How can I attach printed rice paper decorations to cakes / cookies?

When I've seen them used, they first frosted the cake, smoothed it out, then placeed the rice paper on top.

My understanding is that the moisture in the frosting can end up melting the rice paper, so that it basically disappears into the frosting, with the ink effectively transfering into the frosting.

As I've never done it myself, I have no idea if there are any special tricks to it, or if you need to use a particular frosting / icing recipe so that the paper will melt away.

update: after a little research, I have reason to believe that normal rice paper won't disolve into the cake but there are special 'frosting sheets' that will. another recomendation was to leave enough white space around the image so that you can cover the edge of the sheet with a border if it starts to curl up.

If you use the buttercream option, let the icing dry a bit before putting the rice paper on, as too much moisture will cause it to collapse and the ink to run. Also, I wouldn't recommend pressing the rice paper down, but just patting it onto slightly tacky buttercream. White icing is best as the rice paper is quite translucent.

The other alternative you suggest will work fine - place it on the cake and pipe around the edge to hold in place. I have seen this done many times. Best not to use a vivid colour for the piping as it could leech into the rice paper a bit.

I saw a decorating demo in "Everyday Living with Cheryl ???(can't remember her last name)" with potato starch paper printed. The lady used dried royal icing on her cookies and applied corn syrup to back of design as paste and pressed onto decorated item. Some piped decoration around edges helped hold down edges or press down as drying to adhere...She also had a printer with edible ink so she could print her own and used scrapbooking cutters for shapes

I see you got no response about the fondant discs - use ready to roll fondant/ sugarpaste (different names depending where you live)and roll it out to about 3mm thick. Using a round cutter, cut out some circles a fraction larger than your rice paper circles (or whatever shape they happen to be?). Place them on baking parchment or kitchen towel to dry out (pref overnight. White fondant is best. Then apply the prints to the icing using methods already discussed. I've never used rice paper images as I prefer images printed to icing sheets as they're far superior but a bit more expensive. They don't curl and the colours and print is more vibrant/clearer. Icing images stick to fondant with a tiny amount of water. Then pipe a swirl of buttercream on top of the cupcake, leave a few minutes to crust then pop the icing disc/image on top of the buttercream with a little pressure. Hope that helps. Debs x

A cake teacher taught me this method and it works beautifully. Trace your image onto the rice paper (bumpy side up) with edible ink. Cut the image out with about an 1/4 inch border left on. Place picture on cake. Use a toothpick to outline the image. Remove image and spread piping gel (get at Michaels, Hobby Lobby etc.) inside the traced toothpick lines. Place the rice paper image on top of the piping gel. Spread another layer of piping gel over the image. Dilute your gel colors with water and paint the image with food grade paint brushes (so you don't get bristles on the cake!) Use a fine tip brush with black to outline. I remove the image before slicing the cake.

You could try rolling out very thin gumpaste or fondant and attaching the rice paper on it when its moist but not wet. I haven't tried it myself but royal icing might be a good option to attach the paper to the surface. Once attached to the gumpaste, you can cut it out using a small knife and let it dry. Then it should be easier to attach the gumpaste cutout to the actual cake.

I use rice paper discs a lot. I cut out rolled fondant circles, put edible glue on the fondant discs, then put the rice paper disc on top. Works a treat - just let them dry for a few days then use.