How to Decorate a Cake

For my sister's college graduation I decorated a cake for her, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to demystify how you get a "free-hand" image (i.e. not an edible image transfer that you buy) onto a cake.Print off the image you want on the cake and trace the image onto wax paper
Flip the wax paper over and "trace" the image with clear decorator get

With the gel side of the paper facing down, gently place the wax paper onto your smoothly frosted cake, making sure all areas of the image touch the cake to transfer the gel onto the cake to make your template.

*Note* Make sure you've allowed the frosting on your cake to form a bit of a "shell". If the frosting is still freshly spread and soft the transfer won't work since the frosting will stick to the wax paper instead of the gel sticking to the frosting. I let mine sit over night before doing the transfer and it worked out well.

Start outlining and filling in your image.

I discovered it worked best if I went over the template with either more clear gel or the lighter color (in this case yellow) before applying the black gel where needed. This way, if I goofed up with the black (which I did!) I was able to take a paring knife and gently lift the black gel off the cake without leaving a black stain on the white frosting.

Since the WuShock was such a detailed image I couldn't just trace everything like I did with the rainbow cake. Instead I was able to get the general shape and then filled in the detailing after that, so keep you image handy for reference!

Finish up your detailing, trace a message in clear gel (which was very handy on this particular cake since I didn't center the "Congratulations" very well the 1st time around, so I was able to easily "erase" it and reposition the words) and then cover it in a darker color, add a decorative rope border with colored frosting (not decorator gel) and your done!