Edible Icing Sheets & Wafer Paper Instructions

You can have any kind of cake – fruit, sponge, chocolate, or you’re favourite recipe. Bake and decorate your own cake or buy one already iced from a baker or supermarket.
Your printed edible photo can be applied to almost any king of icing such as fondant, sugar paste, royal icing, butter-cream or glace icing.

For cupcakes if you are using a butter cream or similar toppings apply while still moist do not allow a crust to form or the image won’t stick.

The icing on your cake or cupcakes can be any colour, but as the topper is made from very think icing so dark colours like chocolate may not always be suitable. Try white chocolate instead or cut out a backing plaque of white fondant to go behind the edible image if you really must use dark colours or chocolate.

If you have a very wet icing, ganache, or a covering with a high fat content (such as butter or cream cheese) then again we suggest you make a backing plaque from roll-out fondant or sugar paste. This should be about the same size and shape as the topper. Place the topper on the plaque and put this on your cake top. Otherwise you should apply it just before serving the cake, before the photo has time to absorb the moisture or fat.

For fresh cream avoid placing the topper onto the cake until just before serving, or the image may bubble or it left for long periods of time disintegrate in to the cream. Fresh cream is not the best cake topping to use for edible images and should really try to be avoided, the water content is too high and are intended for non-dairy whipped icings as you cannot refrigerate after placing your topper onto the cake as it will turn white and fade due to the moisture.

Cakes generally shouldn’t be refrigerated after the topper is applied as it may damage the colours on the topper. You can lightly mist or lightly paste water on the fondant icing or buttercream if it’s crested, and then easily and quickly place the image on the spot closer to the time it is being served.

Make sure the icing on the topper is flat, if you have a slightly rounded top the edible image may not sit properly on top of the cake and the edges may wrinkle if your buttercream is not smoothed flat air bubbles may form.

2. Prepare Your Edible Photo

Keep your topper in its zip lock plastic bag until you are ready to use it. Make sure your hands are completely dry. For toppers and cupcake toppers that require cutting carefully cut the topper to the desired shape using a pair of clean, dry, sharp pair of scissors BEFORE removing from the plastic backing. It is easy to cut so don’t panic.

3. Remove You Edible Photo from the Backing Sheet

Make sure your hands are completely dry. The topper should peel off easily – DO NOT FORCE IT! If it is sticking to the backing sheet, this is probably due to the temperature and humidity in the room. If you have problems with removing it, place the icing sheet in the freezer for 30 seconds to a minute in the zip lock bag until you are able to easily remove it. Repeat if necessary, this is very rare as our sheets are designed to be ‘Easy-Peel’ sheets.

4. Apply Your Edible Photo Topper

To apply it to the frosted cake hold the topper gently and carefully lower the Icing sheet down onto the cake from the middle outwards, carefully and gently smoothing with either the palm of your hand or a small roller.

If you have a shop – bought cake or the icing on your cake has dried or formed a crust, a little moisture will help the photo attach to the icing and blend in. Dampen the cake icing using a little water on a pastry-brush or a fine mist / spray, but don’t over-wet it. Pat the top with a kitchen towel to absorb excess moisture

***DO NO WET THE TOPPER***

(This may cause the colours in the image to run)

If any bubble or wrinkles appear in the photo gently pat them out with DRY fingers

If you accidentally tear the topper icing – DON’T PANIC! Just rub very gently with a dry finger and it will merge back together and the tear will disappear after an hour or so.

5. You Finished Cake

After a few hours your picture will blend into the icing and look like it has been printed onto the icing. The time this takes and the results will vary depending on how dry your icing is.

If you have used a very dry topping or if you need to serve the cake straight away you can pipe some icing around the image to hide any visible edges.

For Wafer Sheets

Paper

Wafer paper dissolves in water not frosting so it will not dissolve into the surface of a frosted cake. As a result, wafer paper may be noticeable when cutting or eating a cake. Wafer paper also has a tendency to curl or wrinkle when refrigerated or placed on a moist cake. So the preferred method is to place this type on edible image onto fondant icing or onto royal iced cookies. Wafer paper adheres best to cookies and cakes that have been iced with Royal Icing or covered with fondant. White icing is best as the rice paper is quite translucent.

Carefully cut out your wafer paper images to fit the size of your iced cookie’s and cupcakes with a pair of clean, dry, sharp pair of scissors.

You could use a light corn syrup as “glue” for wafer paper because it dries cleanly. You can also use clear piping gel. Using a small craft paint brush, LIGHTLY coat the entire back of the wafer paper image with corn syrup. Make sure to cover the edges well. Be carefully not to get corn syrup on the image side because corn syrup splotches will show up.

Gently paste the wafer paper image on the cookie or cupcake. Press down the edges well, repeating the process a few times until all of the edges stay “glued” down. For cookies place a paper towel over the surface of the cookies and gently smooth the wafer paper one final time and let set for about 10 minutes.

Once the cookie is dry, you can pipe decorative boarders, sprinkle with glitter or add other embellishments.

If you use the butter cream or cream cheese option, let the icing dry a bit before putting the rice paper on, as too much moisture will cause it to curl or collapse and the ink to run or absorb the food colouring you may have used in your icing. Also, I wouldn’t recommend pressing the rice paper down, but just patting it onto slightly tacky butter cream.

The other alternative is to place it on the cake and pipe around the edge to hold in place. For this method it is best not to use a vivid colour for the piping as it could leech into the rice paper. Try testing it on edge of the cookie or cupcake before applying to your whole batch.

Card

Wafer card is a bit more durable and can be used for stand up cake topper images, and is less likely to curl on cupcakes.