I think I read somewhere on the list that you can make a "template" from royal icing and freeze it -turn it over and pipe buttercream over the imprint? Can somebody please give me step by step directions? My penmanship with piping is not great and was hoping this might help. Thanks so much.
Molly

Here's a tutorial:

http://cakecentral.com/articles/73/how-to-create-a-frozen-buttercream-transfer

There is also a bunch of tutorials on youtube you could watch.
You need to use buttercream to make these types of transfers, not royal icing though. Royal icing will break down in the freezer.

Thanks for the link. I definitely need to do that. This tutorial with the royal icing uses a mirror image and is used for writing. the icing hardens and then is used to emboss the buttercream so that it can be traced over with piping.
thanks
Molly

Oh, sorry Molly I thought you meant the buttercream transfer. I've never heard of a royal icing transfer. I'm interested in it though, as usually royal icing can't be in moisture such as a freezer, so I'm curious as to how they do it. If you find a tutorial I'd love to watch it.

This sounds interesting. I really hope you find out how too. I'd like to know myself.

you use a piece of glass or perspex , pop it over the the image or writing you want to transfer , the image has to be a mirror image to work.

pipe over with the royal , leave it to dry , ( you don't freeze it ) then use it to emboss the icing , you should then have a perfect image to trace .

If you are going to do this on fondant , make sure you have your embossing piece ready to go and hardened before you start to ice your cake. As an alternative to this you can also use stamps for the same effect.

Won't the royal crack and break into pieces on the cake?

No because the royal icing is stuck to the glass. You are just using it to lightly press into the cake.

thank you.