How to Write on a Cake

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I did not have time to pull out the KopyKake (projector for transfering images onto cakes) so I had to quickly improvise to get the words on this cake.  There is nothing worse than working hard on a cake, only to ruin it by sloppy handwriting.

I quickly went to the word processor and printed off the saying I wanted, “Happy Birthday Matilda,” centered in a cute font.  I then printed the phrase out onto regular paper and used a pin to outline the letters.  I tried hard to make prominent holes in the lettering so that I would have a bumpy pattern to lay on top of the cake.

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Here is the reverse side of the phrase I printed.  The letters have been “outlined” with a pin so that on the reverse there is a textured pattern that will transfer into the frosting.  It would be best to use heavy duty paper lined with wax paper.

I then placed the paper on top of the cake and gently pressed the pattern into the icing.  It is difficult to visualize here, but when I did this it was easy to see the shadows of each letter.  I also kept the original phrase close by so I had a way to see where I was going if a small portion of the writing did not transfer well.

Be sure to use high quality buttercream, such as the recipe used here.  This may be more difficult with cheap store-bought icing because it does not set up like homemade buttercream frosting.  It would help to place the cake in the refrigerator to chill first.  You could also line the pattern with wax paper and push the pin directly into the cake but in this case it would have taken much longer.  That technique is best for transferring larger, less detailed images.

Outline the dots using buttercream that has been dyed and placed in a piping bag.  Use a Wilton #5 tip, a grocery store pen for writing, or a large round tip from a grocery store kit.

Thanks to Sugarbelle for showing how to use the pin transfer method for so many of her cookies.  Think pumpkin carving kit when you decorate cakes and cookies.  I buy extra of those kits when they go on clearance and save them for making sweets.