I purchased an edible image to put on some cookies. The image is hard and does not "melt into the frosting. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to correct this? I have never worked with edible images before but I know it shouldn't be a stiff piece of sugar on a cake or cookie with an image on it? Thanks for your help.[/b][/i]

Hi, I had the same reaction the first time I put an edible image on my cookies. I expected it to melt in much more than it did. On a cookie, it actually is like a thin paper on top of the icing. You can look in my gallery to see an image of an edible image cookie I made with glace icing. It was the first one I did and it was a bit surprising to me that it didn't really melt in. The limitation I found was that I really needed the image to cover the entire cookie in order for it to look precise enough for my liking. Or, in the example of a monogram on a cake cookie, I just pipe detail around the oval/circle of the monogram.

However, the image should not be "hard" as you describe it. It should be flexible when you place it on your cookie. If it has dried out and become hard/brittle, I would suggest calling the company you purchased it from for suggestions on how to restore the moisture without ruining the image.
For additional information, visit the icing images forum on this site - very helpful!
Hope this helps some.

Thank you for your reply. This is the second time that I have worked with edible images and both of them were dry and brittle, not flexible at all. I purchased them from a local cake supply shop in my area. Again, thanks your information was helpful.

There are two types of edible paper. One is a stiff paper made of potatoe starch and this one does not melt into royal icing or fondant on the cookie. The other is a frosting sheet that is softer and more pliable and this one will melt into the royal icing if you apply when the icing is still wet. I use fondant on my cookies and have used both type of edible paper. I like frosting sheets but when I order edible images over the internet I usually get the ones made of potatoe starch. Check out the champagne bottles in my pics. They are transfers made of potatoe starch. HTH

If you're buying sheets from your local cake shop, chances are that they're repacking them, which is to say, taking them out of their air-tight, specially-manufactured envelope and repacking them in the equivalent of Ziploc baggies (which are great, but in NO way air-tight). So what you're buying is an air-aged and brittle product that was soft and pliable when your store originally bought it, but has been exposed to air I would recommend trying to purchase directly from the manufacturer, or at the very least keeping track with your cake shop when the next order is slated to come in; that way, you can ask if they have any extra envelopes to spare (after the repack effort), as well as ensuring that you're getting the freshest product.

Also, it's true that there are more than one formulae on the market for edible/icing/frosting sheets, and there are some products that definitely meld better than others ...climate can also play a role in performance.