I'm slowly improving -- but I try to be sure that I'm in a comfortable position (I have to raise the cake up off the counter I'm tall) -- I try to be sure and add piping gel (it comes out smoother - you can "write" faster) - seems the faster I go - the more natural and the better it looks. You can buy letter presses and press the shape into the cake and trace, but I don't think it looks very natural either.
Keep practicing -- and good luck. It will come.
I know that you can buy the sets of letters that you can put together and just kind of stamp and then trace. Other than that i think maybe you can try to write on a piece of paper and then cover with a piece of parchment paper and trace. Then maybe freeze it and put on cake? I' never tried this so its just a suggestion. Can't think of anything else. I know it helps me to hold the hand that i'm writting with as to support it so i'm not so shaky. HTH
You could try the pin prick method. Print out your words onto a piece of paper, prick the letters with a pin (kind of like a sewing machine) and press it onto your cake. This will only make small holes in your icing that are easily covered with icing. I agree with the others; add piping gel or light corn syrup to your icing.
I think that writing with a pen/pencil uses different muscles than writing with an icing bag. With a pen/pencil, you mainly use the small muscles of the hand, and try to hold the utensil in a fairly light grip. With an icing bag, you need to keep a steady fairly heavy pressure while moving your arm a lot more. It relies more on the larger muscles of the arm than the smaller hand muscles.
I think that, as mentioned, piping gel or anything else (such as a thinner consistency) that would require less pressure on the bag would help. Also, I suspect that avoiding large writing would be helpful.
I have the opposite situation. I can't write on paper so that I can reliably read it (neurological condition plus arthritis), but I can manage halfway decent writing in icing. It's definitely not beautiful, but it is quite legible, whether in cursive, italic, or block letters.
RedPanda
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