Hey everyone, I'm new to this site. I'm doing a wedding cake in 1 1/2 weeks and desperately need some advice. I'm doing a 4 tiered cake with buttercream frosting and airbrushing the design on each tier. Here's my question. How long does it take airbrushing to dry? I tried it last night with a stencil and by airbrush is not the best(bought off ebay) but it will do for now. My icing was sweating b/c it had just come out of the freezer and therefore, the dye was running on the cake and it never dried. I realize it could be because the icing was still very wet. If I use typical buttercream that forms a crust, will the dye from the airbrushing dry and not run? Please send me any advice that you can, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you,
Hopeful(Bastian)

Take a look at my hamburger cake in my photos. I airburshed it after the BC crusted and it dried very quickly and I had no problems with it running. If you have condensation on your BC it may stay somewhat sticky.

your cake will need to be a room temp,not sweating and icing crusted to airbrush without it running.

Thanks for the advice sweetcakes and tiggy2. My plan is to bake cakes on Wednesday, freeze(w/crumb coat), take out and defrost on Thursday night and Friday morning put final coat of BC and airbrush. The wedding is Friday evening at 6PM. I was going to freeze to lock in moisture and freshness. I read on forums yesterday that even if a cake is made right before serving that it is better if frozen. What are your opinions? Do you think my plan will work? Thanks again for the advice, I look forward to hearing back from you guys : )

Bastian,

Hello again! And I forgot to say Welcome to the Board!! I just wanted to let you know my airbrushing experience. It took me a few cakes before I realized the the reason my airbrush was sputtering and spitting (I thought it was defective) was because I was holding all the way down on the trigger. If you start out with the least amount of pressure and then add pressure slowly, you won't have that problem. Also, If you need it to be darker, wait until it's dry to add a second coat. Or you will have running. It should only take about 10 minutes or so to dry. Good luck! And again welcome!

~Mindy