I have to write 3 lines on a 1st communion cake in 10 days.

I did some experimenting this afternoon. I tried both the pin prick method and the piping gel method.

I have to tell you that both worked GREAT to get the impression onto the crusted buttercream. That is not the problem.

The problem is when I have to trace it in buttercream. I make a total mess out of it. I cannot keep the lines flowing, they squiggle and bend where they are not supposed to. I'm really discouraged.

I made the 1/2 crisco, 1/2 buttercream recipe. I tried thinning it with milk. I tried adding piping gel to the bc. I tried a tip #1, a tip #2 and a tip #3. I tried holding the bag like a pencil with my right hand and squeezing with my left. I don't know what else to try!

It looks like a 5 year old wrote on it and I have a pretty decent handwriting on paper!

Any suggestions on how to trace neatly?

Edited to add: I'm a newbie and don't have any kind of projectors or printers or anything like that.

Aahhhh....you're actually trying to write! Forget what you learned in school! Use a "drop string" type of writing; let the icing "fall" into place. Practice a bit and see what happens. Squeeze the bag with your right hand and guide with your left. Continue using your thinned BC with piping gel. Post your writing when you feel good about it!

Also you have to line up to the side of your impression.. not directly over it so that it will fall into place like lsawyer stated.

You may try another trick ...

Write whatever you need to write on a piece of paper, trace it on another side back to front. Put a piece of tracing paper on top of the back to front writing. Write over it, it is much easier when it is not on the cake. Freeze it. Place frozen writing, writing side down onto the cake, pill of the tracing paper.

I was wondering if I should try royal.

So, you just pipe it on parchment or something and let it dry and then pick up the letters or words and place them on the bc cake?

How far ahead do you have to do the royal so it's hard enough to pick up? Do the letters break easily this way?

Also, with the buttercream suggestion that you freeze it, are you talking about doing it like a fbct? Don't the letters get all flat when you flip it over onto the cake?

I would also suggest doing it in royal. Print out the writing on your computer, slip it under a piece of parchment on an inverted cookie sheet and take your sweet time to trace it perfectly.

They are very delicate, so maybe you can make a spare, but it dries in a few hours. I suggest using silicone-covered parchment paper if you can find it. Things come off much easier from it.

Good luck!!!

I had the same problem......i dont think it can be solved with just trying to do it when you have a cake i think you need to sit down and write over and over and over until you get the motion......at least thats what i had to do ....

I have perfectly ok writing on paper so when I tried writing on cakes i found that it stuck and it was because i was trying to do it like a pencil that doesnt work you have to move and motiion with the wrist. I sat down twice for 3 hours at a time..... and just piped differnt saying and phrases on wax paper until I actually got use to it. after i would run out of icing i would just scrape it back into my bag and try again.

beforei tried the frozen buttercream transfer methods and the royal icing but this did not solve my problem of messing writing and sometime did not have time to wait so i just sat and did it over and over......
this was advice that someone on CC gave me over a year ago and im glad i did because once i figured it out it only got easier.

goodluck

lastingmoments and lsawyer are right. This is nothing like writing on paper!

One thing my W instructor said that helped me a lot was rather than writing from your fingers or wrist like you're used to on paper, keep hand and wrist steady, and move your whole arm! It gives smoother control, and you can keep a pretty consistent distance from the cake surface. That way, you can control where the drop string will land, and it can come out nice and curvy (also prevents mushing and flat-looking script).

This has got to be the best advice she gave me, cause my writing on cakes was HORRIBLE! I'm a left-handed writer, but ambidextrous decorator, so trying to figure this out was making me crazy!

hth
Bekah

To projectqueen: I use about 1-2 tsp of piping gel to each cup of the BC. The BC should be thin, but not runny; it should not gush out of the piping tip. Hope this helps?

Another thing that helps me is one of the cheapo laser levels from Walmart - that way the writing is straight across when I do it too.

I usually get all nervous before i start doing the writing. But if i just DO it, and do it with confidence and not try to be all carefull it always comes out better. Does that make sense. you just have to GO for it! lol I let the icing kinda fall on my cake to when i pipe it out. Dont get the tip really close to the cake. GL!