Frozen Buttercream Transfers

Let me just say that there was a time I was addicted to Cake Central. It's an immensely helpful site where anyone interested in cake or cookie baking and decorating can come to for inspiration, advice, and support. It was there that I stumbled upon a technique called the frozen buttercream transfer (FBCT). Once mastered, this technique opens up so many doors, allowing the decorator to express his/her creativity in ways not ordinarily possible for those not possessing "crazy mad skills" as decorators. It's accomplished by making a mirror image of the target design, placing a sheet of waxed paper or parchment over it, and using icing to trace then fill the design. The whole thing is frozen solid, then plopped onto the top of the cake. Peeling back the paper reveals an *almost* perfect image of the original.

My first attempt was... well, it was an attempt. This cake was made for a co-worker's baby shower at work before she went on maternity leave. The animals were based on some onesies I bought for her shower gift. I drew them freehand on a sheet of paper then did the FBCT technique to replicate them on the cake. Cute, but not perfect. I still have a long way to go. However I will note that the candy buttons were really fun to make :)

 

My second attempt (and final so far) was a cake for another co-worker's son. Cakes for guys are hard to do. You don't want to go all frilly with the roses and such, so what to do? All I got from his mother was that his favorite color is hunter green and his interests include hunting and vet school. A helpful person (Doug) on Cake Central (CC) sent me the original image of the cat and dog that I used. Learning from last time, I made this FBCT much thinner. Almost too thin. I'll know for next time, if ever it comes up. And what my fellow CC'ers have said about the amount of Wilton brand coloring needed to produce dark colors was right: I used up nearly my entire pot of Kelly Green paste to get that deep green. It may be worth a try to invest in some Americolor brand food colors. Too bad I can only find them online or at Targil in Opelousas, who is NOT open during the weekend. How is a girl supposed to get her color fix?