Non-toxic or edible? Make sure you know the difference

How to Give Your Cakes Sparkle without Breaking the Law

THERE has been much discussion surrounding the use of edible glitters ever since they were reclassified.

Forums dedicated to professional and amateur bakers alike are awash with people wondering what they can and can’t put on their cakes.

And despite many products now being labelled as non-edible but non-toxic some companies continue to label them safe to eat while others say no, leading to an awful lot of confusion about whether they can be used on foods or not.

The short answer is no. But things are never that simple!

In essence you can no longer put glitter that is classed as non-edible on anything that is going to be eaten. You can still put it on decorations that will be removed before the cake, cookie, cupcake etc is going to be eaten. For example, you might make a spray of wild flowers for a cake and put some glitter on them but those flowers would have to removed first before eating.

What you cannot do is sprinkle it directly onto fondant, buttercream and so on.

But I have never had any problems in the past I hear you cry! That may be true, I have indeed used glitter myself in days gone by and I have yet to hear of anyone having an adverse reaction to it. It may turn your poos…well that is a story for another day.

Seriously though, I recently saw someone compare it to the skin of sweetcorn which passes harmlessly through the body. Is it not the same thing? Actually, no. Sweetcorn is an organic substance which humans can happily eat. The outside is made of cellulose which we can’t digest but so is plenty of other vegetation we eat and does us no harm. Edible glitter, on the other hand, is made of inorganic substances, sometimes aluminium. All right it is present in very small amounts but you wouldn’t walk into a factory, pick up pile of metal shavings and start munching on them either would you?

So what can you do to give your cakes sparkle and stay within the law?

Unfortunately, I have yet to come across anything that completely matches up to the original glitters but there are some very good alternatives out there.

Magic Sparkles are a reasonable alternative though they are not quite as brilliant. They do however add a little bit os sparkle but they do dissolve with moisture so you have to be careful how you put them on _ i have very successfully applied them to cakes and cookies using a little bit of PME clear confectioner’s glaze first so they adhere to the surface.

Rainbow Dust also have an entirely edible range called the Starlight range which are a decent alternative.

You can also make your own. Lindy Smith has a great recipe on her blog which is easy to follow

And finally, I have just finished trialling some samples from India which have been pretty good, some colours brighter than others. So watch this space, I might be stocking them myself soon…

Close up of sugar flower and sugar message tag

Well, at Pink Rose Cakes we don’t like to do things by halves and instead create a delicate pink, mint green and white two tier cake which I think is particularly pretty.

Get Well Soon Cake

The cake inside is a moist chocolate cake layered with a rich dark chocolate ganache buttercream.

On the outside the tiers were covered in white fondant and then decorated in pale pink icing using a combination of brush embroidery and piping.

The sugar flower is made from my own homemade pastillage, using a five petal cutter. Three rounds were frilled then allowed to dry before being stuck together. The centre was then decorated with little pearl balls and then sprinkled with a little bit of glitter. In this instance the pearl balls were plastic and inedible though normally I have edible pearl dragees. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I have stored them at the moment!

The Get Well soon tag was also made out of pastillage then decorated with Wilton edible food colour pens. Normally I would dowel tiered cakes but with such a small 4″ cake on top the bottom cake was well able to support this without.

Finally the cake was finished off with a little mint ribbon which complements beautifully the pink and white and stops it from being too saccharine pink.

Close up of sugar flower with pearl balls and glitter

All the tiers are gluten, wheat and dairy free lemon cake which goes to show with a bit of planning the same kind of fabulous cakes can be created for those with special dietary needs.

The cake is made from 10″, 8″ and 6″ round cakes that have been carved into shape by me then iced and allowed to dry.

All three tiers are a mixture of airbrushing and hand painting with little red sugar roses and gold balls dotted all around. The board was hand painted to have wonky black and white tiles.

The teapot and teacups are also made of sugar. These were made in advance to allow time to dry and were then airbrushed and hand painted to finish. The figurines were added last and are also entirely edible.

I was absolutely stoked to be able to do this cake, it was such fun and I could have carried on designing it forever and adding bits to it but at the end of the day it was destined to make a little girl very happy!

Having said that, I will be showing some of my new designs at some upcoming wedding fairs around Sussex.

The first one is on January 29, 2012 at the wonderful Wiston House, Steyning. This beautiful country home has provided the backdrop for many a lovely wedding and I am delighted to be unveiling some classic cake designs (and some not so classic ones!) there.

The second one which I have not quite confirmed but should be there is at another great country house hotel South Lodge, near Horsham. This one takes place on Sunday, February 5, 2012.

And the third one is at vibrant Brighton Racecourse, which is always extremely well attended and full of an array of wonderful wedding suppliers on Feburary 19, 2012.

Come and see us there!

The cake is carved from an extra deep 8″ lemon cake, split into three and sandwiched with two layers of lemon curd buttercream. The cake was covered in one piece of white fondant, then marked whilst still soft and airbrushed once dry to give the shaded brown effect.

The figurines, “water”, towels and champagne bottle are also all entirely edible.

Congratulations on 20 years together John and Gaynor!

Square hot tub cake

It is because of this fundamental philosophy that I have recently had the privilege of meeting and working with some very talented wedding-oriented businesses. What started as a casual talk about recommendations has now turned into something more formal where they five of us are working together to promote and recommend our different businesses.

It doesn’t mean you have to hire everyone of us as we are all still independent of each other and you may need just one or two of our different services but you can be assured that we all offer an excellent, professional and high quality service.

I wouldn’t want to recommend anyone who is rubbish because it reflects badly on me and neither would they!

