Image : http://www.flickr.com
I have a few books with glossy pictures of cool cakes, including step by step instructions and templates for decorating the cake.
Failing that, I have been able to track down several cake templates for free on line.
However, recently I have hit a road block when it comes to making character cakes: there are generally no templates or instructions to be found for the latest, greatest, hippest character.
Not wanting to disappoint my fans, I found a way to create a cake template. It takes a small amount of computer knowledge and a bit of patience - but if you are making character cakes already, you likely have patience and enthusiasm for these kinds of things.
The first step is to locate a simple cartoon of the character. Avoid cartoons with lots of details or background image. You want there to be enough detail to make the character recognizable, but not too much that it's going to be confusing when you enlarge the image.
You can find this image in a colouring book, but you will need to scan it. Alternatively, try an online search for the character and see what you can find from there.
The next step is to decide what size of cake you are working with. Now, you need to blow up the cartoon image that you are working with to fit the dimensions of the cake.
If you are doing this digitally, you can do it in a Word file. Just set the size of the page to the dimensions of the cake, then paste the image in (NB - there are probably various graphics programs you can do this in as well, that I don't know about.)
If you are working Low-Fidelity, you can take your image to the local photocopier and resize it.
Now, print out your image!
Lay your image on your cooled cake, and use toothpicks to poke through the image and transfer the design onto the cake. Cut around the sides, and then decorate to your heart's content!
A small decorating tip: I have found that using fruit roll ups and fruit strings works wonders in place of piping in icing - it's fast, it looks cool, and hey, it's almost healthy ;)
Recommend : Easter Product Store
