Anyone with an inkjet printer at home can create personalized edible cake toppers with images of favorite TV or movie characters, photographs or names. A number of companies sell edible ink cartridges and printable edible paper sheets. Once you decide to start printing edible cake toppers, you will want to use a separate printer for regular printing because you can't go back and forth between edible and nonedible inks without risking contamination.
Use up the old nonedible ink in your inkjet printer. Clean the cartridge heads thoroughly, or replace them with new heads as specified in the printer manual. Install edible ink cartridges the same way you would install nonedible cartridges.
Select the image you want to use for your cake topper. Load an edible paper icing sheet the same way you would normally feed regular paper into your printer. Print the image onto the edible paper.
Remove any paper backing from the edible paper. Carefully place the edible paper onto the cake. Gently tap the paper down onto the cake, starting in the center of the paper and working your way to the edges to secure it in place and release any air trapped between the paper and the cake that may cause the image to bubble. Do not rub the paper when tapping it.
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Tip
Before applying edible paper, mist the frosting of the cake lightly with water if the frosting has dried out.
Writer Bio
Gabrielle Black has been a professional writer, artist and designer since 2002. Her theatrical designs, puppet design and construction have been featured in "Theatre Design & Technology" magazine and she has written numerous articles for various websites. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Luther College and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Idaho, both in stage design and painting.