Hello to all and thanks for your time!

I made a cake yesterday and wrote on it. (see pic below) Man, was that a bad idea! LOL. I can not write for anything.

Does anyone have a technique to share? Or how do some of you do it, with a beautiful outcome?

Oh, I'm also a leftie!

I would love to one day write pretty! LOL. Or is it the practice makes perfect technique?

Please help!

I bought the Wilton letter press kit. It works great! You just spell out the word you want, press it into your icing and then just follow the lines.....

The more you practice, the more used to the icing and bags you get, and the better your writing gets.

Message press sets work well, but for larger print or different style, type it out in microsoft word, and then do a transfer onto your cake. Has worked very well for me in the past.

Ah yes, writing is probably the one thing most of us really have a difficult time with! I prefer to write on the cake board itself so that way I can easily wipe it off and start again....and I do that often! Another option is make a fondant banner and write on that.

Practice does make a difference however one tip I got was to just go with it, let it flow. I used to stress over it so bad and want it to be so perfect and it never worked out that way so now I literally just let it happen and it seems to work better.

I'm sure everyone has their own techniques, these are mine.

Anyone else?

You print out the words, put a piece of waxed paper on top of it, and use a pen or marker to trace the lettering onto the waxed paper.

Flip the waxed paper over and use piping gel to copy again. (This will be a mirror image kind of look.)

Flip it back over so the gel side is facing the cake, and place it gently on the cake where you want to place it. Smooth it down gently using either your spatula or your fingers..but remember just lightly until it turns opague.

When it looks like all of it has transferred, lift it straight up or it will smudge. Then just pipe over it.

Hope this helps!

I used to practice on a plate so that I could scrape the icing off and continue to use it. Also, if you hold the piping cone up a little bit so that the icing "drops" it is easier and looks better... does that make sense?

I am also a leftie. I find that moving my whole arm instead of just my hand helps. Also, I hold my breath and that seems to keep my arm steadier. Hope this helps!

If you are transferring it by using piping gel, let your gel dry first and it will become a sort of "stamp". Then when you turn it over and put it on your cake, it will make an imprint just like a stamp or letter press does and you won't have any kind of smearing.

WOW! Alot of great tips. I will use the gel transfer next time. LOL! Hopefully I can't mess that up. LOL!

I also move my whole arm and guide with my other hand. Don't overfill your bags and move quickly. The more naturally you move, the more natural the result... that's what works for me. I also like to be directly over top of the cake. Hope that helps?!

When writing on the cake, make sure when the letter ends, stop and lift backwards over the letter so as to not drag the lettering.

Practice with a larger sized tip at first like wilton #5 or so. I find it is much easier to handle, the writing looks better and your confidence level goes up. Eventually work your way down to smaller tips and you should improve. Remeber to use thinned icing and move your whole arm. I personally hold my breath which I think is more nerves than anything else but it works.

You are the 2nd person that said hold your breath. I guess it really works. I'll have to try that to. Thanks to all who replied! I can't wait to decorate more cakes. LOL.

practice practice and more practice. my writting still needs a lot of work. dont give up you will get it.

Here's a few tips...I hope some of them help.

First off, write down on paper what you will be writing on the cake. Sometimes the best of us mispell a word on accident.

Secondly, make sure your icing is of good writing consistency.

Third, go into it just "knowing" that you can. You have to believe in yourself.

Fourth, steady your hand with your other hand.

I write better on cakes than I print, but i find that if I steady my hand and believe that I can do it...it usually turns out pretty good. (Oh yeah, don't forget to practice, lol)

Good Luck!!

You could also use buttercream or chocolate, instead of the gel.

Get creative too...there are chocolate molds available for the alphabet you could mold chocolate, fondant or even buttercream (put in freezer). I have used alphabet cookie cutters and piped in the melted candy melts and let set, or cut out fondant letters.

oh yeah i forgot if you are having trouble keeping your words straight, before you put on the borders, lay a ruler where you want to write and poke a small hole for each letter you are going to write. then cover the holes with your letters.

Thank you all for the great tips! Mostly practice I know. hahahaha! I have to do that more often but just scared of the writing to be pretty bad off like the cake I pictured earlier.

Anyhoo, I have another question-

I have alphabet stamps from Stampin' UP!-can I use those for small words? or will they mess up my stamps? If anyone knows of this.

TIA!