Where To Order Personalized Desserts

Personalized desserts are a hot topic lately. We have had personalized cakes for quite some time, which generally are large cakes with a picture of the person who is being celebrated and perhaps a nice message, but with changing technology, this is now much more advanced. All sorts of desserts can now be personalized, in a variety of ways, regardless of shape and size. This type of specialized work does generally have to be ordered from specific stores, which are mainly available online.

"Say It Sweetly. You Create It. We Make It!"

There are now also a number of high street bakers that are able to offer some personalized desserts, but these are generally restricted to the larger cakes still. This is mainly because they do not have the space to hold the specialized material required to create smaller personalized desserts.

How Are Edible and Personalized Desserts Made?

Making these types of desserts is not overly complicated, so long as you have the tools and machinery required. In fact, some would suggest you are able to make them all by yourself, with a standard inkjet printer.

"You can print these images on edible rice paper using edible inks and an ink-jet printer. Make cookies for a party, holiday, or wedding or other event with a photo on the cookie. The secret is edible rice paper and edible ink on the photos. First you need access to an ink jet printer rather than a laser printer."

However, the reality is that these types of home-made cookies and cakes don't generally have the necessary quality that you would expect from a professional baker or dessert maker. They use printers that have been made for that particular purpose. When they create their cakes, there will be no bleeding over of colors, and the colors they use are a lot more realistic as well. It will really look as if you are eating a high quality digital photograph.

Why Use Personalized Desserts?

Some people are suggesting that personalized desserts are starting to become slightly tacky. Bakers, however, suggest that this isn't true since the sale of personalized desserts is on the rise. Indeed, the fact that we are moving from cakes to smaller and more intricate desserts, including lollypops and Oreo's for instance, means that there is a strong demand for this as well. Furthermore, there is something special and sweet about personalizing a dessert.

A beautiful birthday cake with a picture of the birthday boy or girl on shows that they are the special person for the day. The cake can even be decorated in a way that showcases or reflects one of their main interests, for instance. Giving out little personalized party favors, like cookies or biscuits, is a great way to thank guests in a way that is unique and fun.

Ideas for Personalized Desserts

So if you want to move away from the standard cake with a picture on it, what else is there to choose from? Actually, there are all sorts of options out there. You could go for cake pops, for instance, which make a great alternative to a regular cake or can be given out as a posh party favor. There are also many different types of cookies to choose from, including stuffed Oreo's, which can be covered and made to look like a sports ball, for instance. Brownies and crispie treats are two other options out there for you. Clearly, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to making interesting and unique desserts. No longer will you have to make do with bags of generic sweets and treats from your grocery store!

Personalize Your Cookie Bouquets: The Technology Behind It

Perhaps you have a special event coming up, and you know you need something to help commemorate the event. Flowers are great, but are kind of expected and as such, not as much of a surprise. While they are certainly beautiful, maybe you want something that will stand out as a little bit different. With the new technology now available, you have opportunity to create something special - you can personalize your cookie bouquets, make a special cake with an image of you and your loved one, or something similar that show you are absolutely unique and memorable. Edible printed images have been around for a bit now, but perhaps you've wondered how they are made. You may even have questions about their safety. We'll give an overview of how it all works here.

The Technology: Ink

While you may be used to colored frosting, you might be wondering how they can get an entire picture onto a cookie, cake or another piece of edible goodness without poisoning you in the process. Well, it's not all that surprising or difficult when you think about it. Inkedibles.com, one supplier the equipment used for edible images, says:

"Edible ink is essentially edible frosting (edible coloring) that is engineered to be jetted through an inkjet printer in a way that allows digital images to be printed onto edible paper, also known as frosting sheets."

Edible inks simply are inks that contain non-toxic food colorings that have passed stringent FDA safety tests. Additional ingredients are typically glycerin (vegetable glycerin is used as a sweetener alternative), ethanol (the safe kind of alcohol in everything from bread to beer to booze), and water.

Ink jet printers have been around for more than 20 years, and so are a technology that is quite advanced. From the printer's standpoint, it doesn't care what kind of ink it is. Think of it this way: you take your standard inkjet printer that has been specially prepared for food use and not primed with any harmful chemicals. Then, you fill it with what look like standard ink reservoirs, but are actually filled with non-toxic food grade inks. That's it. As mentioned, the printer doesn't know the difference. It just merrily prints away whatever image the computer sends to it.

The Technology: Paper

Of course, the ink is not the only part of the equation. Just as interesting and perhaps more so is the paper used. Here is where edible paper comes in. Edible paper is, as Wikipedia defines,

"Is made of starches and sugars and printed on with edible food colors. Inks and paper materials used by edible ink has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and carry its generally recognized as safe certification."

Early versions were made of rice paper. While these had their place, they had drawbacks, so modern versions use frosting sheets. Essentially a fondant, these are specially made into thin sheets designed to be easily fed through a printer exactly like you would feed a single sheet of photo paper. As with the inks, the printer doesn't know or care what it's printing on, and this special paper goes through perfectly.

The Results

The last step when you personalize your cookie bouquet or cake is transferring the image. Here, you first need a layer of frosting. Most frostings work, as long as they are not very high moisture like whipped or fresh cream. Buttercream frostings are ideal. Once the buttercream frosting is evenly applied, the printed edible paper is carefully placed over it. What happens is that the printed frosting sheet absorbs into the buttercream, leaving behind the image. Now you have your one-of-a-kind personalized cookie bouquet or cake that will make your next event a memorable one.