How to Paint Cake Tiers with Luster Dust

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pearl or luster dust adds glimmer and shine to cakes. Applying luster dust to certain elements of a cake is a somewhat straightforward process. All you need do is mix the dust with vodka and paint that part of your cake or simply dry brush parts of your cake with it. It is a different ball game when you want to paint an entire cake with luster dust. Below, I will be showing you 2 methods of achieving an even gloss on your cakes. These are by no way the only methods there are. These are just two of the ones I now use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

METHOD 1: Dry Brushing

With this method, you brush the surface of your cake with dry luster dust using a soft and fluffy blush brush and shortening. This method leaves no paint streaks on the cake and produces an even coat of color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tools and Ingredients:

(1) Fondant

(2) Color Paste

(3) Luster Dust

(4) Shortening

(5) A Blush Brush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Procedure:

(1) Color your fondant with a lighter shade of the color you want to achieve. For silver, color your fondant grey, for gold, color it dark ivory or yellow.

(2) Drape the cake with fondant.

(3) Rub the entire surface of the cake with shortening. You want just a thin layer of shortening. Be sure not to miss any spot on the cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4) Place the cake on a raised surface and place that surface on some paper towel to catch the pearl dust which fall off.

(5) Dab the blush brush in the luster dust and begin brushing the cake. Use even strokes all around the cake. If one part of the brush becomes clogged with pearl dust due to grease from the shortening, simply use another part of the brush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s all these is to it. This method produces a very smooth finish and does not need time to sit or dry. The cake is ready as soon as you are done. The drawback of this method is that it uses a lot of pearl dust and as we all know, luster dust is expensive.

METHOD 2: Painting with Vodka

With this method, you dilute the luster dust in some vodka and use it to paint the cake. This method is best when you have to deal with folds and uneven cake surfaces and designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tools and Ingredients:

(1) Fondant

(2) Color Paste

(3) Luster Dust

(4) Vodka

(5) Paint Brushes

Procedure:

((1) Again, color your fondant with a lighter shade of the color you want to achieve. For silver, color your fondant grey, for gold, color it dark ivory or yellow.

(2) Cover the cake with fondant. Allow the fondant to dry a bit so it keeps shape while brushing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(3) Mix the dust with vodka. The more vodka you use, the thinner the color will be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4) Brush the cake with the vodka mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(5) Allow the cake to set and brush over it with some dry luster dust to even the color and conceal some of the paint brush streaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The advantage this method has over the first method is that it can be used on a wide range of cakes and can be directed to only specific portions of the cake. It also uses less pearl dust. The drawback is that the finishing is not as smooth as the first method.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BONUS TUTORIAL:

(1) Learn how to paint fondant characters with luster and color dust. Tutorial here.