My first order of business was figuring out what kind of drip to use as the base. I’d heard that using straight melted chocolate was one way to go, but I found that too thick and hard to work with. Instead, I figured out a way to create the gold drip with my favorite white chocolate ganache recipe. It’s easy to work with, tastes superb, and if you give it enough time in the refrigerator it will set firmly enough to paint.

That brings me to my next order of business: what product to use for turning the drip gold. First I tried mixing gold luster dust with a little lemon extract to create a paint-like consistency. It looked great when I painted it on the drip, but it ended up doing two terrible things in the long run: it would not dry and it was so thin that it ran right down past the drip. Luster dust mixed with something like vodka or grain alcohol might work better, but I wasn’t up for a trip to the liquor store to figure it out. 

Instead, I decided to use Edible Art Paint in Glamorous Gold. It’s a premixed edible metallic paint that’s FDA approved and it worked like a charm. I needed to paint two coats onto the drip to get the best coverage, but it looked amazing and ended up drying perfectly. With the right product, all that was left to do is practice! I’ve been working on getting better at painting the drip without painting the cake (but I did find a solution that works for cleaning up small mess-ups that I’ll talk about below).

Here’s a quick video that shows the full process of creating a gold drip, from dripping the cake with white chocolate ganache to painting and troubleshooting:

If you have yet to check out my YouTube channel, head there to see more cake recipe videos, decorating tutorials, and my entire Cake Basics series in video format. Hit the subscribe button while you’re there so you never miss a new video!

You Will Need

• A cake that’s been frosted smooth and chilled 
• Cake turntable
• 1 batch of my white chocolate ganache recipe
• Piping bag
• Angled spatula
• Edible Art Paint in Glamorous Gold
• Small food-grade paint brush
• Vodka or grain alcohol (just for touch ups)

Step 1: Drip the Cake 

Place the chilled, frosted cake on your turntable. When the white chocolate ganache has reached room temperature and is ideal drip consistency, place it into the piping bag and carefully snip off about ¼ inch opening on the end. Add a test drip to the side of the cake to make sure the ganache is just right (not too thick or thin), and if all is good, continue adding drips around the side of the cake.

When the sides are dripped, fill in the top of the cake with more ganache and smooth it down with an angled spatula. Be careful not to add too much ganache or smooth too closely to the edges so you don’t accidentally push more ganache over the edges of the cake. 

If this is your first time working with white chocolate ganache or you could use some tips on getting better at drip cakes, this blog post and video tutorial should answer all of your questions! 

Step 2: Let the Drip Set

After you drip the cake, place it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes at minimum. The more time you can let the drip firm up in the refrigerator the better (overnight is actually best!). 

The more firm the drip, the easier it will be to paint in the next step. 

Step 3: Paint the Drip 

Add 5-10 drops of the Edible Art Paint into a pinch bowl. Using the small paint brush, carefully paint the gold onto the ganache, starting on top of the cake and working your way over every drip. This is a tedious process that requires some patience, so be prepared for that! 

After painting the first coat of Edible Art Paint, place the cake into the refrigerator for another 15-30 minutes to let the paint dry a bit. Then, paint a second coat over the top of the first. 

Step 4: Erase Mess-Ups (if needed)

If there are any spots where you accidentally painted past the drip and onto the buttercream, there is a fix! Place a few teaspoons of vodka or grain alcohol into a pinch bowl and dip a clean paint brush into it, then paint over the stray paint. The idea here is essentially like using nail polish remover to clean up around your nails after painting them. Do this part carefully!

The higher the alcohol content in your paint remover, the quicker it will evaporate and dry. It will not make your cake taste like alcohol (in case you’re worried about that!). 

And there you have it – a beautiful metallic drip cake that is sure to impress! It’s the perfect way to add some glitz and elegance to your cake. 

FYI: I finished the look on this particular cake with a star border made with Wilton tip 6B and Sprinkle Pop “Treasure Hunt” sprinkles. And the color I used for this beautiful buttercream is AmeriColor Electric Purple. So stunning!

Did you make a gold drip cake with this tutorial? I’d love to know how it went! Leave a comment below and be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me your work. I love to see what you create!

The post Gold Ganache Drip Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I made this cake topper using a silicone mold I found on Amazon, some ready-made gum paste, and this edible gold paint. It’s about 10 minutes of actual work plus a few days of drying time, so you’ll want to plan ahead for this one. The best part about this crown cake topper is seeing the look on a kid’s face when you tell them they can eat it. Sure, it might not taste as great as the cake itself, but an edible cake topper is a hot commodity at a kid party. 

