Wafer Paper Rolled Roses, colored with ACP
Wafer Paper (WP) is an incredibly interesting and rather unexplored medium in cake decoration. The problem is you need to have an edible printer which I have not. So I looked all over the Internet with the hope of finding a printer free technique but I couldn't find any. Thus I decided to try on my own and see if I could come up with a cheaper way to color WP.
My first try was coloring the WP with piping gel, gel paste food color and white food color. But it didn't work because the white food color is very runny and contains water, what makes the WF too soft and not at all workable. I imagined this could happen but still I had to try.
On the second try I mixed piping gel and gel paste food color. With a paint brush I applied a thin coat of tainted piping gel on the back side of the WP, and guess what... it worked. But there's a catch... even though this works, you are left with a full page cover in piping gel, what limits it's versatility.
I was ready to give up when, a couple of weeks ago, my dear friend Amber Adamson of Top Tier Cakes for All Occasions posted a great tutorial called 'ACP - Amber's Creamy Powder Method'. In this tutorial she makes the creamy powder by mixing petal dust and shortening which she uses to stencil her cakes --a very clever technique that she came up with, don't you think? (learn more here). Later Liz Marek from Artisan Cake Company posted about Amber's method; she was also impressed with Amber's cleverness, but most importantly she talked of how you can use the ACP to paint on fondant as if you were painting with oil paint. There it was! the answer I was looking for!... I just used ACP to color my WP and it WORKED!
Here are the steps to color your Wafer Paper:
- Make your ACP following Amber's instructions here.
- With the help of a spatula, spread a thin coat of ACP on the front of your WP (smooth side)
- Remove all the excess of ACP with a paper towel or a cosmetic sponge, until there's no more ACP on the WP.
- Use your colored WP as you normally will on any project you like.
The only potential downside is that because the WP is very porous you will end up with an uneven color. However, if you're like me you'll love the way the flowers look. You can use this technique to get a grainy texture with a lot of personality on its own. The little color specks just make the flowers pop!
Wafer Paper Rolled Roses, colored with ACP
