Adventures in left-handed cake decorating

NEVER allow me to write anything on a cake.    If you think my handwriting on paper is atrocious, just imagine me with a pastry bag on a cake. "Harry Bethdoy", anyone?

I tried, for the first time, to pipe buttercream roses all over a cake.  Tip to lefties: work around the cake, from right to left.  I made the mistake of piping in the right-handed direction. You can't really see your work, if you are a lefty.

MargeCat said:

 
NEVER allow me to write anything on a cake.  

 If you think my handwriting on paper is atrocious, just imagine me with a pastry bag on a cake. "Harry Bethdoy", anyone?

I tried, for the first time, to pipe buttercream roses all over a cake.  Tip to lefties: work around the cake, from right to left.  I made the mistake of piping in the right-handed direction. You can't really see your work, if you are a lefty.

Click to expand...

I have a Facebook group for cake decorating and I have lots of templates for piping writing.  PM me if you are interested and I will send you the link to the group.

Here is a link with some tips for lefties:

http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/678423/left-handed-cake-decorating

I'm right handed and terrible at writing on cakes!!  And not so great paper.     When I was a kid everyone told me I wrote like a doctor. Then I grew up and worked for a doctor.  I'm not 'doctor' bad; but still it's not all pretty!    I haven't tried rosettes but I've done a little cake decorating for my kids birthdays.  Just very simple things.  

My son seems to be a lefty.  I'm not sure if I'll need help teaching him to write properly.   

Many years ago I got into cake decorating for a short time.  It was fine until I agreed to do a wedding cake for a couple who had very little money but still wanted a wedding instead of a trip to the justice of the peace.  I pulled it off but that did me in as far as cake decorating, too much like work for me.  I haven't decorated a cake since.

Print these off and then put some plastic wrap or vinyl over top and you can practice your writing.   They are 8.5x 11 inch paper size.    You can increase of decrease the size using a copier.   The reversed image is so you can freeze the icing, and then apply the writing to the cake.

I had NO idea you could freeze it and apply it later!! I will have to remember that for next time!!

Thank you!  It may come in handy some day. For now, I've confined myself to just doing roses all over a cake.

When it comes to writing on a cake, I'm very "squiggly". You can tell what I wrote, but the lines are very, very wavy. It's not pretty. I can do flowers and they turn out fairly well, but writing? No way!