Painting on Cakes Using Luster Dust

When I started the idea for this post, I was actually going to blog about the cake recipe, but I had so much fun decorating the cake, that I decided to switch it up and talk about the decorating.  I will give you the link to the recipe however, as this is one of the best cake recipes I have made, and I make a lot of cakes!  The cake itself is chocolate with a terrifically pallet pleasing salted caramel frosting.  This may sound like a bit of work, and it did take a little extra time, but the flavor of this frosting is worth the effort.  This blog has great pictures of the frosting making process, but the recipe is found here at Blackberry Farm.

So on to my cakes...  I discovered using luster dust several years ago while poking around at the bakery supply store. I am not really much of a cake decorator, but I like to experiment with new cake or cookie decorating ideas.  A friend had actually won an amazing fondant covered cake at an auction while we were out of town, it had polka dots on it that were iridescent gold.  She bought it for a birthday cake for someone, and in traveling back home some of the polkas got smudged.  I have this philosophy that I can fix anything, so I told her I would fix it. this is what led to my trip to the bakery supply.  The sweet lady that runs the shop told me you simply mix the dust (made from some undefined powdery sparkly wonderful substance) with some kind of alcohol; she suggested vodka, but use whatever you have on hand.  Then paint it on your fondant, or frosting.  When the alcohol evaporates, you have a slightly sparkly luster dust design on your cake or cookie.

I used a salmon pinkish colored dust and an apple green for this cake and the little cake for my sweet GB...pictures at the end of post.  I just mixed with a few drops of my little travel size vodka bottle, that I hide with my baking supplies, so no one drinks it, and started painting on a viney design with pink blobs that were supposed to look kind of like rose buds!  After finishing the painting I sprinkled pixie dust all over the cake, just to give it a fun, magical fairy tale look.  The pixie dust, also known as Disco Dust and the Lusters are manufactured by CK Products

The painting on the cake was pretty straight forward, I noticed it was easier and the colors came out stronger if the dust mix was a little on the thick side. The more vodka the thinner and lighter the color would appear.
I made the big cake in the pictures, but I also made my GB her own personal cake for her one year birthday celebration.  

Now on to the best part, getting to see that little rose bud eat her cake....

Gone!