Edible Prints/Cake Topper: The Elvis Cake

I had a request to make a birthday cake for a friend's mother who loves Elvis Presley and red velvet cake. I was stumped at first as to how I would make an Elvis Presley cake. So I searched the web for ideas. For some reason, there aren't many Elvis themed cakes out there. The ones I found were either tacky, too complicated or just plain silly. Aren't there a ton of Elvis fans out there? Maybe they don't eat cake! :P

During my search, I stumbled upon Elvis Presley Edible Prints. I've seen cakes made with custom printed designs before but I didn't know how they were created. It's really not as complicated as I thought. Basically the cake topper is an image printed with edible inks and edible paper. All you have to do is to peel and attach the edible print on a freshly frosted cake and BAM-WOW...you instantly have a decorated cake! It was super easy! I thought the edible image would be very delicate and hard to work with but it was just the opposite. Perhaps I had beginner's luck? :)

I bought my edible print from an online company called cakeservice through www.offeritem.com. The price includes a customized message on the print. I didn't know what to expect but was very satisfied with the quality and quick response/delivery of my edible print. Below is the link to where I bought the edible cake topper. The cake topper includes easy to follow directions. If I was able to do this, so can anyone else! It was harder to ice the cake than it was to decorate it. Although I did place the image slightly crooked - my shaky nervous hands were probably to blame!

http://www.offeritem.com/elvis-presley-custom-stamp-photo-cake-edible-birthday-topper-description-60812.html

Now for the more serious stuff - how did the cake taste? The feedback I received was glowing (thank goodness!). Red velvet cake is hard to handle - it is delicate and crumbles easily. I had to chill my cake layers for a couple of hours before handling them.

If you are looking for a moist red velvet cake recipe and a tasty/easy- to-make cream cheese frosting, check out the recipes from Apple a Day blog:

http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2008/12/red-velvet-cake-with-cream-cheese.html

Happy Baking and Decorating!

ps. Note that the image of the edible print dictates the size of the cake. I had to bake a 10x7 cake to support the size of the cake topper. According to the instructions provided with the image, you can cut the image before placing it on the cake. I was too nervous so I made a cake to fit the image!