I'm getting married in October and our colors are silver and eggplant purple. Of course, I'm designing and making our cake, and thought silver leaf would be pretty peaking out from underneath drapes of dark purple fondant.

Well, I just received my order today of edilble silver leaf. I was counting the sheets (I didn't think they had sent me the right amount, and I was right, so I've already sent them an email about that, but anyway...) and I tore several. I had no idea how fragile this stuff is!! It's beautiful, but I can tell it's going to frustrate me.

So, how do I handle this stuff without tearing it all to shreds? HELP! (It isn't exactly cheap, although it's not as expensive as I thought it might be.)

Also, it should adhere to buttercream, right? My family hates fondant, so I was going to ice the cakes in BC and just do the drapes in fondant, but I wanted the silver leaf on the BC. I'm sure as long as the BC hasn't completely set up, there shouldn't be a problem.

(BTW, my younger sister decided we just HAD to get our nails done with our mom for Mother's Day last month. They look nice, but they are a royal pain with cake decorating. LOL And they aren't making it any easier to handle this silver leaf )

I'm going to watch this link.

I know edible silver can be applied to buttercream.. but silver leaf? I'm not so sure. I would think the buttercream would have to first "set" and then be applied with the leaf. I think the leaf works differently than the edible ink images.

I have NO affirmative knowledge on this. I'm just surfing and noticed your post. Wanted to wish you ALL THE VERY BEST! Hope your marriage is long and successful.

Hope the wedding cake is a pleasure to create and enjoy.

Congratulations.

I am going to go back many, many years to when I was a teenager. The mother of a close friend used to work with gold leaf, and we were absolutely fascinated by what she did. She had bits of leaf that she used to put into sheets about 3 inches square and then into books, each page divided by tissue paper. She used like chopsticks - the kind that are joined at the end like tweezers. I guess it takes practice because it is so very delicate. And no, long nails definitely don't work with cake making and decorating.

Barb

I've done the gold leaf on buttercream before and you really need it to be hard and dry before applying. If you put it against soft buttercream and you catch the edge of the paper that will lift the buttercream.

Personally I wouldnt do the silver leaf on the cake...I had to cover a buttercream dome with gold leaf on the top of a 9ft tall cake onsite, not cool to say the least. So when the buttercream was hard it was okay,it could have looked way better but it was nice, anyways I had to do touch ups on the side of the stage with stage lights so it softened up the buttercream a little bit and that made it the biggest pain in my butt, I was up there for about 40 minutes trying to fix it. I will never try to mess with gold leaf on buttercream again.

If you want a smooth silver look on your cake I was say Airbrush it with edible silver. Mix the Dust with Vodka and it will go thru nice and easy, the vodka will evaporate and wont leave a taste behind.
I think mixing the silver with an antique silk or super pearl would be a nice background color so its not as powerfull and dominating as the Leaf can be.
Also make sure to test your shade of purple in the fridge because purple and lavender tend to lighten or go grey in refridgeration.

...okay i'll shut up now

Good luck and congradulations

Thanks everyone for the replies! The consensus appears to be to apply after the BC is set--I'm glad I asked about that.

Hula_girl3~ Nine feet tall?!?! Holy cow! Thanks for the tips. I had wondered about the silver leaf being overpowering because it's so reflective. I don't have an airbrush but have been wanting one...this may be the perfect excuse to finally buy myself one. LOL

Any excuse is a good excuse to get what you want! But thats just one girls opinion

Very Interesting Can someone tell me how to apply the silver leaf to fondant. PLEASE