Cake Decorating Community - Cakes We Bake

Hi My Cake Friends,

 

This weekend I made my grand-niece's baptism cake (I am not a professional baker) but I can bake well.  I made a 3 tiered cake covered in fondant and it was ivory.  My niece wanted it shiny so I used ivory pearl dust.  I brushed the brush in the dust and then smooched it around on a mat to evenly distribute but it still looked kind of streaky on the cake.  Any ideas what I did wrong or what a better procedure would be for next time?  As always, I appreciate any ideas I get.

 

Susan

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Hi Susan , Yes lustre dust ! I have had the same problem in the past with your loverly smooth cake covered in streaks .

I have found a way round this , i have an air brush that i use for some of my colouring and by blowing the air from the gun across the top of the lustre container it blows a cloud of it over your cake and gives a beautiful even coating . If you used a straw the same effect could be achieved .

A WARNING !!!!

It does go every where !! I use a large box as a spray booth for a lot of my spraying and this helps a bit but not a huge amount !!

It gives a supurb metallic effect if blown over a damp colour , i used it to spray over a Citroen C2 i made and it was spot on .

Good luck Martin xx

Thanks Martin,

 

I don't have an air brush machine yet, but may now have to get one sooner rather than later along with a big box, LOL.  Thanks again.

Martin Brown said:

Hi Susan , Yes lustre dust ! I have had the same problem in the past with your loverly smooth cake covered in streaks .

I have found a way round this , i have an air brush that i use for some of my colouring and by blowing the air from the gun across the top of the lustre container it blows a cloud of it over your cake and gives a beautiful even coating . If you used a straw the same effect could be achieved .

A WARNING !!!!

It does go every where !! I use a large box as a spray booth for a lot of my spraying and this helps a bit but not a huge amount !!

It gives a supurb metallic effect if blown over a damp colour , i used it to spray over a Citroen C2 i made and it was spot on .

Good luck Martin xx

You can use a large, soft brush (think make-up brush) and "pounce" it on the cake rather than brushing it on.

Hi Ellen,

 

So I was on the right track a little.  I did think of a big brush was laughing that I could have used my "bronzer" brush for what this brush had cost me, but I did stroke it on like painting.  I will try your "pouncing" method next time and see if that works.  Since I will be making the 1st birthday cake in only a few short months I want to get it right before then.  Thanks again, Susan

Eileen S said:

You can use a large, soft brush (think make-up brush) and "pounce" it on the cake rather than brushing it on.

Would you believe me if I told you I bought it but I purchased from in store here in New York and it didn't come with instructions and I was afraid to mess up the cake even more with it so I didn't try it.  I guess I should have asked this question before I made the cake but to be honest I didn't think I was going to have any problems and by the time I did have the problems was too late to ask.  I will have to try my brush. 

Eileen S said:

Oh gosh Susan

DON'T  use the pump brush. I threw mine out. Came out in gobs. At my last cake club meeting, several of us, including the pro decorator who hosts the club, all agreed it was a disaster to work with.  I practiced, on a few dummies thank goodness, and just couldn't achieve a nice affect.  So for warned is for armed  Susan.

Glad now that I didn't try, probably would have made my cake look worst.  If I was computer smart I would be able to download a picture.  It was good enough but you know us cake people, we like perfect.  So I am back to square one again, aside from airbrush machine, I will keep searching and try the "pounce" method.  Thank you.

June Kowalczyk said:

Oh gosh Susan

DON'T  use the pump brush. I threw mine out. Came out in gobs. At my last cake club meeting, several of us, including the pro decorator who hosts the club, all agreed it was a disaster to work with.  I practiced, on a few dummies thank goodness, and just couldn't achieve a nice affect.  So for warned is for armed  Susan.

I should have mentioned Susan, when the "pump" brush didn't work, I used a large blush brush. I have only done flowers, never a whole cake. Haven't been brave enough. There is a member I am friends with, Sandra I. Vazquez Lossiseroni. She does a ton of her cakes in lustre dust, & I bet she would be more than willing to help you out with her knowledge. Check out her page.

Yikes, good to know about the pump brush! I was considering ordering one, but I'll take a pass on it now!

i use luster dusts on whole cakes as well as details often. I have a long soft paint brush that i use so i can really get into tight spots and so it doesnt make such a mess like the bigger makeup brushes. Than i dip it in the dust, tap off just a bit back in the jar so not too much, then shake it over the area on the cake, or flick my finger on the side of the brush to drop the dust onto the cake.either way it is showering it with a fine mist of shine.

the problem you may have had was the fondant having moisture. as you may know dusts cling to moisture and clump up like that. so if you are brushing it on a cake and there is even the tiniest bit of moisture on the surface it will gather and streak there. so dusting it on is always easier then ensureing that it is completely dry on every spot of the surface.

hope this helps, and good luck

Yes Eileen

It was quite the topic of discussion amoung the cakers at the club. Now I am just a hobby baker, put quite a few of the pros agreed with me. I thought I was doing something wrong, but they all said it was messy, and using a large brush as you suggested was ideal. I actually was at Micheal's this past summer, and they were rearranging the store & dumping a lot of merchndise. I got a great deal on a expensive large artists brush. 

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