i'm going to be full of questions today... it's baking crunch time for me and i've got 8 cakes, 3 CCCs, and 6 different cookie recipes to make before friday.
my writing skills are terrible. so i thought i'd try making a plaque with ri. i printed in reverse what i wanted to say, traced it in red ri. let it dry hard. then flooded over it with thin white ri. i got a runny mess.
the letters can't be too big, i have to fit "Happy Holidays" in a space about 6"x1".
when i tried making the letters individually, they just broke apart, mostly into pieces where the 'joints' were (where you'd pick up the tip to make another part of the letter).
are there other cheats (or better ways of doing the ri on parch one) for getting pretty writing for your cake?
I have nice handwriting but not with icing. I do a lot of gumpaste plaques and print out my message, glue it onto the plaque with clear corn syrup thinned with a tiny bit of water and painted on with a dry artists paintbrush. I also use Tappit alphabet molds and make the lettering of fondant or gumpaste, but only if I have a cake surface large enough to use that type of lettering. What I am seeing quite a bit lately are script writing messages done with a clay gun or extruder, piped in cursive, wires in the bottom at both ends of the name, allowed to dry and then pushed into the cake.
Have you thought about using the stencil presses. They just make an indention into the icing and you trace it.
Someone on here said they do this with piping gel as well. They make the design or words and use it to press into the icing then they trace over it.
One idea would be to make a small fondant/gumpaste ribbon banner and get some edible markers and just write on that with a coordinating colour..Michael's has the markers if you have no time to get them elsewhere...have done it and looks quite OK.
Just let the fondant and/or gumpaste banner set for a while before you write on it.
HTH
Jane
hmmm... i see i'm probably not going to be able to do it without spending some money. i don't have any of those things except fondant.
markers on fondant sounds like it'll probably be about the least expensive way to go. i hardly ever need to write on a cake, so investing in stencils would be nice, but not practical right now. i've been looking for gum paste at walmart for weeks and they don't have it. so when i go to michael's for the markers i'll prolly pick up some to experiment with.
btw... are those socks socks or cake? they look neat!
My handwriting is terrible 
but I'm doing a little better since I started using tip #4, the writing is larger than I like but---oh well 
Since you are using a plaque, why not use a nice font and print your message, surrended it with a pretty border on copying paper, cut out and glue it to the plaque since it will not be laying directly on the cake.
HTH
I was also having a delima with writing on cakes. It always seemed like I either didn't have all my letters the same size, or they weren't spaced even on my cake. If you look at my car cake picture, I wasn't completly happy with that writing because there is more space after 'DJ' than there is before 'happy' & my letters are uneven. I did a lot of brainstorming & I've just found something that works great for me. My regular handwriting is OK, so I take a piece of wax paper &, using a ruler, draw my lines to write on. I then write my message & after I'm finished writing, I gently lay it over my cake to see if it looks OK. If everything's good, I take if back off, flip the wax paper over & lay it on a flat surface. Next I take a piping bag with a tip & fill it with piping gel. I trace over the back of the writing (but not the lines that have been drawn) & when I'm finished tracing, I lay the finished message over the cake & take a small paint brush (sold in the cake decorating section) & brush over it. This will leave clear writing on your cake. You can then take a tip that is one size larger that the one you used with the piping gel & trace over the gel with your icing. This takes a little time to do, but if you're having trouble with your writing, it really gives your cake a good look when it's finished. Sorry I don't have a photo posted to show this, but I've been having trouble posting photos for over a month now. If I can ever get anything to load, I'll be sure to post a photo. Good luck with your writing!!
I have nice handwriting, but there are some times when I print in a nice font on the computer and put the paper scrapbook style in a plastic recipe sleeve, then put on the cake. I pipe a neat border around the plastic so you dont see the edges. This worked wonders with an extremely long Bible verse at graduation last spring. I really like that method because it takes the nervousness out of writing by hand.
Here is some tricks that I teach. 1. Write on the cake before decorating with the same color that the cake was iced with. You can catch your misstakes then and correct. Go over with the color you want afterwards. 2. Use a ruler and line up the words. It will feel like writing on paper that way. 3. Use dental floss to lightly make the lines if you don't have a Wilton comb (that looks like a ruler- the points will help with lining up the words) 3. Practice this technique: do writing excercises with these lines- lllll //// \\\\\\\\\\ (((( )))) then OOOO on the back of a cookie sheet or on wax paper. This will help you with the feel of the icing. When doing the lines attach the begining with icing lift up and "pull" the icing in the direction you are wanting. Then attach at the end. This will make a smoother letter in the end. I hated writing on the cakes until I learned this and practiced (LOTS) Now I can make the words look really nice on cakes. HTH
What great ideas. Thanks for all the tips everyone. My writing is pretty shabby too!
I have also read here that you can make a template that you can press into the icing to make the indents and then write over with your icing.
Using plastic sheets and a glue gun, print out the words, then revers them and with a glue gun write over the words a few times until you have a raised version of the words. Then you can just press it into the cake. There is problably a better description on how to do this if you search CC for it. I haven't tried it, but plan to eventually.
Using plastic sheets and a glue gun, print out the words, then revers them and with a glue gun write over the words a few times until you have a raised version of the words. Then you can just press it into the cake. There is problably a better description on how to do this if you search CC for it. I haven't tried it, but plan to eventually.
That's a great idea. I've heard of this technique using royal icing, but the glue would be much faster!
My writing is also not so good, it always looks a bit off even when I've even used the pin prick guide method, but it still doesn't seem to line up right. Lately, I've been doing fondant banners and writing on them. That way I can just re-do them without messing up the icing. Like in my cars cake here: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=rezzycakes&cat=0&pos=6
I guess I'll try the glue trick next.
-Rezzy
I personally would be concerned about the glue. You have no idea where or what was used to make it. I try to make sure that any thing that touches the cake/icing is not any thing but edible. I would stick to RI it is the safest method that way. JMHO
One of the local grocery stores was going to charge me $9 to print a message for me on a frosting sheet if I brought in a copy of the printed message. Maybe that could be an alternative; check with grocery store or a bakery.
I personally would be concerned about the glue. You have no idea where or what was used to make it. I try to make sure that any thing that touches the cake/icing is not any thing but edible. I would stick to RI it is the safest method that way. JMHO
Maybe if you're concerned about the make up of the glue, you could lay saran wrap over it, then press it in the cake. We all know saran wrap is approved to touch your food. And it's clingy enough to stick to the glue and plastic sheet. That might work.
I have used the same method as described with the RI, but used candy melts instead. Once they harden, the letters can be gone over again to re-inforce them-this would be on the back and not be seen. I like to put a few dots of icing on the back of the letters before I flip the message over and place it on the cake to help it stick. I have used Merkens in various colors,or candy melts in white with a bit of paste color or candy color to get the color I want. Makes writing so much easier!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%