After many years of writing on cakes I still cannot stand how I write happy birthday, one would have thought I'd find a way to do it that would be like WOW that looks nice! Do any of you have pictures of your happy birthdays?

Get the letter presses. They come in individual letters where you can create any message, and they come with words already put together "Happy Birthday" .... "Best Wishes".... etc. They come in print letters and cursive letters in various styles and sizes.

It's the only way I can write anything decent on my cakes.

I use letter presses or cutters most of the time. If the cake has a theme, I try to find a font that goes with it. I print out the message for the cake, then pipe it out in royal icing and let it dry. I always make 2 copies of everything in royal, in case of breakage.

I don't like the way I write on my cakes either but I have found that when I use the presses, the font is usually too small for the size of the cake. Has anyone seen any 'larger' presses?

I 3rd the RI transfer. I pick a pretty font, type the message, print it out, lay wax paper over it, pipe away, and voila! Any size message in any font you desire.

I just got a set of presses from Country Kitchen Sweet Arts that I LOVE!!! Just did two cakes yesterday- chocholic's dream and the tiara cupcake cake in my gallery and I lOVE THEM!! I love how the happy birthday looks- I also have a large selection of sizes and fonts of stamps that I use only for cakes- found them at Michael's and they are great too.

kidscakelady.. Can you add a link to which set/sets you bought ? They look great on your cakes !
Im real good at ruining a nice cake with my writing ! Thanks !

Here is an example of cursive and print presses on an 18x24 cake.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1238088

This are the same presses on a 11x15 cake:
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1230866

Just to give you a visual on the size of the presses.

I feel the same! I have ruined so many cakes with my writing! I'll have first word tilted one way, the second word straight but the third word tiled the opposite from the first! I have some letter presses and word presses, but the word ones are too small and the letters are all Capital. I think I will also try the royal icing idea.

Indydebi, those look great! Now is that from a letter press or RIT?

Indy .. I love the size of the writing with the second size cake .I think it looks to small on the first cake ( at least for the look I would like to have ). Do you have it anywhere on a 12x18 cake or 9x13 ?
And is it done in buttercream ? I dont always have RI around unless I have been doing cookies to .
And hate to mix a batch just for that. Thanks for sharing .

just a thought as i've never tried it. could you use your computer, pick the size and font you want, invert it and print it out. then on parchment or wax paper overtop copy that w/ writing gel and then press that on your cake to leave the writing??? like i've said, i've never tried, just a thought.

This might help with your technique. When you write on a cake use your whole arm not just your hand and wrist. Your grip on a pen or pencil is different from your grip on an icing bag so it require two different techniques. Try it on a practice board you will be plesantly surprised.

Jibbies

Just so I can envision this.....

you print out the font/wording backwards? Or just turn it over?
Then cover it with wax paper or parchment so you can see threw it.
then write with RI.
Let dry.
Then press on cake to emboss?

Doesn't the RI fall off the paper?
Or stick to the cake?

Dont you just remove the RI letters and add that to the cake ?

I gather you pipe the RI letters right side up (not backwards) and place them on the cake with the side that was on the waxed paper being the side of the letter that sits on the cake. The side of the letter facing you when you pipe it onto the wax paper would be the side of the letter facing upward when the letter is placed on the cake.

I recently bought the FMF letter punches that you use with fondant or gumpaste. See below the grad cake with 2008.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1230278

What I usually do to make the writing FIT the cake is take a strip of paper that fits the area on my cake and actually write the word in whatever handwriting I plan to use, script, print etc. Then I place it or hold it over the cake to see how it fits.

This tells me where to start and where the middle letter is and where to finish.
I have not done the RI method yet, but do love the way it looks on others cakes. Here's a simple example of that:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=857903

i do all my writing with the help of a projector. i also do alot of drawings on sheet cakes, so it gets used alot and it was worth the investment to me. I print up my message on the computer, slide it into the projector, then pipe over the lines that i see on the cake surface.

sweetcakes.. I have a projector That I hardly use because I always seem to make a shadow with my hand and cant see to follow the picture/word !How do you avoid doing that ?

I often use a piping gel transfer to write on my cakes. I just choose a font that coordinates with my design, print it to the size I want in a mirror image, then lay a piece of waxed paper over the page, outline it with clear piping gel. I then position the waxed paper onto the cake, use a decorator brush to lightly press the design onto the cake, lift the waxed paper and then outline the lettering in buttercream. I think it works quite well. You can see an example of it on the Poodle cake in my gallery. HTH!

I have a book with all styles of the alphabet. I trace what I want to write with tracing paper place it on the cake and lightly go over it with a cocktail stick which scratches the words onto the cake then I pipe over it.

I've found that using only a little icing in the bag produces better results when piping messages.

However, I almost always use the make-a-message press from Wilton. It's nice, but becuase it's all caps it sometimes takes up too much space. I've been wondering about the CK presses - they come in different sizes too. Thanks for sharing ladies! And, for not making me feel like such a boob for being writing impaired

I've found that using only a little icing in the bag produces better results when piping messages.

However, I almost always use the make-a-message press from Wilton. It's nice, but becuase it's all caps it sometimes takes up too much space. I've been wondering about the CK presses - they come in different sizes too. Thanks for sharing ladies! And, for not making me feel like such a boob for being writing impaired

Tappits are also wonderful. You are limited to the sizes that they come in, but they are wonderful, and once you learn how to use them (see Aine2's tutorial on You Tube) they are really easy to use!

I use my computer for my writing. I print the size/font and want, then prick holes with a large push pin. Then I lay the writing on the cake, gently press down on the crusted bc, then follow the pattern with bc or piping gel (for a shiny look).

I got them as a gift but I believe that they are item # 35-1520 from countrykitchensa.com (can't make it link- sorry) they are the medium size set- I plan to order more- they have small and then also other fonts available- HTH

Hi there! I am new to cake decorating as you can see from my pictures. This might not be helpful, but I thought I would share it anyway. For fun cakes like birthday cakes, I like to use things like alphabet pretzels to do the writing. Especially for cakes with an outdoors theme, etc. My new favorite way to do lettering is with alphabet candy molds. I am always searching the candy aisles in the stores looking for fun ways to do lettering. Thanks for your ideas!
I don't know how to add the link to my pictures sorry, but there are a few examples there if you want to check them out!