Edible Designs

It was my son's birthday this weekend and I had a bit of a last minute panic with his cake. We had a bowling party at a local bowling alley and originally we'd planned to have a bowling themed cake that I would pay someone else to make. Unfortunately, my son couldn't make up his mind which cake and cake design he wanted, only that he wanted it to be one of my recipes. I bake cakes - I don't decorate them. Before I knew it, it was Thursday and too late to order a cake. 

So I picked up a "cake tattoo" from Michaels and hoped for the best. Admittedly, I was a little nervous, but I found the edible sheets really easy to work with. While my finished cake wouldn't have made the cover of a magazine, my son was happy and his friends oohed and aahed over it, which also made him happy. What made me happy was that it didn't taste like anything and that it didn't change the texture of the cake or the experience of eating it. A win-win. 

I started researching edible designs, wanting to see if there were more sophisticated or modern designs that I liked. Mostly, no. I think the edible design transfers are more appropriate for kid parties or baby showers and some holidays like Valentines. But I did find the edible butterfly designs shown above, from Sugar Robot on Etsy. I think they're gorgeous and I wouldn't hesitate to use them for adult cakes and cupcakes. Even better, they're available in a range of colors.

I found a number of other DIY cake decorating options while I was in Michaels, including edible paper and special punches (similar to regular craft paper punches) to create borders and other designs for cakes in solid papers. Then there are stencils, die cuts for cake designs...it overwhelmed me at the time, but some interesting possibilities to think about in the future. 

 

Valentines is one of those holidays when I don't mind cute. I like this particular set from Lucks and I think the designs would also make good cupcake or cookie toppers (edible designs like this can be cut with scissors, so you're not limited to using them for cakes).

Cupcake toppers from The Frosting Gallery on Etsy. 

Carnival minis suitable for cupcakes or cookies. Can be purchased from King Arthur Flour.

My cake. The edible cake tattoo from Duff Goldman can be found at Michaels and Party City.

Comments

[lexi]

it turned out really cute! but that's totally something i could work with you on - you bake, i decorate! although this particular weekend each year, i'm usually in tx picking up my girls from camp.

[Wendy]

That came out adorable!! You are much too modest, " I just bake cakes"! Happy birthday to your son. :)