All You Need to Know About Photo Cakes!! — A brief introduction!

                   One of the most popular on-going trends in cake and baking industry, which people simply love is - Photo Cakes. Though the technology of printing photo on a cake has been long present, it is only lately that these custom cakes with personal photos printed on the cake surface has caught the wind. You can easily find bakeries and home bakers catering these flawless photo cakes online by searching on niche websites like Bakeway.com. But before you are ready to order a photo cake online or buy it from a local vendor, it’s obvious to have these thoughts come to the mind: 

· How exactly are these photographs printed on cakes?
· What type of ink do they use?
· What kind of medium do they use to print the photo on the cake?
· Is it safe to eat?
· Can we make it at home?
· Why is it costlier than your normal cakes?

So here we are to answer all your questions and queries regarding photo cakes.

How are photos printed on the cake?

Making an edible photo cake is fairly simple thanks to the latest advanced technology. All you know are these few things: 

● A printer

● Digital copy of the photo that you want to get printed on the cake (If you don’t have a digital photo, the baker will scan the photo and convert into digital.)

● Edible ink

● Edible paper

Most bakers have a separate special printer dedicated for printing edible photos. But if you have a regular home printer that is facilitates printing with edible ink, it should also suffice. The important part is getting edible ink and paper, which you can find at any provision outlet that supplies baking and cake decoration products.

• What is an edible paper? What is it exactly made of? 

The paper used for edible photo cakes is most commonly known as “icing paper” or “frosting paper”. The earliest versions of these icing paper were prepared with rice. Today, however, you get an ample variety of frosting paper made using corn-starch, sugar and starch mixture and even potatoes.

Likewise, edible inks are made from a mixture of sugar and coloring agents.

• Are they safe to consume? 

Because they are made from natural ingredients, edible photo prints are perfectly safe to consume. Most edible photos have minimal texture and almost no taste. The most important feature of these delicate papers is that they are made to dissolve on a moist surface like the icing of a cake, leaving the print perfectly on the icing. Once it is applied and gets dissolved, it looks like the photo has been directly printed on the cake.

• Why is it costlier than your normal cakes? 

The entire process of getting the photo printed on an edible paper with edible ink and having it perfectly placed on the frosting requires talent. Besides this, the cost of icing paper and edible ink in itself is not cheap. These printed cakes require wider surface so they don’t come in smaller quantities like half kg. One has to buy 1 kg or more in weight. Considering all these, it is hardly a surprise that photo cakes cost more than any other regular cakes.

However, photo cakes are a lot cheaper than 3D custom cakes or concept cakes. Looking at the current trend of getting cakes personalized or getting a custom cake, photo cakes are your best option if you are looking for a personalized cake within budget.