Hello! I'm making a Star Wars cake for my son for this Saturday. The Darth Vader is going to be made using Color Flow. I've NEVER used this before. I read the directions last night and found out that I need to let the color flow image dry for 2-3 days. I'm not planning on starting this until after work today. I'm nervous that it won't be dry to put on the cake for Saturday. Can I just "pipe" the color flow image onto the cake Friday or is it better to make it on the parchment first and let it dry? I'm just nervous about time right now.
UUGGHH!!!!
Thanks!
~Kristen

I've used color flow before and it's fairly easy to use. The hardest part was keeping the color flow inside my border. I would suggest putting it on the WAX paper. 1-2 days was enough drying time for my projects usually. Make more than one in case it breaks. Also, the first piece will give you a chance to figure out how much pressure to use when piping so you go too far over your border.

When you get ready to take it off the wax paper, lay it flat on the counter at the edge and slowly pull the wax paper down towards the floor as you slowly slide the piece towards the edge of the table. Do 1/2 of the piece then rotate it and do the other 1/2. When you get back to the middle be very careful otherwise it'll go flying/sliding to the floor.

I love color flow, but it hardens really fast. Keep some water and a small brush handy to pat down any peaks right away and gently "guide" color flow into corners and edges.

Work in smallish sections but work quickly on the piece overall. Hope this helps!

Hi!
No worries! I would pipe it onto parchment paper and then let it dry. That way if you make a mistake, it's much easier to fix than if it were piped right onto the cake. As Ernesta mentioned, it would be a good idea to make more than one in case it breaks. (2-3 for sure if you have the time).

I like to use a number 2 tip to do my outlines (unless you're image is very small), and a 3 tip to fill the image in. If your image is really large, you might want to outline in 3 and fill in with a 4 or 5 tip.

I think one of the key things to do, is to make sure the consistency of your icing is good. For me, I like the 10 second rule. Drag a butter knife through the icing in your bowl, and the surface should settle in smoothly by 10 seconds. If it doesn't settle in, add water to your icing... If it's too runny, add some more icing sugar.

Hope this helps!!
Take care =)
Marian

You should have almost no worry about breakage is you make your piece on *plastic wrap*.

It is hard to remove from both wax paper & parchment but will easily come off plastic wrap *if it is dry*.

Also to hasten the drying you can let a fan blow on it - on how big the piece is will decide how long.
Also, yes it can be done right on the cake if you so wish. That may be an option if your 1st try doesn't pan out