Cake Decorating: How to Create Edible Pictures

Whether you want to save money by making your own kids' birthday cakes, start a new hobby, or begin a new career, one of the easiest ways to decorate cakes is to add a picture to a sheet cake. You can spend as little or as much as you want in fulfilling this desire…but in the beginning, "desire" is all you need to accomplish your goal!

The fastest way to add images to your cake would be to make your own "edible images". This website sells edible image systems that work with your own PC and they offer a wide range of prices as well.

Another possibility would be using an airbrush. Kopykake sells two airbrushes completely made for cake decorators as well as projectors to shine outlines on your cake surface. This would not be a "quick fix" however as not only is it more expensive than edible images, but it also takes quite a bit of practice to learn how to control the color from the airbrush.

A popular method is called the "buttercream transfer" method. Detailed instructions for this method can be found here, complete with step by step photos! It involves tracing an icing design on wax paper in reverse, filling it in with icing colors, freezing it, and then peeling it off and laying it on the cake.

The method I commonly use is probably the quickest way (not counting the edible image choice). All you have to do is find an image you like, such as one from a coloring book page or one you have printed online. Ideally you will want to have it mirror image of the final picture you want on the cake. Once you have your mirror image picture, lay a piece of wax paper over top of it and trace the design with either a black food pen or with a bit of black icing gel. Then, immediately turn the wax paper over, decide where on the cake you want the design, and carefully lay it down and rub the black outlines onto the cake.

Now you have an outlined image on your cake! All you have to do now is trace the outline with black icing (you can even use store bought black icing with a small round tip attached or a small tube of black gel if you don't have decorating bags or tips) and fill in the design with colored gels or colored icing. If you use icing, wait until the icing sets up a bit and then you can smooth it gently with a finger lightly dusted with corn starch. When I trace the image, I like to set the original picture in front of me to make sure I have not missed any details.

The Superman picture is a cake I recently did using this method and colored gel using an image I found online. I used cardboard cutouts of clouds placed on the cake, used food color aerosol spray around them, and then removed them to show the clouds. I didn't even make a top border on this one, only bottom border. If you want to avoid doing a border and you used homemade buttercream icing, you can use a Viva paper towel to smooth your slightly crusted icing on top and around the corners to give a rounded appearance.

You don't have to have all the fancy cake decorating supplies to make these cakes! Just a bowl of buttercream icing, some ready-made decorating colors, and your imagination! You might just be so excited with what you have just created that you will be the first in line for the next local cake decorating class to learn even more.