(Slightly OT) Get a cake made to look like a product?

Five sides?!!! So you want to have your cake and eat it too? (Har, har, I couldn't help it!)

I think that one side will look just fine, and that a cake is a fun idea.

Pictures! We want to see pictures if you do this.

So you want to create a product that screams "eat me"?

Here's one way:-

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Eh? You lost me. I just don't see value in paying to have the hidden surface decorated; hence 5 sides, not 6 :)

I had a good suggestion: to talk to a culinary arts school. I think I'm going down this route, because they can also make me some cupcake- sized copies of the actual product (which is a cuboidal device about

Sorry, I'd like to but I can't, because the box shows my employer's name. It's my policy not to publicize anything that would reveal that employer's name, because I don't want to be in the position of either endorsing their products, or being exposed to any accusation of using their name to bolster the worth of my own. That's why my byline on books and articles says "works for a Fortune 100".

On Jun 12, 12:12 pm, Spehro Pefhany

Don't they all? :)

way:-

Well yes... if I have to assemble it myself I will just get a vendor to print me two copies of each panel, rather than investing in the printer for myself. I was hoping someone knew of a vendor that would assemble the entire whimsical thing for me.

Could you at least TAKE the pics and save them for later - surely you won't be working for the same company forever...

Make them do one cake with all five sides on the top, flattened into a cross-like shape, like an unfolded box. Then, cut out the corners, scoop out the cake from under the four flaps, fold, and fix up the corners with extra frosting.

IIRC, there is a way to print an image onto a piece of "paper" that is then layed onto the cake. The "paper" then dissoves into the frosting somehow. I don't know if you need a special printer/inks to do that or if it's something you can do at home. I guess I'd ask at a local bakery how they do the image thing. They might be able to print out the side pieces for you and you can take them home and try to get them stuck to the sides of the cake...

If you were further north I could recommend a family member that would probably get a kick out of it. You do probably want someone who does this sort of thing (wedding, party etc..),maybe as a hobby/spare cash effort. It may not be thousands but it'll certainly be more than a commercial special occasion cake, at least if the maker is only to be under paid (as opposed to obscenely underpaid :)

Robert

It depends very much on whether you want to eat it, or just watch other people eat it :)

There are basically two "print to cake" technologies. The one you've described uses basically an inkjet printer with edible FDA-approved food coloring [your average $30 printer does NOT use such dyes, btw] to print onto something that is basically rice paper; drop it on moist frosting and the paper essentially vanishes, leaving the ink "printed" onto the frosting.

The other technology is a larger, industrial technology which prints directly onto a fully-assembled cake (but again it's basically a big inkjet printer - the difference being no intermediate soluble print substrate).

My problem with both of these is that the vendors are set up to print a single picture on top of a cake; they're not set up to make sure that the scale of the picture (if, say, a side piece) is preserved, to match up with a separate print job (top piece)

Mr. Klosowski in this thread gave a suggestion that I think is little short of brilliant, for solving the scale problem. However I'm working on the culinary school angle right now. Looks smart.

I guess I should come out and say - my budget for this is basically $1000, and I'd like to keep it under $500. Since it won't be reimbursed by my employer, and it's strictly for boosting morale in the "core team members", I can't justify more.

That is probably doable if you can find an enthusiast or a culinary student with an interest in it.

One other sugesstion and one that may be in the do it yourself range (also cheap). Build it like a gingerbread house. I might even be able to scare up a soft gingerbread recipe :)

Robert