I have a bride who wants the sugar sparkles all over her cake for a January wedding. The ones I've seen in the Wilton books are all covered in fondant, brushed with piping gel and then the sugar is pressed into the piping gel. My bride wants buttercream. Has anyone does this look with buttercream? Would you brush the buttercream with piping gel or just press the sugar into the buttercream? I do use a crusting buttercream so I am afraid the sugar wouldn't stay. Any ideas??

i would do a test run to see how it works, but my concern would be that if you "press" the sugar on will it leave marks in your icing? im sure the sugar will stick to the BC if you do it before it crusts, the only problem i foresee is how to get it on the BC without damaging it.

With cupcakes and cookies, I just ice and dip.
Someone iced castle turrets and rolled in sugar...
I'm not sure how you would handle a cake without damage.