Your Edible Toppers Did Whaaaaaat?!?!

So, you finally gave in and bought some fun, personalized cupcake toppers for your special event and are looking to get the best looking results for that WOW FACTOR! I have been creating edible images for party planners and bakers for a few years now and think I have nailed down the best practices for applying edible images to your baked treats to help you get a professional look that you can be proud to post online!

#1 - DO NOT OPEN THE BAG YOUR EDIBLE IMAGES CAME IN UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE IT'S TIME TO APPLY THEM


This is the most important step. Frosting sheets are just that, frosting. Just like buttercream will crust after a few minutes, frosting circles will harden after just a few minutes in dry, warm air. Now, if it's really humid and hot, you may have a different problem all together with your images being so soft that they stick to things and rip easily. This brings us to the next best practice....

#2 - DO NOT USE IN AN EXTREME CLIMATE

I have had very few mishaps with edible toppers but when I do, it's almost always because it's too humid or too hot. Summer months are notorious for high humidity and it makes the frosting circles work more like fabric as they are droppy and not stiff. The moisture in the air makes it nearly impossible for them to ever "dry" out enough to stand upright or flat unless they are 100% on a frosting base. When you have high humidity in a hot climate, my advice is to turn on an air conditioner and get your temperature up in your house to below 74 degrees. You wouldn't believe how HOT a kitchen can get when your baking on a summer day. Be aware when it's storming outside or a winter system is coming through it may effect your product too!

#3 REVIVE DRY, BRITTLE TOPPERS

It happens sometimes, you go to pull out your toppers and they seem a little brittle. Maybe part of the edge is cracked or they have zero movement. Put them back in the bag CAREFULLY and create a more humid environment to  get them flexible again. I have a steamer, but boiling water works the same. Once you have a good steam flow, take your toppers out and while they are still on their backers, fan over the steam one at a time for a few seconds. You should find that a little steam goes a long way, suddenly your toppers are not on the brink of breaking like fine china, but easy to work with again.

#4 - MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE DRY

So, you're ready for the task of opening the bag and removing your toppers to quickly apply to your treat.... but one damp finger can ruin it all! Edible frosting sheets have the image printed on the front side, where the backside is where you want to touch. Water can distort your image, making it smear, bleed, or look like a water-colored mess. So, wash your hands really, really good.... use gloves if you have them. But, then INSPECT your hands and make sure they are dry. Have a paper towel near you so that while applying the images you can quickly wipe off any frosting that may get on your fingers / hands from handling the cupcakes.

#5 - APPLY TO MOIST FROSTING

No good can come from taking an edible topper and laying it on a textured, crusted buttercream swirl and thinking it will do more than act like a piece of regular paper sitting on top of your crusted frosting. Frosting sheets need a moist surface to "melt" into. That beings said, make sure your frosting has not crusted before applying. Some frosting never crust up, but those bakers out there know what I mean. Frost and place fast for best results. For those placing your toppers on something other than buttercream, please see my next best practice. If you find your buttercream has crusted, spray a light mist of water and then apply your edible image topper.

#6 - MOISTEN ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO

If you plan to apply to gumpaste, fondant, chocolate or hard candy your edible image will only stick with the use of alittle adhesive. I have found that the best way is to use a small cup of warm water and a food safe paintbrush. Have the edible topper image side DOWN and brush the back with a little warm water. That being said, dip the brush in water and then tap off the excess. When you go to brush it on the back, make sure you get almost to the edge, but not all the way, as the moisture MAY make the sides bleed/distort on front of the image topper. Since the topper is made of frosting, a little water will give it just enough tack to stick.

#7 - LEVEL IT OUT

 So the topper is finally on the frosting safe and sound.... the last step is to level it. Do not use your hands or fingers, it will just look wavy and again, you will risk moisture being added. I like to use a clean and dry fondant smoother like the Wilton Fondant Smoother that cost under $3. Be careful when you level it out not to pull frosting onto the top. I press it down and then make a very small motion back and forth or in a circle to level it down flat. If you do not have a fondant smoother, any flat item will work. In a pinch I have used the bottom of a measuring cup or a flat spatula. Make sure your wipe between each topper with a paper towel to keep your smoothing device clean and dry.

Thanks for taking time learn how to get the best results out of your edible cupcake and treat toppers! I custom design precut toppers in .75" , 1" , 1.5" , 1.75", 2" and 2.5" and ship all over. To have a custom 2" Circle Designed for you please check out my 2" Edible Toppers here and save 10% with CODE "BLOG". Use Please find me on Facebook , Etsy and my website!

