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What's The Difference Between Rice Paper And Wafer Paper?

12 Jul 2023

 

Wafer paper, rice paper, icing sheets - there's a lot of options out there. Which one is best suited to your needs? Let us help you out!

 

The different types of edible paper

  • Wafer paper - a type of edible paper made out of an edible starch. It used to be made out of rice starch (and so is often called rice paper), but is more commonly made out of potato starch now. It's what is used on the bottom of nougat. It's had a resurgence over the last decade in the decorating world as it is a great medium to make flowers with - more on that in a bit!
  • Wafer card - the same as wafer paper, but thicker and, well, more like card. Also known as "Double Density Wafer Paper".
  • Rice Paper - circular sheets that rice paper rolls and spring rolls are wrapped up in. You can buy them in the Asian aisle at Woolies, and they need to be softened in water before they can be used. Rice paper has become a popular medium to make contemporary and unique design pieces on cakes.
  • Icing Sheets - very thin sheets of icing that are stuck onto an acetate backing sheet and are designed to be printed on using a printer and edible inks.

The easiest way to remember which is rice paper and which is wafer paper (as these two terms are mixed up all the time!) is to think of the textures: wafer paper is soft and will dissolve in your mouth like a wafer biscuit will. Rice paper is hard and crunchy, much like raw rice!

 

What can each type be used for?

Wafer Paper

Flowers: As wafer paper is so light, it makes excellent, almost life like flowers. You'll need to use some wafer paper conditioner like More Curl to make the paper flexible and dry in a lifelike way.

 

Other decorations: As there is practically no drying time, it's a time and cost effective way to make eye catching decorations for cakes. Use some wafer paper conditioner like More Moist or Paper Potion to make it flexible and malleable, and your imagination is really your only limit! Grab some paper punches from Spotlight, or another craft store, and cut out little shapes for extra details and textures on your cakes.

 

Wafer paper is easily cut with scissors, so dig up the art and craft project memories and get cutting to make dramatic decorations!

 

Quilling: Talking of cutting, did you ever do quilling when you were younger? Quilling is making shapes out of rolled up thin strips of paper to form a bigger picture, and can go from very simple designs to things that will blow your mind. 

 

Edible leather: The innovative Liz Marek has come up with a great recipe to make wafer paper flexible and "leathery". Just check out the monstera leaves in this vid!

 

Lace: Once you start cutting up the wafer paper for flowers and other things, don't throw away the off cuts! Keep them in a ziplock, and when you have enough, you can make oh-so-delicate wafer paper lace!

 

Stencilling: And last, but by no means least (and probably not last, actually! There are sooooo many ways to use wafer paper!) you can stencil onto it and create gorgeous sails and toppers with stunning designs on them.

 

Wafer Card

Edible images: You can print on wafer paper as well, but wafer card gives a much cleaner, brighter printer, and doesn't dry with a bumpy texture like the wafer paper can.

 

Drink toppers: Looking for something a bit different at your next event? Why not try printing a picture or logo on card and putting it on a signature cocktail? We can even provide you with this service!

   

 

Wafer card flowers: The card can also be used to make slightly sturdier flowers too. Great for flowers that have thicker petals like orchids.

 

 

Palm Spears: Make your own palm spears by cutting and folding wafer card

 

Rice paper

Sails: Rice paper comes in hard, circular sheets that need to be softened in water before being able to shape them into all sorts of things! Once dry, it has a beautiful, almost glasslike quality to it. Check out this vid using rice paper and sprinkles to make a sail

 

Waves: If you colour the water to soak the paper in, it'll dye the paper. Look how perfect blue is to look like waves!

 

Flowers: Cut the rice paper into smaller bits before soaking, and attach the pieces to wires as they dry and they make stunning fantasy flowers

 

Deep dried flowers: Another innovative way to use rice paper is to deep fry it. It puffs up into beautiful, abstract shapes - perfect for fantasy flowers. Check out how to do it here:

 

 

Icing Sheets

Icing sheets are really just for printing images on. They don't bend and fold like the other papers do. Once printed on though, they are lots of different ways to use them:

 

A cake wrap...

 

A film strip cake...

 

Cupcake toppers...

 

Fun details:

 

 

Hopefully that has helped you on your paper decorating journey, and you now know which one you need to buy :-)

 

Posted in Tips and Tools