Hand Painted Frosting with Coffee Paints

I love colorful cake decorating but I really don't like the taste of food coloring. By making a "paint" from coffee I achieved a meticulously hand painted look with a light coffee flavor. The colors are also vintage looking and appropriate for even the most masculine Valentine's or Father's Day gift recipient!

Step 1 Supplies

- Edible Paper - This is definitely a specialty cake decorating material. It goes by names like "wafer paper," "edible paper," and "rice paper." You're not looking for frosting sheets, those are too opaque. I ordered my paper on ebay, and if you'd rather not do that you may be able to purchase a few sheets from a friendly bakery, especially the kind that are part of grocery stores.

- Instant Coffee - I know this may offend some purists, but the thicker you can make your paint the better it will work, and instant coffee is the quick way to achieve that. And it still tastes more like coffee than food coloring, so that's a win.

- Water

- Brushes and Toothpicks - These are FOOD ONLY, so don't pull a brush out of your oil painting kit.

- Template - I've included mine, it should print 8.5x11 with each design square being 2 inches.

- Scissors or other cutting device - again, this is for food only

- Ruler - A kitchen ruler is a good idea, but if you don't have one be sure to use a clean ruler that hasn't been with dangerous art supplies

- White Frosting - I used frosting from a can so I didn't post a picture, mostly because you didn't need photographic proof that I didn't have time to make the real thing.

- A Baked Good To Decorate - I went with brownies because they're classic and a nice compliment to the coffee flavor!

Comments

[breumer]

What a super cool idea! By your great idea I have now got a great idea!

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Very cute idea! You said the paper is slightly sweet, does it taste like coffee than from the coffee or isn't it strong enough to notice?

[technoplastique]

Thanks! It has a nice amount of coffee flavor - not enough to overpower the brownie, just compliment it. I wouldn't pair this with something that tastes bad with coffee (though there isn't really a lot of baked good flavors that doesn't work with coffee!)

[jessyratfink]

Ah! Very neat. :D

[technoplastique]

Thanks!