Fondant vs. Gum Paste

You might be wondering why I used gum paste instead of fondant for this. Let me start by saying I’ve had a few bad experiences with fondant cake toppers – they just don’t dry as firmly as gum paste. Fondant will work with this tutorial, but know that you might have to let it dry for a full week and even then, it might still be a little fragile. I chose gum paste because it dries super firm in a fairly short amount of time (48 hours), plus it’s extremely easy to work with. This is the gum paste I used. 

Here’s a quick video of the whole process before you read all about it below:

If you want to see more videos like this one, check out my YouTube Channel. I’ve got a growing collection of recipe videos, cake decorating tutorials, and my Cake Basics series in video format. Click subscribe while you’re there so you never miss a new video! 

You Will Need

• 3 inch ball of gum paste 
• 1-2 drops yellow food color gel
• 1 Tbsp vegetable shortening 
• Small rolling pin 
• X-Acto knife
• Paring knife 
• Silicone crown mold
• Wax paper
• Round can or tin that’s about 4 inches in diameter
• Edible Art Paint in Glamorous Gold 
• Food Grade Paint Brush

Step 1: Tint the Gum Paste

Coat your hands (even if they’re gloved) in a little bit of the vegetable shortening, then add 1-2 drops of yellow food color gel to the ball of gumpaste. Knead the food color gel into the gum paste until it’s uniform in color.

The reason I like to tint the gum paste yellow is because it will hide any imperfections in the painting process better than if you were to use white gum paste. It will look uniformly gold and not patchy in any way. 

Step 2: Fill the Crown Mold

Coat your work surface in more vegetable shortening to prevent the gum paste from sticking, then use the small rolling pin to roll out the gum paste until it’s as long and wide as the crown mold. 

When it reaches this size, place the rolled out gum paste on top of the silicone crown mold and press it into the crevices. Feel free to fold the edges of the gum paste over and press them inside to fill the crown mold until it’s just about overflowing with gum paste. 

Hold a paring knife parallel to the crown mold and carefully trim away the excess gum paste. 

Step 3: Release the Crown

Carefully bend the silicone mold to release the gum paste crown, then use an X-Acto knife to trim away any excess gum paste around all the detailed edges.

Step 4: Shape and Dry the Crown

Tape a piece of wax paper around a round can or tin that’s at least 4 inches in diameter (or whatever diameter you want the crown to end up). Wrap the gum paste crown around the wax paper and gently press it down to adhere it. 

Allow the gum paste crown to dry like this for 24 hours, after which you can slide the crown off of the wax paper lined can and allow it to dry for an additional 24 hours. The first 24 hours will dry the outside while the second will dry the inside. 

Step 5: Paint it Gold

Add several drops of the Edible Art Paint to a small dish and use the food grade paint brush to add one coat of paint onto the dry crown. This first coat will look patchy, but don’t worry – the second coat will work some magic! 

Allow the first coat of paint to dry for 30+ minutes, after which you can add the second coat. Let the crown air dry some more, until it’s dry to the touch, then top your cake with it and be amazed! 

This crown cake topper is sure to impress party goers of all ages. There are other styles of crown silicone molds on Amazon, so head there if you want to see other options and feel free to use whatever you find with this tutorial! 

Did you make this crown cake topper? I want to know how it went! Leave me a comment below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post Edible Gold Crown Cake Topper Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Pretty, right? Before I act like an expert and show you how to create this sprinkle fault line cake, allow me to admit that this was my second attempt. The first go at this technique did not end well at all. The sprinkles got in the way of my smooth buttercream, my fault line was too tiny, and I basically ended up with a ripply, sprinkled mess. Thankfully, I learned some valuable lessons in my first attempt and I can tell you how to avoid cake tragedies like that!

Now, I can confidently say I’ve got all the details of how to make a failproof sprinkle fault line cake below. Here’s a quick video of the process before you read all about it:

You Will Need

• A 6-inch cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled
• 1.5 batches of vanilla buttercream
• Food color gel of your choice (optional)
• 4 oz bottle of Vintage Rose Gold sprinkles (or any fave SprinklePop mix)
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula
• Gold Edible Art Paint (gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka works too)
• Small food-grade paintbrush

Step 1: Separate The Sprinkles

To prepare for your beautiful sprinkle fault line cake, first divide the sprinkles into two separate bowls: one for the jimmies and smaller sprinkles, and one for the large spheres and dragees.

