How to Add Gold to a Cake

It doesn't take much to add some glamour and drama to your next cake! Let me show you how to do just that by incorporating gold in three simple ways!

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We'll look at the four most common ingredients for adding some metallic sparkle to your cake. The first is edible glitter. Here, I have some Prism Powder, a fine edible glitter for food and drink made by Fancy Sprinkles. Notice that this product is labeled as edible. Never use glitters intended for crafting on any cake or cupcakes, even if the product is listed as non-toxic. Whether you're buying edible glitter online or in person, be sure that the product is clearly labeled as edible.

The second ingredient you'll find is luster dust. This is Wedding Gold by The Sugar Art. Again, we can see that this luster dust is labeled as 100% edible. Luster dust can be applied to a cake with a dry brush or combined with a bit of grain alcohol to create a paint.

Speaking of paints, you can also find cake paint. These are a couple of different gold tones of Edible Art Decorative Cake Paint made by Sweet Sticks. The fourth ingredient that can be used to add gold accents to cakes and cupcakes is edible gold leaf. This product is labeled as edible genuine gold. Now, let's see how these different gold products can be applied to a cake!

EDIBLE GLITTER & DUST

Edible glitter adds a subtle touch of elegance. We'll use a dry, round, soft-bristle brush to apply it. I've used about 98% of this container, but as you can see, the glitter is very fine. There are two very important things to know about edible glitter: number one, it can be quite messy, and number two, a little bit of it really goes a long way. I used Prism Powder a few years ago to glitter some cherries for my colleague's birthday cake.

To apply edible glitter, you'll want to touch a dry, soft brush gently onto the top of the glitter. Position the brush over the area where you want the glitter to be placed, then gently tap the brush with your finger. Doing this will give you better control over where the glitter lands. I'm not flinging the glitter from my brush but gently tapping the glitter onto my buttercream swirls.

CAKE PAINT (BOTTLED & DIY)

Next, we'll look at the decorative cake paint. This product must be shaken up well before use. I'm squeezing a dot of champagne gold onto a small disc of modeling chocolate. Next, I'll spread the paint with a dry, flat brush. Edible paints like this one are best when used on fondant, gumpaste, and modeling chocolate, but it can be applied to buttercream or ganache that's set and not too soft.

Next, I'll do the same with sun-kissed gold. It can be hard to tell the difference between the different gold tones without seeing them applied to the modeling chocolate. You'll notice that "Sun-Kissed Gold" has more of a rich yellow tone, and "Champagne Gold" appears softer and more of a rosy tone.

Edible paints can be used to paint onto cake drips as well, but I've had more success with using luster dust mixed with grain alcohol to create my own edible paint. I used this method on a cake just recently. To do this, pour a small amount of grain alcohol into a ceramic bowl. I used about half a teaspoon.

Next, use a brush or small spoon to drop some luster dust onto the grain alcohol, then mix them together. You may need to add a bit more dust if the mixture appears too watery. Apply a few more drops of alcohol if the mixture appears chunky. Make sure that the mixture is smooth and has a paintable consistency before starting.

I'm using a thin, flat brush to apply the gold to the drips. I highly recommend using a smaller and thinner brush for this technique to precisely paint onto the nooks and crannies of the drip area. One thing that you'll notice with this method is that the alcohol will evaporate quickly. When this happens, just add a few more drops of alcohol to achieve the proper consistency and keep going!

EDIBLE GOLD LEAF

Next, we'll apply gold leaf to this cake. You want to make sure that your buttercream or ganache cake is set before applying the gold leaf. I'm using edible gold leaf from Barnabas. Gold leaf is very thin and very delicate. It typically comes packaged in individual sheets placed in a folded paper sleeve like this. The easiest way to apply gold leaf is to lift the paper sleeve to place the leaf directly onto the cake. Doing so will allow us to cover more surface area.

If you want to place small pieces of leaf onto your cake in a very specific area, you'll want to brush the area with a little water to moisten it, then use a dry brush to break and lift pieces of various shapes and sizes into place onto the cake. You can use a clean, dry finger to pat the leaf down slightly if it lifts. Because gold leaf is so thin and delicate, the leaf easily catches onto itself.

You never want to lift it off the paper sleeve by the corners to place it. If you do, the leaf will most likely not remain completely flat. Applying gold leaf to a cake typically results in an organic or random placement. Keep an open mind when working with gold leaf and leave some flexibility in the cake design!

Gold cake bases are all the rage, but given the variation in gold tones, they may clash with the gold tone that you've applied to your cake. To avoid any clashes, I highly recommend using a white or black cake base instead of a gold one. I chose a black base for this cake and was pleased with the final results!