My daughter wanted a Fancy Nancy cake for her 6th birthday and I couldn’t find anything! I came across an article on frozen butter cream transfers, which is how I created the character for this cake.
The first thing is to find a picture you want to use and blow it up if necessary. Keeping in mind you will flip it and may need to transverse any letters or numbers. Then you tape it to a hard transportable surface such as a cutting board. Next tape a piece of wax paper on top of the picture. Be sure to keep it pulled taunt to the board with no folds or wrinkles.
You need butter cream frosting containing equal amounts real butter and Crisco. Tint to desired colors using Wilton icing colors.
To begin the design you must start with what you want on the top. In most cases that will be the outlines. Then layer it up. So I did the black outlines, then the whites of her eyes and mouth, the hair accessories (I used sprinkles to fill in between the outlines so that they would sparkle!), hair, and face. It takes a little thought and planing and I recommend coming up with the order before you start and writing it down.
I used Ziploc bags with a corner cut off for the whole thing instead of my piping bags. That way I could use the colors multiple times without having to keep changing and washing the bags and tips. It also allowed me to vary the size of the hole without having to change.
When finished layering the frosting I used cornstarch on my finger to pat down the frosting so there would be no empty spaces or patterns from the piping. If the frosting is uneven use your background color to level it out carefully. If you spread it to firmly it can smear the color and pattern underneath.
Place in freezer for at least 90 minutes and up to 24 hours.
Meanwhile frost your cake or grouping of cupcakes.
When design is frozen you simply flip it onto the cake! Peel back the wax paper carefully. I had a few curls break off that were too thin. But otherwise this was easier than I had expected! You can do shells or stars piped around the design to finish but I just left it. I also added some blush and eyeshadow using pearl dust that I found by the cake stuff at the local craft store. I wrote Happy Birthday in French (because Nancy thinks everything sounds fancier in French!).
The end result was my daughter jumping up and down screaming “you’re the best mom in world! I love you!” over and over! And that is worth it all!
Thank you so much for the instructions. I too made a Fancy Nancy- full body with party dress. It was my first buttercream transfer. I thought I was being too ambitious, but it was so easy and the cake was amazing!
What did you do the face with?
You outline the facial features first then layer the flesh color on top. The whole thing gets flipped upside down after freezing. Work foreground to background using butter cream frosting for all of it. I did add sprinkles and pearl dust for sparkle!
You did a great job! Wherever did you find that picture?
How did you get your frosting that color of pink? I am doing a Fancy Nancy cake for my daughter’s b-day but can’t quite get that color of pink.
I wish I could remember exactly how I got that pink! I know I started with Wilton rose color. I know it took a lot of coloring and I may have added a little of orange to brighten or red to deepen it. Good luck!
Since it’s coming out of the freezer does that mean it should pretty much go from the freezer to the prepared table to be eaten :) or can it sit out for a while? if so, how long. The party is at 2pm, would you make the transfer the day before and leave it in the freezer over night? advice please!
thanks for your direction! my daughter wants a Fancy Nancy party and she wants Nancy on the cake…I’m a great baker and decorator but drawing a pic on a cake…I wasn’t looking forward to that, you have saved the day! I can certainly do this.
Where did you get the picture to make the transfer? I am unable to copy the pictures shown below your cake.
As long as the image is put onto the cake frozen you can let it sit for as long as you are comfortable with buttercream frosting being out. A hot humid day outside, the cake should be fine for an hour or two. If it’s inside it’s fine for a whole day.
As for the picture I used… I used my copier to enlarge a pic from one of our books.