Another thing for my daughter’s Buzz Lightyear themed Grad Party.
Both my daughter and youngest son are allergic to artificial colors so birthday and other event cakes can be challenging…instead of just a white or chocolate frosting, I made this cake topper out of fun foam. And of course since now shes an Electrical Engineer, I had to make it light up.
I glued led strip around the smaller shaped foam back (double thick .2") glued it to the back of the topper and all done. Now Ive gotta figure out how to wrap and camouflage the cord. The topper will sit on parchment paper on the cake to keep it clean.
The most challenging was working with the .025" kerf the laser made since foam melts easily…as well as getting the right power and speed… Some of the 2mm sheets had to have two passes probably because they were from a few different batches bought months apart…varied consistancy I guess.
And here’s an acrylic sign that will also go on the cake.
Thats killer! My girlfriend makes all types of things like this out of foam, but cuts them all by hand. I showed her this and she got so excited. She keeps punching me telling me to tell them to hurry up! lol
I’m not a cook in any way shape or form… BUT I have friends who LOVE to cook and my group of friends also have a LOT of food sensitivities. Luckily there are a LOT of great ways to substitute color for things… many fruits give great colors, same with vegetables. AND many times you can hide the flavors of them with the right mix of spices.
For red and pinks you have strawberries, watermelon, beets, cheries
Oranges are, well, Oranges and Carrots
Yellows are Lemons and some edible flowers
Greens… most leafy veggies can be used, so can avocados and wheat grass
Blues, blueberries are great.
purples are Blackberries
Chocolate for browns, Licorice for blacks, and there are whole blogs out there on the subject.
Lol I AM a cook and use lots of natural colors, however, they don’t all do well for all things. Many of them have a weird or bitter after taste or change color depending on how they are mixed with different foods. Its sad that the US is one of the last countries that allow toxic artifical colors in food.
What’s on the other end of the wire? How much juice do the LEDs need? Could a button battery or three power them? If so, you could possibly embed it / them in the backer piece and keeping the wire all back there out of sight?
Disclaimer: I have never wired up a strip of LEDs in my life, it just seems like they should not take a lot of power to run…
There are alot if different LED strips out there. This strip is a 12v that uses a 12v 1A adapter that plugs into the wall. For the length of strip needed, you would need alot of batteries. A button battery can light 1-3 LEDs…lol
Hmm, can you cut fondant in a laser? Might have to clean up afterwards, but that would be way cool. And if you could cut hard sugar sheet that would open up a huge range of stuff to do. (I have had it in the back of my mind for a few years to build a gingerbread-style house with a 3d printer and hard syrup or royal icing, but this might be better and easier.)
I know you can laser cut sugar sheets. Must be really careful with setting as to not burn it though. Fondant would be more difficult due to the moisture content I think… but you could definitely etch on it.
And of course since now shes an Electrical Engineer, I had to make it light up.