If you’re planning on coloring your buttercream, now is a good time for that too! For this rustic rose color, I used a combination of Americolor Dusty Rose, Peach, and Maroon.

Step 2: Frost Only The Middle Of The Cake

Place your crumb coated cake on a turntable and frost a thin layer of buttercream around only the middle of the cake. Then, smooth it with your icing smoother.

This will become the middle of the fault line, where the sprinkles go.

Step 3: Apply The Small Sprinkles

Place a baking sheet underneath your cake turntable to catch any sprinkles that fall (this part can get messy!). Then, add only the jimmies and smaller sprinkles to the newly frosted portion of your cake.

By leaving the larger sprinkles out of this part, you will prevent them from getting in the way once you frost the buttercream fault line. That was the biggest takeaway from my first time trying this technique. Smaller sprinkles make it easier to achieve a smooth, flawless fault line. Don’t worry though, we’ll add the larger sprinkles in toward the end!

Step 4: Frost The Fault Line

Frost and smooth the top of the cake, then add buttercream to the top third and bottom third of the cake, making sure you stop wherever the sprinkles begin. Feel free to overlap the sprinkles in some areas, but try to keep most of the sprinkles exposed. Also, make sure that the layer of buttercream you add is thicker than the layer of sprinkles. This way when you go to smooth it, your icing smoother will glide over the buttercream without dragging the sprinkles along with it.

Next, smooth the buttercream with your icing scraper to create even sides without touching the sprinkles.

When your sides are looking smooth, use your angled spatula to create sharp edges around the top of the cake by swiping any buttercream from the outer edge toward the top center of the cake.

Once your fault line is looking perfect, chill the cake in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to let the buttercream firm up before moving on to the next step.

Step 5: Add In The Large Sprinkles

Now that the buttercream is nice and set, it’s time to add in the rest of this beautiful sprinkle mix! Add all of the large sprinkles you separated out in Step 1 to the sprinkled portion of the cake.

Continue adding sprinkles until the fault line looks dazzling.

Step 6: Paint The Edges (Optional)

To complete the look, use a small food-grade paintbrush to paint some Gold Edible Art Paint onto the edges of the fault line. As an alternative to Edible Art Paint, you could use gold foil, gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka, or whatever your jam is when it comes to an edible gold look!

And voila! This sprinkle fault line cake is so eye-catching. I love this technique now that I know a few tips and tricks to getting it just right!

I hope you feel a little more confident with your sprinkle fault line cakes now that you know a thing or two. Be sure to try it with your fave SprinklePop mix! And if you found this tutorial helpful for your cake decorating session let me know by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see what you’re caking

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Sprinkle Fault Line Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This wonderment sent me on a quest to find the best product for a perfect metallic buttercream finish: one that’s as shiny as Super Gold, as easy to paint with (aka I wouldn’t have to paint a million coats), and of course, one that is universally FDA approved for eating. After scouring the internet and reading countless reviews, I ordered three to try: King’s Gold by CK Products, Gold Pearl Dust by Wilton, and Glamorous Gold by Edible Art Paint. I made a little video to show you how they look in action:

Disclaimer: this post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you click them and purchase items I’ve recommended. Using these links won’t cost you any extra money, but they do help to keep Sugar & Sparrow up and running. Thank you for your support!

Important Tips For Painting On Buttercream

Whether you’re painting a metallic finish or a non-metallic finish, it’s important to start with the right consistency of whatever you’re painting with, the right brush for the job, and a solid cake finish. All three of these things can make or break the final outcome. Here are my best tips for success:

First, to avoid messing up your final coat of buttercream, you must start with a well-chilled cake. After applying my final coat of buttercream, I place the cake in the refrigerator for a good 30 minutes or more, until the finish is hard to the touch.

Second, you need a good brush that won’t leave a ton of bristles in your paint job. This brush by Innovative Sugarworks is a great one, made specifically for cake decorating so you can rest assured that the bristles are made from high quality synthetic fibers and are safe for use with food. Your local craft store might have good brushes, but make sure they’re made with the right bristle fiber because a lot of paint brushes are made with animal hair. After all, the last thing you want is horse hair ending up on your cake!

And finally, you’ll need the right consistency of edible paint to get the look you’re going for and the best mixing solution to help the finish dry quickly. When working with luster dusts, you’ll need an alcohol solution to mix with so the liquid evaporates after you paint with it. Some cakers prefer vodka, but I always use grain alcohol to mix luster dusts with.

