and I have a birthdaycake to do for this weekend (my first paid job). Was wondering if I could do this.....print out on my computer the font and size words I want, then cover the paper with waxed paper and/or parchment, trace the letters in thinned buttercream (with added piping gel) and then set it in the freezer to stiffen up and then transfer to the cake? I have a feeling if I do this, would be better off with individual letters instead of script words. Any thoughts?

Deb

Do you have cutters of any kind... they are a must, we have a few different sets and also press sets.

We have done what you described before when we needed to match up a particular type of font.

We use flood work or I think in the usa...you call it colour flow

Here is a pic

oh, forget to mention that flood work is normally done in royal icing... you do the outline first, let set a little, thin the rest of the royal icing out and flood in between your outline.

We only use this method when we need to copy an exact font, other wise we use a variety of different cutter sets and press sets

You could try the technique you described. It would probably work. You could also find the font and size then use a corsage pin and poke holes around the outside of each letter. Then you can place the paper on your iced, crusted cake with the "ticks" (on the back side of your paper)sticking into the cake. Rub lightly and you will have the outline of the letters. Then you could just star tip them in and they would look fine!
I transferred a pattern of zoo animals like this and it was great!!!

My writing on cakes stinks too!! (Though I've been told that my normal handwriting is pretty and neat!?! )

I've done the method that Darstus mentioned above and it does work great! But I hated having to stick that pin in & out so many times...lol. So I printed out the words/name on thick cardstock in the font I wanted and then used my sewing machine with a bigger needle on it and just sewed around the outline of the lettering...it worked like a charm!! It was so much faster, too. I went ahead and did a few of them in about 5 different fonts with 'Happy Birthday' - side by side and some with one word on top of the other - and then just each word (happy and birthday) on its own in case I need to put the words in different places on the cake...as opposed to being right beside each other or right together in some other fashion. (Hope that made sense!?! ) I did 'Congratulations', 'Mom', 'Dad', and a few different shapes like hearts, circles, etc. Since I used different fonts, I just wrote which font it is on the top of the page. And then, once an order is placed and I have a name that needs to go on the cake, I just do it the same way in a font that matches the salutation/sentiment that I'll be using. I haven't had the chance to use all of them yet, and some of them I've only used once....but it looks like I'll be able to get multiple uses out of them...maybe up to 3 or 4 uses before I need to do a new one.

Sorry if this is confusing...I'm trying to give the details of how I did it so ya'll can try it if you'd like...but I think I may be jumbling it all up a bit...lol. Just thought I'd share!

You can print your message out, reverse it, and place a piece of glass or plexiglass over it and trace it with royal icing. The royal will dry hard, and you can then place the glass over your cake and lightly press the words into the icing. It will give you an imprint to follow.

Thank you all for the great tips! They will make writing on my first cake alot easier!

deb