Products at a Glance
How We Picked the Best Edible Ink Printers for Images and Cakes
Edible Ink Printers print images onto wafer sheets and sugar frosting, leaving you with detailed and delicious edible art. There are few printers that can intake edible ink, so it is vital to ensure that our printer choices do.
Outside of the obvious, we also looked at the standard professional features you’d expect from the best printer: printing speeds, connection options, user-friendliness, et cetera. Finally, we made sure to include a range of price options to hopefully match any budding baker’s needs!
Product Reviews
- Large integrated ink tanks
- Good (edible) ink quality
- Bulky
- Slow to print
A printer for professional bakers and keen amateurs alike, the PIXMA G6020 is a surprizingly affordable edible ink printer, boasting some of Canon’s best non-edible features. With large printing and ink capacities along with great connectivity features, we’re happy to call this the best edible ink printer!
The G6020 is an impressively compact printer with great efficiency with ink, of both the edible and inedible varieties! Compatible with Windows, Chromebooks and Macbooks, you’ll be able to print your treats from any device! And as if printing food wasn’t futuristic enough, you can even do it with your voice with integrated functionality with Amazon’s Alexa! When they do print, your designs have great detail and color – you’ll almost be put off eating them!
That is, when your designs eventually do print: the G6020 isn’t a particularly fast printer, even with standard prints or documents (which we don’t recommend eating). This humble speed issue aside, this low-cost, high-quality printer is perfect for bakery aficionados of any skill level!
- Great color accuracy
- Rated for large designs
- Compact and lightweight
- Loud
If you’re needing to create edible art in an industrial quantity, then you don’t need to stray from Canon’s PIXMA range. The TS9520 is a great choice for larger designs, with a print size up to 11″ x 17″ and a great color gamut. For the baker in constant need of edible art, the TS9520 will be able to keep up with demand, and is a great edible ink printer for larger designs.
In spite of this wide print size, the TS9520 doesn’t take up much more space than it needs to – meaning it can be kept easily in any studio or bakery. It’s rated for a range of other media such as documents and print designs, just make sure you remember to switch over the ink first if you don’t want an edible invoice! The printer utilizes a five-color inking system which provides lovely color accuracy, making it perfect for a host of complex designs.
However, a major downside of this model is the noise is produces when printing, which is loud even by printer standards. But if your kitchen is already loud enough to make The Bear look tranquil, then you may not notice any issue. All-in-all, for larger cakes and designs, the PIXMA TS9520 is the best edible ink printer choice for you.
- Good printing speed
- Compact and lightweight
- Flimsy design
- Average ink economy
For the creator on the budget, as we mentioned in our dedicated look at the best printers for invitations, you can’t go wrong with the PIXMA TR8620a. A compactly-designed and speedy printer, this budget edible ink printer is a great starting point for entry-level bakers!
With a respectable sheet size of up to 8.5″ x 11.7″, this budget printer actually beats some of its competitors for print size. Having built-in wired and wireless connectivity options, the TR8620a is compatible with basically any device, making it even easier to print your designs. If you have an appetite for bright colors, worry not: the TR8620a has a reliable color gamut that accurately recreates your designs.
In a more hectic or accident-prone bakery, however, this printer will not last long: the design is notoriously poor-quality. Similarly, the money you save on the printer may not go far. With the TR8620a’s poor ink economy (and with edible ink being quite expensive), you’ll find yourself running dry and, well, running dry. That said, for a budget-friendly edible ink printer, there isn’t a better choice than the PIXMA TR8620a!
- Economic and environmentally friendly
- Good quality and print speed
- No AirPrint support for Apple devices
Another pick for a versatile edible ink printer is this model from Epson, combining a lot of great features of other models in this guide. With a plug-and-play installation process and great ink economy, the ET-2810 is a great middle ground between quality and speed.
With large ink tanks capable of housing plenty of edible or inedible ink, this printer promises to leave behind the frustrations of constantly buying ink cartridges. This printer also has a few quality-of-life design choices we appreciate: the paper-in tray is located at the rear of the ET-2810, keeping your icing or wafer sheets flat as the ink is applied. They’re out of the printer in no time at all, and your designs come out with great resolution and color gamut.
However, there are some elements to nitpick. We aren’t huge fans of the price tag attached to this model, as we feel you can get more for less out of our other choices. Similarly, the lack of support for Apple devices is a minor gripe, but it makes things just that little bit less convenient. With all that’s said and done, though, there are definitely worse models out there – so if you need an edible ink printer that can keep up with your high-demand bakery needs, the ET-2810 is a respectable, if high-price, solution!
Features and Considerations
Shopping for an edible ink printer can be tricky, especially for beginners. To make sure you get the best option for you, we prepared a list of features you should consider before making the purchase:
Printer Size
Whether you work out of a luxury bakery or just your apartment kitchen, space is an important factor to consider when buying an edible ink printer. We refer to a device’s “footprint” to measure how much space it takes up, and while most printers have relatively small footprints, some models can be quite bulky. Check your free space before purchasing!
Connection Options
Whether you design intensively in Photoshop or just want some minimalist additions to your confectionary, how you print is just as important as what you print. Make sure to check that your preferred device can be connected via wired or wireless methods. Similarly, make sure the file format is compatible!
Print Speed
Faster is generally speaking better when it comes to printers, so long as that speed doesn’t skimp on quality. For industrial or high-demand edible art, you’ll want to be going as quickly as possible. Most edible ink printers are already quite fast at printing other print media, but edible formats can be different! Make sure that your printer choice keeps the wait times to a minimum.
Can I use regular ink for edible printing?
No: Standard ink isn’t meant for human consumption, it can have major effects on your health. Make sure the ink you buy is food-safe, otherwise you are putting your customers or close family at risk.
How long do edible images last?
Depending on the surrounding conditions, edible ink images can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of weeks atop a cake. For instance, if the humidity or temperature is too high, the lifespan of the image will go down. In all cases, it’s better to consume the cake shortly after printing the image on top of it.
Our Verdict
Crafting culinary art can be difficult enough without technology making things harder, but any of our choices here today should make your kitchen a stress-free place filled with great-quality edible art! For most applications, be they commercial or consumer-grade, the Canon PIXMA G6020 is the best edible ink printer! Though it isn’t the fastest on the market, it is a great marriage of a low space cost and high-quality returns. So if you are looking for detailed and delicious additions to your baking, there’s not a better printer on the market!
Got some designs too good to eat? Check out our guide on the best printer for graphic design.