Grain alcohol can be found at your local liquor store (it’s also known as Everclear), and at 180 proof it has the highest alcohol content of any alcohol. The higher the alcohol content, the faster it will evaporate from your cake and leave you with that shiny gold finish you’re pining for. If you only have vodka or lemon extract on hand, those will work as well, they’ll just take longer to dry.

The Best FDA Approved Products For A Metallic Buttercream Finish

To my amazement, I ended up really liking all three of the products I tried for metallic finishes. There was one that stood out above the rest (read all about it below!) for color and ease of use, but all three will work depending on the color you need. Be sure to watch this video to see them all in action.

Glamorous Gold By Edible Art Paint

Rating: 10/10

Spoiler alert: this one was my absolute favorite of the three products I used. It comes in a bottle pre-mixed with the right amount of alcohol solution, so you don’t even have to worry about making that extra trip to the liquor store. Edible Art Paints come in all sorts of colors, metallic and non-metallic, and the Glamorous Gold was the perfect shimmery gold color I was after.

The finish dried in about ten minutes and I found that one coat was sufficient for applying to the cake. I was worried about it looking streaky, but after the first coat dried, it ended up looking really uniform.

King’s Gold by CK Products

Rating: 9/10

The King’s Gold by CK Products is a luster dust, so you will need to mix it with a solution like everclear (or vodka!) to make it paintable. After mixing it with everclear, the luster dust dissolved really well and ended up being a breeze to paint with. Here’s how it looked after one coat:

My reasoning for the lower rating is mainly because of the color and the semi-streakiness. King’s Gold was a bit vibrant for my liking, but they do make some other metallics that I would be interested in trying (there’s a Shiny Gold that looks a bit more like the color I was after). After painting a second coat, the streaks are diminished.

Gold Pearl Dust by Wilton

Rating: 7/10

The best thing about Gold Pearl Dust by Wilton is that it’s more commonly found at your local craft store. It’s a luster dust that you’ll need to mix with an alcohol solution to make it paintable, but I found that the dust didn’t dissolve as well as other luster dusts I’ve used, making it a little more grainy of a finish.

The color was also more of a champagne gold, and to my knowledge it’s the only gold metallic color option available from Wilton. If that’s the color you’re going for though, I’d totally recommend trying it. The finish ended up being shiny after two coats, although still a little streaky.

If you’re looking for the best metallic buttercream finish that’s FDA approved and edible, I would definitely recommend any of these three, my favorite being Edible Art Paint. Remember that any time you paint on buttercream, make sure you start with a well-chilled cake that’s firm to the touch. Let me know if you end up trying any of these recommendations in the comments below, or if you know of other FDA approved solutions that work well!

The post The Best (FDA Approved) Metallic Gold Buttercream Finish appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This tutorial works with white, milk, or dark chocolate. If you’re feeling fancy, you can decorate the shapes with Edible Art Paint, sprinkles, or get crazy with your white chocolate colors. The sky is the limit with these things. Here’s a little video I whipped up to show you: 

You Will Need:

• 1 cup (183g) of white, milk, or dark chocolate chips
• A microwave
• Parchment paper
• Sharp knife and/or circular cookie cutters
• Color gels (for white chocolate, optional)
• Pretty things to decorate with like sprinkles or Edible Art Paint (optional)

Step 1: Temper Your Chocolate

Pour the chocolate chips into a heatproof bowl and reserve ¼ of the chips. These will be the “seed” that you’ll add in after the rest of the chocolate is melted to temper it. Microwave the bowl of chocolate (sans seed) in 30 second increments, stirring after each interval. Once the chocolate is melted (mine usually is after two intervals), add the reserved chocolate seed into the bowl and stir until uniform in consistency.

If you’re using food color gels with white chocolate, this would be the time to start coloring before moving on to the next step.  

Step 2: Pour The Chocolate

With parchment paper on a flat surface (I use a cookie sheet), pour the chocolate out and work it around with your spatula. You’ll want to make it about ¼ inch in depth and as smooth as possible.

If you’re using sprinkles or something sprinkle-like to decorate, this would be the time to do it. Let the chocolate rest for about 15-20 minutes, or until semi-set before moving on to step 3.

Step 3: Score The Chocolate

When the chocolate is semi-set (as in still soft, but not melty), use cookie cutters and/or a sharp knife to score the chocolate shapes. This basically gives you a good template to use and also helps you prepare the chocolate to make the final cuts easier.

When the chocolate is scored, place it inside the refrigerator to set for another 10-15 minutes.

