I am so impressed with your lettering!! I was wondering if you would share your talent. Thank you so much

Missy

I don't know if she has answered you yet, but you might want to try sending her a PM (private message). Also bumping this to the top, just in case.

I would love to know how its done as well thanks

Hi ladies, sorry, didn't see this post.. Okay, I've gotten tons of PM's on my letters so I'll share them with anyone interested. I'm a terrible writer when it comes to writing on cakes... but my hand writing is very nice - go figure! So I started using royal icing to do them and experimented with different scripts. I print out the text I want from word... Make sure the text is rather big or at least "fat" letter type. Ilike ones like "storybook. "Heather", and "Elephant" print types. I went to Best Buy and got a Font cd a while back and loaded them to my pc, so I have a ton of different scripts. Once I like the siz of the letter, I print it and tape it to the back of a piece of plexiglass. Then tape wax paper to the top of it. Usinf stiff royal, pipe an outline with #1 or 2 tip. Then with diluted royal (plop should disappear around 3 seconds after) fill in each of the letters. I use a paint brish to put the flood work in the outline and will "paint" over the outline to give a smooth finish. Do one letter at a time so it doesn't dry up on you to quickly. Let dry over night, then mix luster dust in choice of color with some alcohol ( I use Cocoa flavored rum because it smells good and doesn't leave an alcohol flavor or smell). It dries pretty quickly, so you'll have to keep mixing before applying. I always go over the letters with dry luster after applying the "paint" to give a sparkling finish. When finished carefully lift off of wax with a palette knife and apply to your cake. It seems like a lot, but really isn't and it can be done pretty quickly. I will also use this for a side of a cake (like my Happily Ever After cake) and allow it to dry on the side of the cake pan used so it's curved. You also have to carefully peel the paper off each piece. My suggestions is to always make more than you need so there's back ups. Let me know if you girls have anymore questions. ~Tara

Thanks so much for sharing Tara ... soundsl like a great idea .. I'm going to try that soon !!

Thanks for sharing this Heavenly...you should PM this to Jackie and see if she will put it into a how to article.

Thanks for the tip!! I can't wait to try it. I agree with m0use, it needs to go into the How Tos.

yes this is a how too for sure that many will miss out on in this post oh and by the way thanks

Heavenly, I just went in and looked at your cake photos and the lettering is just beautiful, since you use royal icing to do this, does the letters get real hard?

Thank you so much for sharing your talent. I can't wait to try this. Right now I don't have any cakes this next week so I will be practicing and playing!!!! Thanks again.

Missy

Hi ladies, I'll look into adding the instuctions to the how to's. Who do I PM about it?

Yes, the letters get hard like candy. You can add a little lemon juice to make them taste a little better, otherwise it just tastes like sugar.
Tara

I was wondering if you could do a bunch of different grettings and such and then freeze them so you could just pop them out as needed?

Missy

so, when you do your piping of the letters, is the royal icing already colored? or is it white, then you paint it with luster dust?

its awesome!

cakemomof3 - you don't need to freeze royal icing because it gets hard like candy, so you could do a bunch of different ones and keep them in a container so they don't get broken.

momof3jotynjake - I do mine in all white because I save my royal in a container and just take enough out to pipe the letters. But you could do them in colors and then just dust with matching pearl. But when if you did them, all white (cakemomof3 - this would be good for you) you could amke ahead of time and paint them the color needed when you're ready to use.

Thank you so much!!! I can't wait to try this!!!!

How long do they keep in a container?

not sure of the shelf life on dried royal... I would expect a very long time. You can make royal icing flowers and keep them for a long period of time, so this shouldn't be any different.

no, you have to get it from a cake supplier. www.creativecutters.com, www.cakesbydesign.cc, www.confectioneryhouse.com all sell them in many colors. That's all I use because when I mix it with alcohol, it gets that solid shiny color that you see in my pictures. I like to make my statements stand out, and the sparkle really helps with that. Then I always go over it dry with the same color luster dust. So, if there are any gaps in the paint, the dry brushing witll fill it in. I also don't wait too long before painting with just the luster - so it will stick well to the letters.

Could you give me your website address........I want to see what everyone is talking about.........thank you

I don't have a website... yet. I'm a web designer by trade and do it all day long - it's the last thing I think about when I get home . All of the pictures the other ladies are talking about, though, are on my cake photos page.

Do you paint with luster dust that is watered? Or do you use frosting color? I guess I just want to understand that. I am going to try this tonight.

I thought I put in my instructions above that I mix the luster dust with alcohol. Maybe I missed that. If you add water to the powder, it's won't dry and too much water will soften the royal icing. I do not use paste colors to paint with (unless it's when doing one stroke painting - and even that uses special food colors) because it is too sticky and does not give the results I want.

Tara

Do you do a few letters at a time so they dont break in transfer or do you do the whole word and transfer it whole?

Thanx Heather

Tara,

I am so sorry. I totally missed that! Thanks for giving me the info again!

mrsfish

Heather - it all depends on the word and the text being used. If I'm doing a script, then they are all together. You just need to be careful when peeling the paper off.

Can I trouble you with one more question? Do you wait until right before serving the cake to add the letters? I know people have said that color flow should not be directly applied to BC frosting, and I have read the same thing on another site (Baking 911 - I think) that Royal Icing shouldn't be placed directly on BC either. Have you ever had trouble with the royal icing affecting your BC frosting - or vice versa?

Thanks!!!!

mohara, I've never heard that... You put royal icing decorations on fondant and make royal borders over fondant, and can add royal icing flowers on buttercream cakes. It's powdered sugar and water, so I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to add it to the top of a cake. I put them on when the cake is finished being decorated. Did that article give a reason why they don't suggest it?

I think the reason is that it can make the royal soften. ( the grease of buttercream) but that wouldn't be a problem for flwers and stuff made out of royal. They do soften a little if they are put on buttercream, but they won't melt into blobs or anything!