INSTRUCTIONAL

CAKE ILLUSTRATIONS

TOOLS

prepared illustration on paper

lightbox or window

masking tape

non-toxic pencil

craft knife

pre-prepared cake

Magnolia Kitchen turntable

paint palette

edible paint

fine paintbrushes

Me: How on earth am I going to teach everyone how to draw freehand on a freaken cake?

Bruce: Why don’t you show them how to trace images/illustrations onto the cake instead of freehand?!!

Me: Bruce, you bloody beaut, you truly are the Messiah.

Now, if you are in doubt about your freehand drawing skills but have always wanted to get artistic on a cake, then this technique is for you.

Way back when I figured out that cake was, for me, just another type of canvas I had serious doubts about my ability to draw. Okay, I knew I could draw and paint, as I’ve done this all my life, but there will always be self-doubt. So I would use this tracing method to reassure myself that what I had in my mind for the design was being translated correctly onto the cake.

Obviously now I am all about freehand because my confidence in my ability has grown hugely, but I’m stoked to be passing this technique on to you guys—maybe one day you too will feel more confident and start freehanding.

This tracing technique can be used for any type of painted cake, whether you want to paint flowers, cartoons or lettering, etc.

  1. Prepare your image—for this cake I wanted some floral image inspiration. You can research images via old mate Google or peruse some floral illustration books. I like to pick three to five different flowers and join them into one illustration. I use the computer to join these in a single document, but you can print or copy each flower individually if you need to.
  2. Once you have your illustration prepared and printed, gather the rest of your tools.
  3. Here I am using a frosted window with natural light coming through it. If you’re fancy as fuck and have a lightbox then use that, but if you’re like me just work with what ya got. Turn the illustration over so it is flat against the window and fix it in place with tape. Then use your pencil to outline your illustration. I try not to go into too much detail doing this and just focus on the main outlines, as I can fill in the detail later once it’s on the cake.
  4. If you want your illustration to span over multiple tiers, you will need to cut your paper down so that you can do each tier separately. I am having my illustration span over the bottom two tiers of a three-tier cake. Hold the illustration pencil-side against the cake and mark the paper at the top of the lower tier.
  1. Lay your illustration out flat and cut where you have marked the top of your tier; you will now have two illustrations. If your illustrations don’t require splitting, then skip this step.
  2. Position your illustrations with the pencil side against the cake and use masking tape to secure them flat and against the cake. If you prefer you can secure the paper with pins, but this can leave little holes in the cake.
  3. Step back from your cake and check that you are happy with the placement of your illustrations.
  4. Make sure your pencil is sharpened before starting this step. Now carefully trace over the illustration, pressing lightly so that the pencil on the reverse side transfers onto the cake. You don’t want to press so hard that the illustration is scored deeply into the cake—just a light indent and the pencil lines should be visible on the cake.
  1. When you have traced over the whole illustration, gently remove the paper and masking tape to reveal the transferred outline on the cake.
  2. Prepare your paint palette. I am using my favourite edible art paints from Sweet Sticks. As I mentioned in the Tools section, I’ve known Miranda (the owner) since both of our businesses were babies, and I now even have a collab range of colours with her. For this cake I have mixed ‘Plum’, ‘Brown’ and ‘Navy Blue’, giving a beautiful deep purple–burgundy which offsets the blue of the ganache.
  3. Using a fine paintbrush, go over the pencil lines on the cake with your edible paint.
  4. Fill in the detail as you go—don’t be afraid to let your creativity shine and go off-script with more detail and shading to create a fuller illustration.
  1. I like to rejoin my illustration and keep it on my workbench in case there are some lines that have not transferred visibly enough. If this happens I can look at the printed version and manually add the lines, using the illustration as a reference.
  2. Don’t overlook the details even if these were not obvious in the original illustration. You want the finished product to be a ‘wow’ piece from afar, and then as you get closer see more and more detail. Here you can see the beautiful raw-textured edges of the cake, the textured layering of the two-tone ganache and then the details of the illustration.
  3. Zoom out, and you have a stunning art piece that wouldn’t be out of place in a gallery. You will note that I have positioned the illustration on a diagonal—this ties into my focus of wanting the viewer to be led on a visual journey up the cake. I’ve stopped the design midway up the middle tier to allow the viewer’s eyes to take a break from the detail of the illustration and move up to view the textured edges of the cake before moving on to the textured two-tone ganache and being refreshed by the clean white ganache at the top of the top tier.