out some of my problems here...
First off, it probably wasn't the ideal image for trying a fbct with.
Secondly, I think you may be right Squirrel - I didn't make it very thick when I was using the round tip -only the star tip (which was on the Steelers logo). Third, it should have been on 3 seperate pieces of paper.
I have now zoomed in on some pictures in the gallery of other fbct & can see more clearly how it should be done so hopefully when I try my next one it will work better. Thanks for your help guys!

That being said, this cake is just for my hubby to take on Sunday so even if it was a work of art it would be wasted on his buddies!! LOL! I just wanted to try the technique before making my daughters cake in April. I will have to try a few more practice cakes I think!
So, here are 2 pictures of it along with some rolled chocolate football cookies. I copied someone elses idea for those from here but I don't remember whose!! he middle image was supposed to be the actual logo from the Superbowl but it got completely messed up when I tried to transfer it & I didn't feel like redoing it so that's why it looks so plain!

Hi kiddo, it looks very good and your cookies look wonderful too! Mighty fine first attempt. Looking good.
Here is a suggestion for an easier way of doing this. I would have made the football as part of the transfer, just draw the shape of the football and attach reverse images of the logos to it to photocopy (make sure your football is also in reverse if you put stitching or anything on it). Then use the whole image to do your transfer on starting with the outlining, outline the football in say, the dark chocolate and fill in with the lighter chocolate colour if you like. Use some black icing to do the outlining on the logos, or the appropriate dark colour for the outlining. Then just fill in. After you have all the colours filled in, go over the top with the colour that the top of your cake will be.
Always let your outlining set up before filling.
Hugs Squirrelly