Quick question - I want to place my baby's handprints on a cake for her grandparents. I'm gonna use a buttercream icing - can I just paint her hands with wilton coloring and place them on cake after it has crusted?
HI Megan, That's a really cute idea with the baby's hand prints on the cake. I don't think I would paint her hands with the color tho, because it really stains and could be on there a while. I think I would use the crusting butercream and put her hands in that to make the impression then you could outline them or paint them. Maybe someone else will have a better idea. good luck and post a picture when you get it done.
Jeanne
Wow, I'm really glad I asked before I did it!!! I probably would be washing off dye until next week!!! Thanks for the advice - I think I'm gonna put some icing on parchment and test out the handprint to see if it works. Thanks again!!! 
If you've got a pastel colored icing, you can probably paint her hands with that and then place them on a cake iced in white. It should save you the trouble of cleaning dye off her hands for a month!LOL
How old is your baby?
My girls made their father a t-shirt 2 years ago with their handprints on it. I painted my 1 year olds hands with acrylic paint, as soon as I put her hand on the shirt she closed her hand.
I think I would try to trace her hand, because as soon as you put her hand on the cake, she's going to close it. Then you will have to smooth your icing out again.
Jackie - I would put a tinted icing on her hands and press them into the cake? Should I do that before or after it has crusted? Will you see the pastel handprints or will that pull the white icing off?
the wilton colors come off when you wash your hands with abrasive soap. I use toothpaste! When I was an instructor, I carried my tooth whittern toothpaste with me and after class washed my hands with it and had no problem
But, I would do what they say....outline her hand with a marker...wait till she's sleeping though! lol....and then you can cut that out and trace around on the cake.
Keeping in mind that I've never done this...
I think that if you wait until the icing has crusted and then paint her hands with a very thin icing and place them lightly (though I do have a 1 year old and realize that "lightly" may not happen!LOL) on top of the cake, I wouldn't think it would pull off the white, but rather would leave the pastel on there.
How old is your baby?
My girls made their father a t-shirt 2 years ago with their handprints on it. I painted my 1 year olds hands with acrylic paint, as soon as I put her hand on the shirt she closed her hand.
I think I would try to trace her hand, because as soon as you put her hand on the cake, she's going to close it. Then you will have to smooth your icing out again.
This is a very good question. I tried to do one of those plaster molds of my daughter's hand when she was a year old and she did the same thing...hand went into the "cement" and immediately went into a fist. I couldn't get her to keep her hand open for the life of me. If you've got a young tiny baby then it might work but I would definitely test it first.
Good luck and please post photos!
Vicki, I think you might be right - she is only 3 months old, I was thinking about trying it while she is sleeping (I know it's insane, can you picture me and my husband trying to rig that one?) b/c her hands are usually tight or smacking something around. Now I am thinking to just use her hands as a texture around the sides or top? 
I was just coming back to advise you to test it first as well...don't want to mess up a perfectly iced cake!LOL
Cute idea.....Let us know how this turns out...I'm curious.
I'm excited too - it should be done tomorrow night, I can't wait to post the pic!!!
Another idea, if you have access to some Wilton candy melts ... melt the candies, then swirl a flat round circle on a piece of waxed paper with a spoon ... do however many handprints you want. Then press her little hand into the chocolate circle after it cools and before it hardens ... after it hardens, you can peel it off the waxed paper and have kind of a "chocolate medallion" with her handprint in the center. Just put that on the cake.
What about doing it sort of like a frozen buttercream transfer? not exactly, but piling up the icing on wax paper, doing the impression in that . . . that way, if her hands clench up, you just ruin the icing on the wax paper. If it works out, pop it in the freezer, then peel it off and transfer it to the cake (but put the smooth side down, not up)?
Those are great ideas KSue and Tkeys - I am going to try both b/c I am also using some chocolate for another cake. This is such a great forum, people are so helpful!!! 
It's kind of a funny story, but last weekend my boys were outside playing "army" with a couple of other boys in the neighborhood and my 4 year old told my DH he wanted his face painted like two of the other kids. Well, we don't have any camo face paint laying around, and I was gone shopping, so DH did the only thing he could think of. Yep, you got it. He painted my son's face with Wilton gel colors! Luckily he only painted a couple of green streaks on his cheeks, but when I got home and he told me what he did, my first thought was, "How am I going to explain to the Children's Church teacher tomorrow morning why my son has a green face?" The good news is that he gave the kids a bath and it all washed off, so I couldn't even tell what he had done. He said he had to scrub kind of hard, but he just used regular Johnson's baby soap and it was fine. So, all of that is to let you know that I think you wouldn't really have a problem washing the color off your baby's hands as long as you did it as soon as you finished making the handprints, and I bet if you catch her in a good, deep sleep, you'll be able to pull off getting the handprints without her closing her hand. Good luck! I bet that is going to be one adorable cake! 
I don't know if this is okay, but I'm bumping myself to get some more ideas - I gotta start my cake this afternoon...
Do a royal icing run out. Draw round the babys hand on silicone paper. Outline then flood in with royal, allow to dry before peeling off and placing on the cake
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