Not Your Grandma's Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is coming up in a few weeks and I was planning out what I could bring out of town to contribute to our family feast. My go to is always cake pops, cookies with edible images and custom cakes. With all the baking I have been doing for others right now, the thought of adding more to my plate was exhausting. I want something easy to make and easy to travel with. I want a Thanksgiving staple, not just a extra dessert. So, a pumpkin pie seemed easy to make (or pick up frozen) and bring it down. Now, my brain doesn't really work like that. A normal pumpkin pie couldn't be what I brought.... maybe I could come up with a cool recipe... a neat display..... turn it into a turkey.... and finally it hit me, place an edible image on top and call it a day!

I had already designed some personalization edible images that are created with the latest typography word art style and thought I could start there and see if a pumpkin pie could handle an edible image. Most things can.... whipped cream, ice cream, frosting, syrup and even biscuits. So, for my trial run I ran to the store and bought a frozen pumpkin pie. I then took my 2" Cookie Design and resized it to 7.5" Round, printed it out and placed it in a zip-lock bag until my pie was ready for it's trial run.

Baking was easy, one hour per the instructions on the box and it as done. I took it out, let it cool down for about 20 minutes and was ready to give it a try. My impatience kicked in and since it was still hot to the touch, I knew I would have to forgo the whipped topping layer. The reason for my impatience....  I teach at the local Michael's and didn't have time to wait for it too cool down.

I washed and dried my hands thoroughly as the worse thing that can happen to an edible image is water to cause the image to bleed. I took the edible image out of the zip-lock bag and peeled it off the backing sheet. Then, I placed it right on top of the pie and used my clean, dry hand to lightly smooth it onto the top.

I took these photos right when the pie was still really hot. I didn't add any thing to the back of the frosting sheet. The heat from the pie really helped adhere it to the pie so I was satisfied with my choice to skip the whip cream. Even though it turned out good, next time I would wait for it to fully cool and then either put a big layer of whipped cream or brush the pie with some whipped cream or just wet it a little bit with a mister/pastry brush with water. Though the image will hold and stay for days, be careful with condensation from the refrigerator or just the heat from the pie (which I why I suggest to cool it).

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for taking a minute to learn more about personalized pumpkin pies!

To order your own personalized edible pumpkin pie topper check out my Esty listing! Use the promo code BLOGGER for 10% Off!

Enderman, Steve and Creeper Pumpkins

Last Year's Monster University Halloween Party Theme

It's Halloween and since my youngest son has an October birthday we always decorate the front of our house with his birthday theme. Last year he was having a Scare University Party and we painted our pumpkins as Mike and Sulley with a Sulley Fur wreath on the door! It was easy to find other purple and teal decor to match and make a not so scary Halloween for the kids. Now this year the party theme wasn't so easy to match with Halloween.  Minecraft has taken over our house, so a Minecraft Painting Party was in the works. Decorating our pumpkins became something of a challenge because we knew they weren't monsters or really that scary looking. My 4 year old son insisted that the Creeper is scary, but looking at a green block head with black square eyes was not something I can see anyone running from. Regardless, we went with it and I purchased our pumpkins and supplies for this fun project and picked a night in October to get these finished up and on the porch in time for the party event!

My son painting his Mike pumpkin
last year from his Monster's Inc Party!

For the Minecraft themed I mixed up the colors needed and we got started at the kitchen counter. We chose to do Steve, Creeper, Enderman and a TNT Box since they were simple and commonly recognized. Since painting with acrylics can be time consuming and messy, take my advise and have the kids wear aprons and not their good clothes. Also, have a hair dryer handy to dry each layer in 30 seconds, instead of 30 minutes! In no time you can paint your pumpkins and easily remedy any mistakes by drying them and painting over the mistake. The acrylic paints have good coverage. A little trick I used that is specific for these Minecraft characters is using a foam paint brush and cutting the tip off so it's not so rectangular and more a square. Then put the square into the paint and just sponge it on as needed. It gives a perfect square template to then go over with your paint brush to fill in completely. I always let the kids paint the pumpkins first. I tell them to paint and I will help at the end. There are some pumpkins that they get to finish fully. But, you know how kids are with paint. At some point they only painted one part and all of the table before they walk away 100% satisfied. This being said, they do what they can and then when they are finished I "help" them finish it up. After they dry the acrylics are pretty water resistant and I placed them out on our porch for our Halloween and Minecraft Birthday Party decorations.

What You Need:

Acrylic Paints in Various Colors

Paint Brushes and Sponge Brushes

Blow Dryer

Paper / Disposable Table Cloth

Pumpkins (REAL or Synthetic)

Paper Plates for Mixing Colors

Sealer / Modge Podge Optional

Time
Appr. 10 Minutes for Setup
Appr. 2 Hours for Painting all 4 Pumpkins Shown
Appr. 15 Minutes Clean Up


See more photos from the Scare University Party at my Facebook Page!

