Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by Zoe. Zoe Wonders, “How can you take a picture and put it on a cake?” Thanks for WONDERing with us, Zoe!
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Wonder Friend! Happy birthday to you! And many more…
If it's your birthday today, then that song was for you! Now that we're done with the singing, let's get to the most important part of any birthday celebration: the cake!
What type of cake do you like best? Do you prefer chocolate? Strawberry? Vanilla? Perhaps an ice cream cake? Birthdays are also the perfect time to go all out on cake decorations.
Some cakes have personal messages written on the top in icing. Others might have favorite cartoon characters or superheroes hanging out to wish you a happy birthday. The latest trend, though, is for a cake to feature a photograph of the birthday girl or boy.
Bakers call these special treats photo cakes. The photograph on the top of the cake looks just like one you'd see in a frame on your wall. The difference, though, is that you can eat the photo on your cake!
So how do these photo cakes work? It's not like you've made a habit of going around eating photographs in the past. How can you slap one on a cake and call it edible?
Making an edible photograph that can be used as a cake decoration is a fairly simple process today thanks to modern technology. Bakers first need the photograph you want to put on the cake. If you have a digital photograph, you're good to go. If not, the baker will need to scan your photograph to create a digital file.
An edible photo can then be printed much like you would print a photograph at home on a printer. Some home printers can print edible photos with the right materials. Most bakeries that make photo cakes have special printers used only to produce edible photos.
If you have the digital photo file and a printer, then you only need two more things: paper and ink! The paper used for edible photos is usually known as "icing paper" or "frosting sheets."
The earliest versions of icing paper were made from rice. Today, though, there are several different types of icing paper and frosting sheets available. They're made from a variety of materials, including potatoes, cornstarch, and sugar and starch mixtures.
Likewise, non-toxic, edible inks are used to print the photos onto the icing paper or frosting sheets. These special inks are made from sugar and food coloring.
Most edible photos have very little texture and no significant taste. They're designed to dissolve on a moist surface, such as the top of a frosted cake. Once applied and dissolved, the photo looks like it was printed directly onto the top of the cake itself.