What about adding edible gel paints to your stash of available art supplies? Cake painting can be done in a manner so simple, creative, and flexible that you will start looking for opportunities to have fun this way. By keeping it simple, you will be able to do it at a moments notice with a relaxed attitude. There’s no need for fondant or special supplies.
For more information on the cake painting supplies used in this lesson, please see How to Make an Artsy New Year’s Toast .
easy cake painting - step #1
The quickest way to present a special personalized cake for any occasion:
This cake and the edible gel paints are from the supermarket.
A sharp knife lifts the carrot decorations. The orange and green stains from the colored frosting can be integrated into the design with a “whatever” attitude.
how to paint cakes - step #2
A page from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden (shown in photo) became the point of departure for this design. You can choose anything – let your imagination have at it!
Get Well edible matzah card
Lightly sketching into the frosting with a toothpick will leave an incised line and give you a feel for the placement of things. Smooth with a knife to erase.
If you want to practice on another surface to hone your skills, matzah makes great little practice canvases.
The paints can be squeezed onto any surface, and used just as you would use other paint. Vodka (or another clear drinkable alcohol) is used to thin the paints to a consistency that you like – just as you use turps with oil paint or water with acrylics. This media most resembles watercolor because the white of the frosting shines through the colors when they are thinned.
step #3 Click on all images to enlarge to see details.
Tisha Wood on her birthday
Don’t worry about little mistakes and errors, you and I will both get better as we do more projects. It’s really about doing something special for a friend.
Please share your questions or experiences in the comments section.
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What a lovely thing to do for someone who is special to you! …and you don’t even have to bake and frost the cake–how awesome is that!? Especially for someone like me who has so many food intolerances/allergies and can’t bake wheat flour cakes in her kitchen anymore. Thank you, Lill!
Margaret, Since you can paint on a lot of different food surfaces, this would be a great way to treat someone with food allergies as commercial bakeries don’t have ready made cakes that are gluten free, etc. and decorated. Thanks for the good idea.
How do I get on your list….. I want a matzah b’day greeting on my birthday too — it looks so tasty and clever, but I might want to “frame” mine. Love, your pal, Nyla.
Nyla, they are framable – at least for awhile. They dry out and are really fun to look at. A shadow box might be a good frame. We were going to make painted bagels when Elaine got back, but I haven’t heard from her.