This was my first frozen buttercream transfer and there are a ton of other great tutorials out there, but here's mine regardless, hope it helps! They are really not too difficult, though slightly time consuming.
The first thing to do is find a picture you like. Or draw it. Whatever the case, if you're a beginner, you will want a picture that is fairly simple (not too much detail). I just printed mine off the internet.
Tape the pic to a cookie sheet and tape (duct tape works best!) either parchment paper or wax paper (doesn't really matter) over it.
Now the fun part: Do the outlines FIRST. Simply take black icing (or whatever color you wish) with a tip 2 and trace over the outlines of the drawing. I mixed black gel coloring with chocolate fudge frosting, it's much easier to get a nice black that way.
So pretty!
Put the buttercream transfer in the freezer and make all the colors that you will need for your transfer. Unless you already have the colors made, this is the part that makes this project so time consuming. I only have one #2 tips, so I just used disposable icing bags, the parchment paper ones. With duct tape. I like duct tape. I cut a TINY hole at the tip of each bag for the icing to come out of.
Now the "tricky" part. Though not so tricky if you understand that now you will be filling in everything in the
FOREGROUND FIRST. For this picture, it was the eyes, basket, and the polka dots on the vest.
Now you will be filling in the background and the rest. There was red outline in the vest as well so I filled that in. And the rest of the vest was yellow so I filled that it last. So depending upon how detailed your picture is, you will basically be layering the colors and detail with icing--and remember foreground first!
Fill in the rest of the colors. Again, it will depend on your picture. I filled in the rest of the bunny which was just white. The nice thing about buttercream transfers is that you don't have to be perfectly neat about it, especially with the background stuff. You don't need to stay inside the lines, at least within the picture. Gently smooth the icing so that there are no open spaces (make sure the icing covers every inch of the drawing or you will have gaps which are ugly!)
Your last step will be covering the entire transfer with icing the same color as your cake icing. Try to get it as smooth and even as possible, but don't worry if it's not absolutely perfect. Be firm, but gentle. Now throw it in the freezer for AT LEAST on hour; overnight if possible.
I forgot to mention to put your buttercream transfer in the freezer from time to time (in between steps definitely) so it holds its shape.
Next, CAREFULLY place your transfer where you want it on your cake. Be careful because any narrow part in your transfer will be a weak spot. For mine it was the neck of the bunny.
Now SLOWLY and carefully peel the paper away from the transfer.
And you're done! Except I went around with the black icing and re-did some of the outline-some of it seemed to come off with the paper.
Now you have a cool, professional looking picture. And the best thing about frozen buttercream transfers is that you can use pretty much ANY picture you'd like! They make very personalized cakes.
