hello everyone! Im making a wedding cake this week and i've drawn a custom scrollwork design that while I could probably free hand it I would rather transfer it onto the cake to the fill in. does anyone have any ideas for this?? Thanks!!

Yes!

draw the design full size on paper. use a pin to prick the outline while the paper is on top of styrofoam. that makes bumps on the back. use that paper to make an impression onto the sides of your cake and then pipe over that.

I just did one a few weeks ago like that and it worked great!

HTH!

You can draw the design backwards on a thin piece of cardboard. Go over the design with royal icing so that it is built up and then press the cardboard on the cake icing. It will act like a pattern press.
Susie[/b]

thanks guys!

I always trace my designs onto a sheet of glass (edges taped) using royal icing. The glass allows you to trace any picture or design - flip design backwards if it is a "one way only" design. Once dry the royal icing stays put for as many imprints as you need to make. I use this on fondant or bc.

For the sides of a cake I trace the design up from the edge of the glass exactly the height I want the design to be on the cake so that I can rest the glass on the cake base and press in the design just where I want it.

I had scrolls to transfer to a wedding cake a few weeks ago and faced the same dilemma. I started by drawing the scrollwork in ink on a sheet of paper. I then wrapped a piece of wax paper around the iced cake and cut to fit (to the height of the tier and the exact circumference). Then I folded the wax paper in half and half again and half again and so on until exactly one scroll pattern fit. Then I laid the wax paper over the ink pattern and "traced" the pattern by poking a toothpick through the wax paper. That made holes that stuck out on the underside of the wax paper. My intention (at someone's suggestion on this forum) was to imprint the pattern on the side of the cake by pressing the underside of the wax paper into the icing on the cake. But the problem I had was that my buttercream (it's a French buttercream -- made with egg yolks -- and it doesn't crust very hard at all) was too soft for this and the wax paper stuck to it. So instead I very gently laid the wax paper around the cake and then painstakingly poked a sewing needle through each toothpick hole into the cake. I used a toothpick at first but the holes it made in the cake were too large (I was using a #1 tip for some of the scrolls and dots). A sewing needle was just the thing!
The wax paper folding was very handy -- it eliminated the need to do any calculating about pattern size. Folding it in half repeatedly assured that when it was unfolded and wrapped around the cake the ends would meet properly and the pattern wouldn't be off.
I posted 3 photos of this cake, one of which is an up close of the scrolls on the bottom tier. I think (??) you can see them if you click on my photos at the bottom of my post, (right?) I haven't posted many pics yet so it should be easy to find -- the only wedding cake!
Hope this is helpful.