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.