Hi,
I have posted a sample cake I did the other day. Lots of problems with this, as you can see from the picture below - hat not on her head, body distorted, shoes are messed up plus the placement of the witch is not where it should be - etc. etc. etc..

I drew the picture on paper first, but drawing it on icing was difficult. I had a hard time drawing with the toothpick and once I have drawn the picture, when it is time to go back and outline with black icing, I cannot see what I've drawn with the toothpick because it's just so hard to see it!! If I dig in deep with the toothpick, there will be indentations and then the black icing outlines will not lie flat on the cake. How do people do this? I'm especially frustrated at how I can't see what I've drawn once I've drawn it with the toothpick. Do you use a wide toothpick so you can see what you have drawn?

I'm not aiming to get this cake done for anybody. It was an experimental cake and I tried different ways to color in the objects as well.


I'm also interested in drawing the picture on paper and then using the Frozen buttercream transfer method but I'm still not clear on how exactly that is done. I guess I should post that as another topic.

Thanks for any advice,
Julie

We are our own worst critics! It's wonderful IMO. I wish some of mine looked as good

I think you did a great job ....everyone has their own technique of drawing.....If you want it to look more like the "bewitched" drawing..trace it on rice paper, apply to the cake and then do your drawing and fill with gel or icing... I use a toothpick to partically draw my designs, you just have to be careful and cover your sketch marks.... I've never did the frozen buttercream so I can't help you there....I usually just draw with gel.

I see you are new to CC.....Welcome....the best site ever...you will get so addicted to it.....happy decorating....

I think it looks great! I used to do the toothpick thing and still do occasionally but I do more fondant I guess now. But you just have to do it in good light where you can see the marks, and I would dig in a little bit...and then I would adjust some of the lines too, when I outlined it in buttercream but just making sure I didn't let any of the toothpick lines show outside of the picture. The outlines will still lie on top of the cake, they won't go into the indentations.

Another option is you can let the icing crust and then trace a design on wax paper (reverse image) using a light colored/clear piping gel, and then turn over and press onto the cake and then trace over that.

Or I've even heard of people using royal icing on paper, reverse image, and then letting it harden and then turning over and putting the imprint into the buttercream.

Your cake is nice! Your handwriting is really nice and your border nice and your icing smooth. Great job!

It looks GREAT to me!!!!

First of all, if you were riding on a broom, your hat wouldn't stay on your head either.

Seriously, until you started nitpicking your own work, I didn't see any of the things you were talking about. I was thinking about how cool the buildings looked and how neat your handwriting is. Anyway, someone sent me a tutorial once about transferring designs to a cake. I could never freehand-the extents of my artwork end at stick figures! PM me your email address and I will email it to you-not sure if I have enough posts to PM you.