About Stamp and Bake

What we make

Every listing here is a set of two parts per character, not a single shape. The outer ring cuts the character out of the dough; the inner stamp presses the face and the detail into it. Cut, then stamp, and the biscuit comes out of the oven already looking like something.

That second part is the whole point. It means you do not have to pipe royal icing at eleven at night the day before a party to get a recognisable character on a plate. Plain shortbread, straight from the tray, reads perfectly well.

How your set is made

1. It is designed as an outline first

   A character only works as a cutter if it survives being reduced to a bold closed line. Anything with stick legs, antennae or hair thin enough to snap gets thickened before it is ever printed.

2. It is printed after you order

   Nothing sits in a warehouse. Your order goes on a printer, which is why dispatch takes 2-3 working days rather than the same afternoon - and why we can add a range to the shop the week we design it.

3. It is cleaned and checked by hand

   Every cutter is trimmed, checked for a clean cutting edge and test-fitted against its embosser. Prints that fail that check go in the bin rather than in an envelope.

4. It goes out tracked

   UK orders go Royal Mail Tracked and you get the tracking number by email. Full times and costs are on the shipping page.

What we will not pretend

Printed plastic cutters are very good at some things and genuinely bad at others. Better you hear it here than find out on the night before a party:

• They cannot go in the dishwasher. PLA starts to soften around 55°C and a dishwasher runs far hotter. It will warp and it will not cut cleanly again. Warm water, soft brush, air dry.
• Printed surfaces are not steel. There are microscopic ridges that hold onto more than a smooth surface does, so treat a cutter like a wooden chopping board: wash before and after, and do not leave dough sitting in it overnight.
• Warm dough beats any cutter. If the detail comes out blurry it is almost always the dough temperature, not the stamp. Chill it, roll to 4-5mm, press once.
• Very fine detail does not translate. Whiskers, individual eyelashes and thin text disappear as the dough rises. We simplify rather than sell you something that bakes into a smudge.

Who you are actually talking to

This is a small operation. The person who prints your cutter is the person who answers the contact form, and there is no support script involved - if something arrives wrong, you are not going to be passed round a queue to hear it was a printing tolerance.

Enquiries get an answer within 1-2 working days, Monday to Friday. If a parcel is late or a set is faulty, say so and we will replace it or refund it. That is covered properly on the returns page, including the bit where custom cutters are the exception.

About the characters

Our ranges are named after the shows and characters the shapes are inspired by, so you can find what your child actually asked for. We are an independent maker: Stamp and Bake is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any of the studios or rights holders whose characters those names refer to. Sets are made in small numbers for home baking, parties and school fundraising.

Where we are up to

Everything you can see is real - the sets, the sizes, the prices - but the payment side is not finished, so we cannot take an order through the site just yet. Nothing here is a mock-up waiting for stock.

If you need cutters for a date that will not wait, message us and we will sort it out directly.