Hi to all!
Does anybody have an idea on how to make those edible icing sheets and inks (for photo cakes).
I know they are being sold online, but I want to try making them myself. I'm planning to open a small "photo cake project" in a Africa, where it's almost impossible to find such supplies, plus, it costs alot to import them from the US.

Any ideas would be highly appreciated

I'd love to have the formula for icing sheets too but the exact formula isn't publicly available. The companies that produce the sheets are required to list the ingredients but the formula is closley guarded.

Here are the ingredients in Kopykake brand frosting sheets...

Water, Cornstarch, Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup Solids, Cellulose, Sorbitol, Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Arabic Gum, Polysorbate 60 , Citric Acid

You might consider making your own wafer/rice paper though which can also be printed on and eaten. The quality of the images will be reduced though and they won't melt into your frosting.

For the edible inks...I read about a restaurant owner who made his own using the extracts of fruit and plants but he wouldn't share the recipes. He said he formulated them himself. I guess if he could do it, you could too with a little trial and error.

I found the article about the inks

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6983

"You can make an ink-jet printer do just about anything," says Cantu, who is head chef at the Moto restaurant in Chicago, US, and a keen advocate of the high-tech kitchen. The printer's cartridges are loaded with fruit and vegetable concoctions instead of ink, and the paper tray contains edible sheets of soybean and potato starch. Cantu then prints out tasty versions of images he has downloaded from the web.

Until he has filed some patents, Cantu is not saying how he modified the print heads to write in vegetable juice, nor is he divulging the recipes for his colourful inks. All he will reveal is that carrots, tomatoes and purple potatoes are involved in his concoctions.