baby shower cake in 2 weeks and I'm not sure what is the best way to get a gingham effect. I haven't decided if I'm doing BC or fondant icing, so tips for both would be appreciated...

I don't have an airbrush or an edible image printer. I've heard that wilton color mist sprays rub off. How are the edible markers?

TIA

Never done this so others may have better ideas, but...

For BC, you could pipe the horizontal and vertical lines in the lighter color, then use a darker shade to pipe the square where the lighter lines intersect. That would give you the gingham look, I would think.

On fondant, I would probably paint the lines using either petal dust mixed with vodka or gel color mixed with vodka. You could use a straight edge to help keep your lines clean. Do all the vertical first, let dry, then do all the horizontal (or vice versa). Place your brush down and lift your brush up on the intersecting points to avoid brush marks.

Be sure to post pics, I'm interested to see what you come up with and how it turns out! Good luck!

Bec

I was going to recommend airbrushing or edible image .

How about you use a stencil? You could either make one or buy one (there might be some in the scrapbooking section). You could then maybe paint it on with diluted gel colour. Or maybe you could cut out sponge to size and sponge on the diluted colour?
As for the edible markers there not to bad but I found they dried out really fast (could have been sitting around for a while at Michaels and already been drying out). I read a post somewhere here that if you order them from Wilton directly they work much better. You could always buy the ones from the grocery store but I think they only have 4 colours in them (primary plus green I think).

Here are a couple of threads on the topic that might help you out as well:

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-23125-gingham.html
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-24104-gingham.html

thanks xstitcher, I just found those posts and read the ones that still existed, so I think I have a little bit clearer idea of how to accomplish it. I guess I'll have to experiment and figure out what works best! I'm thinking stencil for sure as my anal retentiveness just will not allow me to do the stripes freehand Once I figure it out, I'll post my results

I noticed that about the 1st few posts as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pic! I'm the same as you so I totally understand the stencil bit. Freehand lines and me just don't go hand and hand

Have fun and let me know what worked best for you.

I did a first b/d cake that had a "gingham effect" - I piped it freehand (so it is not perfect - but they loved it!) I just used the flat side of tip 47 to do it. Here is a pic of the results.....(it is all buttercream)
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=357913