I am making a tie dye swirled cake. And I was planning on using a diluted coloring gel and a paint brush to paint the swirl on the iced cake.

But I was thinking about maybe making colored sugar and topping the cake with it in a swirl pattern. Maybe using a ziploc with the corner tip cut off to make a funnel for control. so the question is... How do I make this sugar stick to the cake so when my DD blows the candles out my kitchen isn't covered in colored sugar? Can I mist it with something so it hardens alittle? Should I only apply alittle so all the sugar can stick to the icing? Do you have another easier (but still low cost) idea?

Thank you!

I vote for the only a little so it sticks to the icing. Are you using icing or fondant? if fondant I'd use piping gel(very thin coat) to get it to stick and stay. If it's frosting it should stick by itself if yu put it on right after you ice it before it sets up or crusts. Good luck!

I did a tie-dye cake in marshmallow fondant for my daughter's college send off. I just melted my marshmallows and a tablespoon of water in the microwave. Once completely melted i added my vanilla flavoring and then my powdered sugar. I kneaded it until it was nice and smooth and added various colors to the fondant. i only kneaded it a little to just mix in the colors slightly. Then I rolled it out. Super easy. And it really looked tie-dyed.