If you’re into cake decorating (and let’s face it, if you’ve landed here then you no doubt are!) then you would have seen edible cake toppers floating around the web. You might have even used them or seen your friends use them. Hopefully you haven't had the colours run or the backing sheet tear the image (gulp!).
No matter where you are in your cake decorating journey you will come across or most likely want to use edible images on your cakes at some stage. This being the case we present to you The Ultimate Guide to Edible Images.
Originally most edible images used rice paper in their application. We all remember when we first started seeing cartoon characters and superheroes appearing on cake and cupcakes that were commercially made. Rice paper has been around since the early 19th century but has only relatively recently been used for cake decorating purposes. Although it holds an image well, it’s pretty tasteless and kids and adults have been known to peel it off before getting stuck into their cupcake or birthday cake!
Rice paper has now been superseded by specially designed icing sheets and edible ink. At Lollipop Cake Supplies we use Bake Print brand icing sheets but there are many to choose from. The way edible images work is really quite simple. If you have a printer that can take edible image ink cartridges then you can print out an edible image! It’s really that simple.
There’s a range of different printers that will print our edible images. We stock ink cartridges for the following models:-
Canon IIP4850 - IP4950 - IX6550 (A3 printer) - MG5150 - MG5250 - MG5350 - MG6150 - MG8150 - MX885 IP3600 - IP4600 - IP4700 - MP540 - MP550 - MP620 - MP630 - MP640 - MX8250 - MX870
It’s funny you should ask that because we just happen to stock an A3 starter kit that includes:-
and this is everything you will need to make a start printing your own edible images. It even comes with the ink cartridges installed for you so you can hit the ground running!
Certainly! These are some of our most popular range as all you need to do is send us the image and we will take care of everything else for you. This is a great option if you’re only going to be using them once in a while and can’t justify the outlay of getting a printer and edible sheets and colours or inks.
We can make custom edible images for mini cupcakes, large cupcakes, round cakes or for many other applications using our A4 sheet. We have 3cm, 5cm, 16cm and 20cm round images as well as an A4 and A3 sheet which can hold one large image, or multiple smaller images.
Anything that you can print on paper you can print on an edible image. You’re essentially doing the same thing as you would when you’re printing out a normal image on paper, except you’re using a ‘different’ kind of paper.
There are a few things you need to keep in mind like if your image is low res, then your edible image is going to look hazy and pixelated. To get around this you should try to get the highest resolution image that you possibly can as that will give you a good starting point.
The other drawback is that if you add an edible image to a very damp cake or types of jelly, etc the colours can bleed out. Also if your icing is too moist it can soak through the image and cause spots of colour to run.
Mostly edible images are used on fondant but you can use edible images on any type of cake or icing, you just need to make sure that the icing isn’t too wet or that you’re putting your custom edible cake topper on a dark coloured icing as sometimes the colour can seep through and ruin your image.
Pretty much all edible images come on a white background so if you’ve got a dark coloured cake in mind, it’s probably best to use fondant as your icing as this won’t ruin your picture.
If you really do want to use a buttercream or other moist icing with your edible image you can put a thin layer of fondant underneath the image to protect it. This does take a little practice but it’s not too difficult to achieve.
Life span of the sheets is a tricky one. It depends on the weather and how much ink is on the sheet. In the summer months the sheets soak up the humidity. We generally say 12 months, however we are finding that they can be a little more difficult to peel off the sheet the older the edible images get.
This question should really be what type of images can’t you print on edible image icing! Take a look at some of the pics below to get an idea of how some people have used edible images for their cakes and cupcakes.
Most certainly. If you’re looking for corporate edible image suppliers we can definitely help you out with that. We have provided a range of different options for small and large companies.
We have created and shipped edible images for the following companies.
The turnaround time will really depend on the size and scope of your order.
We are able to cut the sheets to size, prepare and package them individually with instructions for postage to your stores or offices if required.
The best way to find out is to give us a call on 07 3102 1246 and we can chat with you about your order.
We do daily print runs (overnight) with an average turnaround of two days. We email proofs to customers that require it, or for images that we would like confirmation on. for example;
This should give you a pretty good idea of what you can do with edible images for your cakes and the types of images you can put on edible icing.