AAw wow! That's amazing! Mine is nothing as grand as that I'm afraid! I'm icing the cake plain white and the plan was/is to let my daughter decorate it with the pens. She has Downs Syndrome, can't write and has bad hand/eye co-ordination. She loves cake though and loves helping me. I thought it was a perfect idea when I thought of it but should've known if it can go wrong it will go wrong -in my life anyway! I don't know if she'd manage to paint it on. Thankyou though, it's certainly worth considering- especially if I can't find pens! :-)

Aah! I thought the pens were for you to use!

Wash some dish sponges, let them dry thoroughly and cut them into pieces (one for each colour) then she could use them to 'finger paint' on to the cake with the paste colour 'paint' (if you let her use her fingers they'd be multi coloured FOREVER - voice of experience!).

You could also make a template out of greaseproof paper (like a heart or star), put it on the cake (attach with royal icing dots or pins) let her paint all over with sponges, then remove the paper and voila! lovely multi colour cake with a picture/shape in the middle.

(again, please tell me if this makes no sense, these things sound good in my head, but I often don't describe them well!)

AAw wow, yes that makes perfect sense thankyou! She often "helps" me but it is just help cos I still want the cake to look presentable! She's not great with cutting fondant and she squishes it when she tries to get it on the cake! Because it's for my husband I want it to be all her work, I don't want to tidy it up or surrepticiously peel things off and stick better ones on in their place! That's why I thought the pens would be good, I'm so cross they didn't come in time, I paid extra for a quicker delivery as well. To make the paint do I just mix gel colours with clear alcohol? And is there an alternative to alcohol? I'll be with her but she's good at getting cake mix, buttercream, fondant etc in her mouth before I can stop her!

AIf you have time to let them dry you can let gel colour down with water, it takes longer to dry than alcohol but it works if you can leave it over night for instance.

AThankyou natt. :-) I feel much better now I've got a plan B, I cannot believe such an easy cake had me flapping!

I tend not to use water, but I'm impatient and I love the smell of cointreau! I also don't have kids, so I didn't think of that, sorry.

If you can get your hands on superwhite

http://www.cake-stuff.com/edibles-c1/colourings-c15/paste-gel-colourings-c19/sugarflair-superwhite-icing-whitener-colouring-20g-p1282

it makes a perfect base for edible paint and makes it thicker and dry quicker if you use water. I don't think you'll get it in hobbycraft though.

Have a practice first.  You need a really small amount of paste to get a good colour (start with a smudge on the end of a knife and work up). Something shallow like tupperware lids are quite good to smear paint on as a palette (maybe use 1 for each colour), but you may never get the colour out.

It's maybe an idea to make a 'handle' on your sponges (by wrapping layers of tape around one side?) to keep the colour from getting on her fingers as much (or you might get a nice stamps, sponges, brushes etc in hobbycraft that would work.

Let us know how you get on.

ACointreau sounds like a much nicer choice than tbe vodka I use! But most of the time I use water unless there is a reason I don't have the time to leave it dry.

maisie, what about the sponges on sticks you can get? I can't think of a name for them... But I'm sure hobby craft would have them, I remember using them a lot as a kid, saves the mess but they are also soft so easy to use!

AOh yes- similar to the ones they have in hospital, I know what you mean natt! Cake-sprite, thanks for the instructions and don't apologise, I won't be leaving her alone with a bottle of vodka! ( me alone with a bottle of cointreau sounds appealing tho!) I could kick myself because I've got superwhite on my ebay watchlist, I've been wondering whether to get it to see if it'll turn buttercream white, should've just bought it shouldn't I. Never mind, I've got a lovely list of ideas for tomorrow now, thankyou both so much. Of course I'll let you know how we get on, I'll even post a picture if it's not too embarrassing! :-)

AMaisie, I've read that you can use clear vanilla or lemon extract instead alcohol :)

AI have superwhite but its in powder form, is that the same thing? I also have a small bottle of liquid whitner which I sometimes use to get my buttercream really white.

AThankyou both, I've got lemon in the cupboard. I'm going to have a look for whitener in Hobbycraft today. My daughter is beside herself with excitement, she can't wait to come home from school! :-)

AErm, I don't know natt! It doesn't seem to affect kids if it is but I suppose it's in such tiny amounts in cakes it's negligable.

I don't know about clear ones, but I only buy brown vanilla extract and I still get ID'd for it cos it's alcohol

AJust had a look, my expensive vanilla is 35% alcohol, my cheap lemon is just rapeseed oil and extract of lemon.

AHave any of you seen any new posts this morning? They seem to be about football/sport I think! I thought I was in the wrong place!

LOL! They are spam maisie, it happens on every forum once in a while, there is a report flag at the bottom of the post for when you find posts like that to notify some one who can do something about it

AThankyou, just clicked on the flag, don't know if it worked! Off to Hobbycraft now, byee. :-)

ANatt out of interest I bought the clear vanilla in The Range, small bottle, in fact I just used some in a sour cream Bundt cake I wanted to try and run out of the brown vanilla, havn't made this before or used this tin so I'll let you all know what its like, its in The oven as we speak, day off for me, so what am I doing? Cooking!!

AHaha I'm the same, give me some free time and guarantee you'll find me in a kitchen somewhere as if obdont do enough already! Monday I had some free time so I thought why not try the pink umbrellas challenge! Cos what I need to do with my time when I don't have to bake is um.... More baking! At least I'm not the only one!

AI am not sure about that as I haven't used it. I've wrote what I've read somewhere.

AMe again! I got caught on the phone before I left for Hobbycraft and while I was on there the postman came....... With my edible pens! :-)

AKathy its by Wilton, its called White Icing Colour, I had it from my local cake Dec shop, but I have seen it in The Range I'm sure and think you can get it fro Amazon.

Maisie, thank heavens for that. No girl should be without their pens!!

AKathy, theres no stopping you now is there? I just spent £30 in my local cake Dec shop very naughty of me.

HI EVERYONE! I am a self taught baker specialising in cupcakes! follow me on Instagram @velvetbitescupcakes

Thanks!

AHello cupcake 100. :-)

Welcome to the thread cupcake100!