While I could definitely get lost in a good stationary store, that is not what this post is about.

I really wanted to talk about the edible kind… frosting sheets! Wafer paper! Because the two make me just as giddy as (if not more than!) a brand new pad of pretty note paper.

Let’s be honest… when you think of edible images, you think of something like this…

edibleimagecake

Source: http://order.cakes.com

(Which is great! And also how grocery stores are able to charge what they do.)

In my time as a cake designer, I have really evolved in my thinking toward edible images and edible ink printers. I have graduated from feeling slightly embarrassed about owning an edible printer (feeling like maybe I am “cheating”) to loving every minute of it and always looking for opportunities to use it.

Why?

Because I have begun seen far beyond the colorful happy birthday sheet cake image, the simple Super Why image and the edible photo of the birthday child. I have seen the endless possibilities and the stunning details to be created using printed images and patterns!

Here is where it all began…

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This was one of my first cake orders, and it was a little terrifying! My customer wanted a Brad Paisley guitar cake. I mean, paisley!?!?

But then I had an idea… and did a little online searching before running across the street to our grocery store to have them print this glorious paisley image. And the wow! People were even more impressed than I thought they would be!

So I began to dabble more…

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And started to use images and printed patterns to enhance smaller details on my cakes.

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Even going so far as to use printed wafer paper to decoupage, as in the top tier of my July 4th cake!

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I literally found an old copy of the Declaration of Independence, printed it on wafer paper and stuck pieces of it all over my cake… and that tier is one of my proudest.

It wasn’t until my polka dot cake that I finally let go of my inner struggles with using this simple medium.

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One of the cake designers that I admire most shared this cake to her page, and I couldn’t help but notice a comment on the post. Another cake decorator said something along the lines of “Well, it doesn’t look very difficult – just printed paper on a cake”. Which is true, and it was what I had been afraid of people thinking when she had first shared it… and her comment left me staring at my computer screen in confusion and embarrassment.

But then the wonderful cake designer replied to the comment. I don’t remember her exact words, but she basically responded that of course it was printed, but that it didn’t matter… and that a person knowing how to use their creativity, tools and resources to create something beautiful that makes people happy is a great talent in itself.

You cannot imagine what this did for me as a cake designer! I felt that I had been freed from everything that held me back from being proud of my cakes. No more secretly wondering if I had much talent beyond my tools. I was able to acknowledge the creativity and talent that it took to come up with an idea, seek out the tools and successfully create the cake. And I felt free to just have fun.

And now I happily seek out opportunities to add these unique touches to my cakes!

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I am thrilled to have so many different mediums available to me, and I revel in the time spent discovering new ways to use them.

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Tools used in this post:

Online classes you might enjoy:

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Hello, sweet friends!

I am currently in Boston visiting my gorgeous new niece, Elle! She is tiny, sweet and beautiful, and there is no shortage of kisses happening around here!

In the spirit of sweet baby girls, I wanted to share a very pink cake that I created last week!

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Maybe it was the image of my precious niece that I was getting ready to go meet, but I definitely went with my inner girlie on this one!

The bottom tier contained ruffle after ruffle, with the centers dusted a subtle pink.

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The second tier was coated with sparkling sugar crystals.

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For the third tier, I went with stripes in a variety of thicknesses and shades of pink.

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The fourth and top tier contained the same sparkling sugar along the bottom edge.

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Topping the cake was a white ruffled fantasy flower of my own design.

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This cake definitely satisfied my love for feminine things!

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Have a wonderful finish to the week! I know I will!

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There was once a cake created for no real purpose. Well – ok, it had a purpose: it was for a colorful cake competition (which I ended up not winning).

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Anyway, I find myself so pained when having to create and decorate a cake with absolutely no event planned for consuming it at the end… so if I must create a cake for decorating purposes only, I find a person to gift it to.

(Bonus: this makes me an often well-liked person!)

In the case of this cake, the competion happened to fall on the week before a quick visit to my brother in Dallas. With no real risk involved (my brother didn’t even know I was bringing it until right before) I decided to attempt to bring the cake as a carry-on on my flight.

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Friends, you are looking at a double-barrel (7-8 inch double-stacked) cake that survived the drive to the airport, being carried through the entire airport, riding through the security x-Ray machine on the conveyer belt (the security staff only stopped it once, looked confused, asked me what it was and then chuckled, letting it pass), riding the airport train while in my arms, and then – get this – the entire flight to Dallas in the overhead compartment. 

Are you laughing? I still am.

But that wasn’t it! Upon arrival, the cake then survived the Dallas airport and a one-hour trek through Dallas rush hour traffic in the back of my brother’s old 4Runner (with his crazy Dallas driving ;))

When we arrived at his home, I opened the box and…

Perfect!

Enjoy one last photo of my littlest angel wondering why I was planning to go to all that trouble when I could have just left it at home with her and Daddy…

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Rest assured that I have incredible faith in the durability of my cakes these days!

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Learn how to create a double-barrel cake here:

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