Anyway the lovely people I am now working with are:
Eleganza Weddings – an extremely experience and talented wedding and events company who can erase the stress of planning your celebration by organising it all for you.
Paul Fletcher Photography – a fantastic Brighton-based photographer who specialises in natural, relaxed images which help capture the essence and intimacy of your wedding.
Briony Billingham Floral Design – a wonderful florist who will design and create bouquets and centrepieces with a strong focus on individuality and attention to detail.
Christina Jessel – A very experienced hair an make up artist who has worked for many prestigious theatres and the BBC. She will also hopefully be doing my hair and make up at my wedding next year – can’t get a better recommendation than that!

The cake was three tiers of different flavours, including raspberry and white chocolate, vanilla and light chocolate cake. It was then covered in a white chocolate paste and then decorated with lots and lots of lovely white chocolate cigarellos. I think I actually used the best part of  3kg or Belgian white chocolate on this cake. Yum!

What made this cake particularly great was each tier was separated by a glass vase filled with burnt orange cala lilies and glass beads with a domed arrangement on top with autumn-coloured roses and foliage. Not only did it look dramatic but it almost doubled the cake’s height and  gave it the real wow factor for guests.

Here are a couple of pix – one of the cake on its own and one with the happy couple cutting it. Congratulations Emma and Robin!

White chocolate cigarello cake with fresh flowers

Emma and Robin's Stanmer House Wedding

The body of the guitar is entirely edible as are the strings though the fret board is foam core cut into shape and covered in fondant before being decorated. I had originally planned to make this part edible too but the perfect pastillage fret board I had drying met with a nasty, sticky end thanks to my two-year-old deciding to eat half of it. After that I didn’t have the drying time to make another so it was back to old faithful foam core.

I have in mind several things I want to do with guitar cakes in future if I can a) make a wooden tiered stand for them so I can carve the cake as if it is standing upright, b) make the fret board entirely edible and screwed into the cake so it doesn’t need to be supported at the far end and c) use real guitar strings just for the hell of it as long as I can make sure they are tight.

Anyway, for now, here are the guitar cake pictures….

The original picture sent to me by the client

My cake copy of it…

Fender Stratocaster Guitar Cake

Close up of end of fret board, everything you see here is made of fondant/pastillage icing

Close up of airbrushed Fender logo, using a mask

Close up of Fender body, all edible

I had come across her site by chance and had wanted to get hold of a copy of her book for a while. I finally ordered it whilst visiting my sister in California (any chance to avoid paying the ridiculous import duty here!) and I wasn’t disappointed.

The book is a wealth of information for the cake decorator who wants to try something a bit different. It is full of basic recipes for both cakes and fillings/frostings, more complex recipes, upside down cakes and last but not least multi-flavoured and layered cakes. This was the bit I was particularly interested in. Everyone seems to be doing the same recipes for cakes these days – vanilla, chocolate, lemon, carrot and so on and to have a recipe book which actually gives ideas for unusual flavour combinations and innovative cakes is just wonderful.

I wholeheartedly agree with Marie’s philosophy that a cake should taste as good as it looks. Unfortunately, too many times I have had cakes which look great and taste like s***, well you get the picture. With these recipes though it makes it possible to have cakes that will stack well, carve well yet still taste yummy and be a bit different from the crowd.

I haven’t had much opportunity to try it out having been busy with orders and wedding fairs but I did manage to squeeze in one recipe last week for a Neapolitan cake which is basically alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla cake spread with thin layers of chocolate ganache and fresh strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream.

The recipe converts easily to British measurements, the only thing that threw me a bit was instant vanilla pudding mix but a quick internet search revealed the English equivalent to be vanilla Angel Delight. Weird you might say but I would argue you don’t actually know it is in the cake and I guess it helps to add to the moistness of the sponge. And anyway it isn’t so weird when put in the context of a well known cake maker who I recently heard adds mayonnaise to their cakes for added moistness. I also didn’t have any strawberries handy so I used fresh damsons, which I did have, made into a thick puree and combine with a basic Swiss meringue buttercream. Still the end result was fantastic – a really nice-looking layered cake, that impresses visually when it is cut into and tastes divine. In fact, it tastes so nice that I have had to freeze the remainder to stop myself eating it.

So I would recommend this book, which is now available through Amazon , to anyone who fancies going off piste with their cake flavours.

I am looking forward to trying such mouthwatering concoctions as the Mango Mojito Torte, Fat Elvis and Southern Belle and hopefully introducing some similar recipes to my own available repertoire soon…

Collaborating with the talented Christine at Fuchsia Flower Design we showcased a simple three tier cake, large enough to feed around 70 people, with a simple design and decorated with fresh flowers. The beauty of the design is it can be kept more subtle with pale flowers and vintage-remniscent blooms or dressed up, as in the picture below with vibrant flowers to match your colour theme.

In this case we used carnations, a much-maligned flower which even I have been guilty of associating with limp motorway service station bouquets in the past.

But this lovely flower is not to be underestimated and comes in a wide array of colours. Not only that but they are much cheaper than roses or orchids and do well out of water so no horrible wilting on your wedding day.

Alternatively you can still opt for opulent roses or bright gerbera. Choose bright oranges and reds for an autumn or winter feel, lime greens and creams for a spring wedding or stick with pale dusky, pinks and full-bloomed whites for a romantic, vintage feel.

The cake on the left can be blocked with any colours you want and the icing design can again be piped in a matching colour along with matching ribbon. The whole look can be tied in with the rest of the flowers in stunning floral displays for your reception tables.

This three tier cake is currently available in either vanilla or chocolate at a price of £350 plus fresh flowers (stand not included). Email inf0@pinkrosecakes.co.uk for more details or to make a booking.