It's all about the bling!

My wedding cakes have been following a trend lately.... bling has taken over!  It seems that sparkle is in!  There are many ways to add sparkle and bling to any cake.  Here are a few ideas...

Wilton Cake Sparkles

1.  Cake Sparkles:  One thing I always add to birthday cakes is sparkle... Wilton Cake Sparkles.  They come in many colors, but the irredescent ones are my favorite.  They add a beautiful sparkly touch to a cake! Completely edible, they are just flakes of sugar. They run close to $5 at Michaels but you can always use your 40% off coupon on them because they are never on sale.  Walmart carries them as well.  Just don't wait until the last minute to purchase them as the irridescent ones tend to sell out every now and then.  They aren't always readily available.

Rhinestone Banding

2.  Rhinestone Banding:  You can purchase this in craft stores.  It's actually just plastic that simulates the look of rhinestones.  It comes in bands of different widths.  I've seen it as skinny as one row of rhinestones and as wide as 15 or 20 rows.  The cool thing is you can take scissors and cut it to the width you want very easily.  

To apply it to the cake, I take my piping bag and pipe a zigzag of icing where I want to apply the banding and then press it into the icing.  When it's time to cut the cake, you'll have to remove the banding first!  Of course, it's not edible, and it wouldn't slice.  

3.  Metallic Paper Leaves:  So retro!  These have been around a long time!  Paper leaves in both silver and gold.  Super inexpensive!  They are just sturdy enough to tuck into the icing without bending. So quick and easy to use.  Of course, it's paper, so you pull them out before you eat the cake!

 4.  Dragees:  A dragee is a small, hard, ball of sugar that has a metallic coating.  They are quite hard, and it would be easy to break or chip a tooth if you bit into them just the right way.  In the past, they contained mercury, and they were classified as inedible.  They ARE edible, although the FDA recognizes them still as inedible and you cannot purchase them in California.  They are banned from sale there.  I find them at Byler's in Harrington and in Dover.  I do not use them to sprinkle on cupcakes.  I use them sparingly.  For example, in the cake below, I placed individual dragees on the cake in strategic locations:

Again, they ARE edible, but they are quite hard so be careful biting them!!

5.  Gold and Silver Sanding Sugar - Gold and Silver Pearls:
At a recent trip to Byler's in Harrington, I scored some metallic sanding sugar!  These are big granules of sugar.  Perfect so be sprinkled on a cupcake or on an icing rose!  At Redner's (grocery store) I found gold and silver pearls.  These are similar to dragees, but they are less metallic looking....more of a matte look than a metallic look...but much softer and easier on your teeth!

Here's a cupcake that has both gold and silver sanding sugar, gold and silver cake pearls, white cake pearls, and some black jimmies.

6.  Cake Toppers:  Of course, one of the easiest ways to add bling to a cake is with a beautiful, sparkly cake topper.  Inedible, but gorgeous!

I'm kind of addicted to all of this silver and gold.  I certainly hope this trend continues!