Step 4: Make The Final Cuts

Remove the chocolate from the refrigerator and use your knife and cutters to retrace the areas you’ve scored. It helps to do this step with clean cookie cutters/knife (if you have remaining chocolate on them from the scoring session you won’t get as clean of a cut).

If the chocolate is being stubborn during this step, it also helps to heat your utensils under hot water and dry them before doing the final cuts.

Step 5: Decorate With Edible Art Paint (optional)

If you’re decorating your chocolate with something like Edible Art Paint, go ahead and paint away at this point. In my milk chocolate video, I’ve used a metallic rose gold paint to splatter and decorate.

Just make sure your chocolate shapes are fully dry before moving on to the cake decorating process.

Step 6: Assemble

Once your chocolate shapes are to your liking, it’s time to use them on a cake or cupcakes! Simply stick them into the top of the buttercream on your cake or cupcakes and be amazed. Here are a few of my favorite looks:

These chocolate disks with rose gold finish:

And mini white chocolate disks for cupcakes (I’ve created a marble finish here by using a toothpick to swirl blue food color gel through the melted white chocolate once I poured it onto parchment, then sprinkled them before scoring).

These white chocolate triangles that I sprinkled before scoring:

The white chocolate geometric shapes I infused and splattered with Matcha Powder for the Matcha Cake recipe:

These mini white chocolate triangles that I used to top some cupcakes for a rose gold birthday (painted and splattered with Rose Gold Edible Art Paint):

You can make these chocolate shapes ahead of time and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator (or a cool, dark space) for up to a week. If a white film develops on the surface, fear not! You can always add some sheen back by rubbing a little coconut oil over the shapes.

There’s still so much I want to learn about chocolate, because it seems like a pretty amazing medium for making all sorts of dessert decor. Someday I’d love to master some 3D chocolate designs, like a sphere. When I step into the third dimension of chocolate work, you will definitely be hearing about it! Until then, if you want to see more of what inspires me, follow along on Pinterest!

The post Chocolate Geometric Shapes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

You Will Need:

• Gumpaste (I use this. Most craft stores with a cake decorating aisle will have it.)
• Small rolling pin and smooth surface to roll gumpaste out
• Crisco
• Printed letter templates
• Exacto knife
• Wax paper
• Flat toothpicks or floral wire
• Finishing touches like sprinkles, edible glitter, Edible Art Paint, etc (optional)

Step 1: Print Out A Letter Template

In order to get the look you really want, spend some time looking through different fonts on your computer. I chose a few different fonts for this tutorial just to show you that anything is possible with a little gumpaste and an exacto knife.

Print the letter(s) out onto paper once you’ve got a font you like and it’s sized perfectly, then carefully cut the letter out to use as a template.

Step 2: Make The Gumpaste Monogram

Roll out the gumpaste to the thickness of about ⅛ of an inch using a little crisco to keep it from sticking to your surface. Place your template over the top of the gumpaste and carefully cut around it with an exacto knife.

Stick toothpicks or floral wire into the bottom of the monogram and let it dry for about 15 minutes before carefully transferring it to a piece of wax paper to continue drying. The monogram should be completely dry in 24-48 hours. Flip it over halfway through the drying process so that both sides get equal drying time.

Step 3: Customize The Finish

The monograms look great in plain white, or you can color the gumpaste with food color gels before rolling it out in step 2. I’ve also found some other awesome ways to customize the finish after the drying process though:

Sprinkled Monogram Topper

Because what’s more celebratory than sprinkles?

For this cupcake topper, I mixed water and gumpaste together to make a “glue” (1 Tbsp water + a small ¼ inch piece of gumpaste. Let rest for 30 minutes until gumpaste is dissolved and you have yourself a glue!), brushed it over the monogram, and stuck sprinkles all over it.

Metallic Monogram Topper

For the metallic gold look, I used Edible Art Paint in Glamorous Gold. They make a ton of different colors, both metallic and non, and I love this stuff so much for painting fondant, gumpaste, and even buttercream!

After the gumpaste monogram was completely dry, I used a small paintbrush to paint a few coats of this Edible Art Paint and get the metallic gold look.

Glitter Monogram Topper

To get this glitter finish, I brushed on some of my gumpaste “glue,” then pressed edible silver glitter over the surface of the monogram.

The best thing about these gumpaste letters is they dry super hard in a short amount of time, so you don’t have to worry about them falling apart on you. You could use this technique to spell out an entire word for a cake topper, or keep it simple with one letter. It’s a really quick and easy way to customize a cake or cupcakes without having to scour the internet for the perfect topper!

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