Using Photos and Stencils for Cake Decorations

Create great cake decorations using your favorite photos.

The next time you plan a birthday party, shower or anniversary, get the 'wow' factor involved by using your computer, scanner, printer and photo editor such as PhotoShop to decorate cakes, cookies and other favorites with your photos or clip art to make the occasion special and personal.

You will need to purchase edible frosting sheets and edible ink cartridges for your printer, which are sold on various Web sites at reasonable prices and is well worth it for your wonderful creations and memories.

Find a photograph or clip art that you want to use and scan the photo into your computer. If you already have photos stored on your computer, edit it to how you want it to look such as using boarders or using shapes etc.

Edible ink cartridges and edible paper can be purchased on the Web and are about the same price as regular cartridges and paper. Edible ink can be found for most printers, especially Cannon and Epson. Follow manufactures instructions on installing. Some of the more popular Web sites that sell these items are:

www.kopykake.com

www.iqdurableink.com

www.tastyfotoart.com

The Kopykake site has a free downloadable Desktop Decorator. Desktop Decorator is a cake decorating software that has been designed by professional cake decorators.

Take the edible paper and feed it into your computer just like you would do with regular paper and print the photo. When printing is done, take the edible frosting sheet and place on your cake, center first then the edges. There you have it!

Another method for decorating a cake is making and using a stencil. You will need Styrofoam about 10x14x1 inches. (It's not necessary to use Styrofoam, but some feel that it just makes things easier,) a corsage pin and wax paper.

Place a photo on the Styrofoam block and lay the wax paper over the top of the photo. With the pin, punch holes around the details of the photo about ¼ -inch apart. The more detailed the photo is the closer the holes would need to be. Pay particular attention around facial details.

Ice the cake as smooth as possible and let sit for about 5-10 minutes so the icing can harden a bit and the wax paper won't stick to the icing. Place the stencil on the cake and press slightly around the pin holes to help keep the stencil in place. You can use powder such as coco wrapped in a nylon 'footie' that has the ends cut off. Stuff the footie with coco and draw up both ends to secure. You may be able to mix colored water in with more icing to lightly 'color' the stencil or use tips.

Photo decorating is fast becoming popular all over the world. It's a great way to exercise your creative side and give a more festive atmosphere to any event.