Putting Your Edible Images on Pancakes

I think a lot of people get intimidated by edible images. Perhaps you think you need to be a professional baker to use them. This morning I decided to take a little video of my son preparing his pancakes with some Halloween themed edible images.

What you need:

- Pancakes
- Syrup and/or Butter
- Butter Knife
- Edible Images
- Plate
- Fork

Now, we only had small pancakes in the freezer so that is what we used for this quick tutorial. The small edible images work perfectly on the mini pancakes if you happen to have those. Either way, I have been making these special pancakes for the kids on holiday mornings for years.  As you can see in the video the steps are as follows:

How To

Have all your tools / edible images ready to go (make sure you keep your edible images in an air tight bag until ready to use). Heat up your pancakes in microwave per the instructions and then put plate near your setup. Add a small amount of syrup and/or butter. Remove the edible image from the backing sheet. Place immediately onto the pancake. Repeat until all your pancakes are decorated.

Pretty easy and something that I love to do for my children when I want them to smile a little bigger that day!

Never Forgotten Designs provides custom designs for party planners, bakers and more! If you are looking for edible images in any shape, for any application contact me through my Facebook Page, Etsy Shop, or Online Store.

Yes, You Can Eat It!

Isomalt Sugar Beer Bottle with Edible Custom Label

For the past year I have wanted to make my own beer bottles out of sugar to place on the beer bucket cakes I love to make. Last night I decided was the the night with the help of my savvy Coastie husband to make my own! Now, I will say a lot of my failure to make one in the past was more about confidence and not ability. Isomalt is HOT. When I took an isomalt class in Chicago this past May while at the Wilton School of Confectionery Arts, I burnt my fingertips enough times to dread touching the stuff ever again. Guess that saying, "No Pain, No Gain" pushed me into giving it a go at my house tonight (with my husband handling the hot part). I will say, I had already purchased all the ingredients and tools to make these months ago. When my husband arrived home from work I quickly explain what I needed him to do to help and by time I returned we were ready to go! He had all the tools, ingredients and the CONFIDENCE I was lacking.

I know in my class we were taught a lot about using dedicated pots, mats and gloves to ensure the finest sugar to work with. I still haven't bought a $300 dedicated pot to cook my isomalt in because I am not sure of my dedication to this art. If I decided to start sculpting flowers and ribbons out of sugar then I will, but to cook isomalt for some beer bottles I can get away with my own pot for the time being. Since most videos online show people melting the isomalt sticks, and not isomalt directly for this project, I had to go back to my own notes from when I took my class.  The key is getting the isomalt to the temperature desired, add color, cool and finally removed from the mold. Our first attempt was great. We realized that we may want to put a little more isomalt in the mold next time for a stronger bottle, but it had the color, shape, hardness and feel of a real bottle of beer!

A few days before I had designed some labels for this exact reason. A client had placed an order for some custom labels on isomalt bottles so this was a great reason to try something new and complete an order for a fellow baker. I cut the labels out and placed them right on the bottle. We ended up making the second bottle with a little more isomalt than the first and like it even more. I think since I ship all over the country to bakeries, a thicker bottle will hold up best in the warmer months. You do loose a little of the translucent effect with the thicker bottle, but it still looks just like a bottle of beer. We also made the second bottle a tad darker than the first. Since we cooked two different batches of isomalt no two batches will be the same. I used brown food coloring and put a little more in the second batch.

Most of the isomalt bottles I see online have a hollow bottom. It's cost effective to not worry about it and quicker too. That being said, I ship all over and I need them to be solid. I found that the ones I had used in the past for my cakes that were open ended were fragile and tended to lose their round, cylinder shape. With the reinforced bottoms on these they actually will stand up on their own too! Now, no one will ever want the bottoms exposed as it's not how a real bottle looks, but perfect for placing them in bucket cakes, six pack of beer cakes and in beach cakes! I can't wait to see what my clients do with their bottles!

Buy Your Sugar Beer Bottles at My Etsy Store

Hi Everyone and Welcome to the Never Forgotten Designs & Special Events' Blog Site!

Me at the Master's Course in Chicago May 2014!

I am a Coast Guard spouse and mom of 5 children who loves creating. We are currently stationed in St. Louis, MO where I teach cake decorating at the Michael's in Fenton and run Never Forgotten Designs & Special Events! Ever since I can remember, I have loved planning special events, creating unique invitations and putting my creativity into overdrive with crafts, graphic designs and confectionary arts!

I decided to start a blog to share what how my parties and crafts come about... the reality of putting on a great party with toddlers running around and how to achieve some great party looks! I hope to have some free downloads, giveaways and unique content to keep you interested!

So please leave comments and share my post! I would love to hear what designs and party crafts you would love to see!

- Pege Yates