Transform any image into an awesome cake decoration!
I learned this life-saving cake decorating tip from Moey’s Heart & Hearth. You won’t believe how easy it is to create amazing cake decorations. You can easily make a cake decoration with any coloring page you can find. SO COOL, right? All you need is a printed image, wax paper, some butter cream frosting and piping bags!
I made this Transformer cake for dear friend Phil who LOVES himself some Transformers 🙂 I also made this LaLa Loopsy cake using this frosting tutorial for Little D’s 4th birthday.
This technique could be used in endless ways. For birthday cakes, baby showers, Valentines Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, etc.. Basically any event that has cake involved!
Here how you do an Easy Cake Decorating with Frosting Transfers
- A printed out image or coloring page that will fit the size of your cake.
NOTE: your image will be reversed when placed on the cake, so if you are using words, you will need a mirror image. of the print out. This isn’t an issue with images (see transformer collage above) - A small piece of glass, such as a small picture frame glass
- wax paper
- buttercream frosting made with butter ( this is a MUST. When you freeze the transfer, what makes it harden and form is the butter)
- food coloring
- pipping bags & frosting tips (or ziplock bags with tips cut off)
- Start by trimming your image, and tape it to the back side of a flat piece of glass. We used the glass from a small picture frame. Tape the same sized piece of wax paper to the front of the glass. You should now have an image/glass/wax paper “sandwich. “
- Next mix the colors you need for your image and fill your frosting bags. If you don’t have frosting bags, you can also use ziplock bags with the tiniest part of the corner cut off. Here is a recipe for Buttercream Frosting if need one 🙂
- Now the fun part! Trace over areas that you want to see on your finished product. This bottom layer is going to be the what you see on top of your transfer. So you you have to carefully think one step at a time, which layer you want to put on next. Make sure to color in all the areas with the icing layers to a depth of about 1/4 inch, making sure your whole design is supported by that 1/4″ thickness of icing.
- So as you can see in my steps below, I wanted the little button on the Transformer to pop out in the front, so I did those first. The solid blue of the Transformer’s main leg should appear behind the buttons, so I did that last. Remember, the part you are going to see on the cake it the bottom layer, so you don’t have to worry about the lumpy backside of the frosting.
- Place the whole transfer glass, into the freezer and freeze for about 30 minutes to a hour or until the icing is hard to the touch.
- Take your transfer out of the freezer and make sure the icing is nice and hard. Un-tape the wax paper from the glass and carefully place the side facing up ( the ugly side) onto the cake. Press it down a little so it sticks to the cake.
Now carefully, peel the wax paper away from the design, to reveal your frosting design.
Ta – Da!
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Easy Cake Decorations with Frosting Transfers
Ingredients
- - A printed out image or coloring page that will fit the size of your cake.
- NOTE: your image will be reversed when placed on the cake so if you are using words, you will need a mirror image. of the print out. This isn't an issue with images (see transformer collage above)
- - A small piece of glass such as a small picture frame glass
- - wax paper
- - buttercream frosting made with butter this is a MUST. When you freeze the transfer, what makes it harden and form is the butter
- - food coloring
- - pipping bags & frosting tips or ziplock bags with tips cut off
Instructions
- Start by trimming your image, and tape it to the back side of a flat piece of glass. We used the glass from a small picture frame. Tape the same sized piece of wax paper to the front of the glass. You should now have an image/glass/wax paper "sandwich."
- Next mix the colors you need for your image and fill your frosting bags. If you don't have frosting bags, you can also use ziplock bags with the tiniest part of the corner cut off. Here is a recipe for Buttercream Frosting if need one 🙂
- Now the fun part! Trace over areas that you want to see on your finished product. This bottom layer is going to be the what you see on top of your transfer. So you you have to carefully think one step at a time, which layer you want to put on next. Make sure to color in all the areas with the icing layers to a depth of about 1/4 inch, making sure your whole design is supported by that 1/4" thickness of icing.
- So as you can see in my steps below, I wanted the little button on the Transformer to pop out in the front, so I did those first. The solid blue of the Transformer's main leg should appear behind the buttons, so I did that last. Remember, the part you are going to see on the cake it the bottom layer, so you don't have to worry about the lumpy backside of the frosting.
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Nutrition Disclaimer
Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Post updated September 2020
Jenn says
Great tutorial!! How fun and easy 😀
Chandra says
Wow!!! I never thought of doing this before. Love the idea. Thank you so much.
Sarah says
I’ve done this, and love the idea, but am always frustrated that the design is never ‘smooth’.. like shows the piping lines. I’d love to figure out how to fix that, but this tutorial is one of the best I’ve seen! Great cakes!
Jennifer says
If there is a way to thin the icing slightly – you might be able to get a flow effect like when decorating cookies using Royal icing. I will do some checking because that is what I would be worried about as well.
Candace says
I found another tutorial where after the transfer starts to thaw, they took a paper towel and gently rubbed, which got rid of the piping lines.
She also made an entire circle (she was doing an 8″ round cake, so she did 7″) and filled the whole thing in with white (her chosen background color) around the design, so when it was placed on the cake, everything sat flush.
She then did a border around the outside to hide the edges, It was pretty cool.
Zeppy says
I just tried this and it worked perfectly. I couldn’t find a piece of glass, so I just used a cookie sheet. I also used a french buttercream recipe that I liked and I thought that the texture of it resulted in a pretty smooth looking picture without the piping lines when I removed the wax paper. Thanks for the idea!
Catherine says
Thank you so much! I just made my son Heatwave Rescue bot. It turned out great! What I did different, was I used a cookie sheet instead of glass. The paper with image was on top of the cookie sheet and then I taped the parchment paper to the paper and the cookie sheet to hold in place. The results were amazing! Thank you, Thank you! Your idea was a life saver!
Norma says
Is it possible to freeze it, then transfer to cake that will be refrigerated to be used the next day? I’m too nervous to try it a couple of hours before the bday party. Would the image run?
Corey says
I think as long as the cake is kept refrigerated, you would be just fine.
Row says
Can you use Royal Icing instead to get a smoother result? Thank you!
monika says
Can i use it on ice cream cake? i dont now if it will “stick” to the ice cream or whipped cream thats on top?
Corey says
I think it should work on an ice cream cake. Please let us know how it works out!
Raesean says
Instead of Buttercream, can canned frosting be used?
Corey says
I think canned frosting might get too sticky and won’t stay on the cake.
sarah says
i was wondering if you could put this on the side of the cake and would you need to use anything to stick to it
Corey says
Hi Sarah. Depending on how heavy it is, I would just use extra frosting on the section you are going to stick it on. If it is a heavy transfer, maybe inserting some toothpicks would help hold it is place.