Hi my fellow CCsters!
I have an order for my very first Sandcastle for a 5 year little girls birthday... So I've read here on CC a variety of things you can use to create sand: Cinnamon and sugar, brown sugar, graham crackers... My question to you all is which is the best tasting ? Thanks in advance to all you helpful tips

I like brown sugar. Some people don't like the taste of cinnamon ( they are living with challenged taste buds as far as I'm concerned ), and I'm always fearful graham crackers are too dry. Sugar....now that is melt in your mouth sweetness!

You can use crushed vanilla wafers!!! And, it kinda offsets the sweetness of the buttercream icing. I personally prefer this option, though graham crackers are another option.

I personally can't stand biting into an accumulation of brown sugar, so I use finely crushed graham crackers and 'nilla wafers mixed together.

I adhere the mixture to tan tinted buttercream and it's not dry at all.

Rae

Finely ground vanilla wafers and graham crackers mixed taste really good and have the perfect color. Only downside, is they get soggy and stale-tasting if you are finishing the cake too far ahead of time. But I still prefer it to brown sugar...biting into that can be overwhelming.

If it's a sandcastle and for a 5yr old, I'd go for graham crackers/vanilla wafers crumbs.

Thank you all so much! I will make sure to post my creation soon ; and will keep in mind all of your suggestions!

I used brown sugar on the one I did for my nephew years ago. For a pile of sugar or around the edge of the cake, I like sugar in the raw.

I like the vanilla wafers crushed up (I use a roller on them in a zip lock bag). I mixed some gold sanding sugar in them to give them that sparkle sand has. Doesn't take much but add a nice touch.

Okay, I have to tell you this: I use a gazillion things for realisitic sand. I use crushed graham crackers, crushed nilla wafers, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peper. Yes, peper! You don't need a lot, and it adds a really necessary realistic black color to sand.

I use Cinnamon Toast Crunch.... it works well and tastes AWESOME!

OH ALL YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME... PEPPER GREAT IDEA TO GIVE IT A MORE REALISTIC LOOK BUT I'M AFRAID IT MIGHT BE TOO HARSH OF A TASTE... BUT I'LL GIVE A SHOT THANK YOU AND CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH THAT SOUNDS SO PERFECT CAN'T WAIT TO TEST ALL OF THESE IDEAS!!!

I did a search on beach cakes the other day because I am doing something like that this weekend. Someone used crushed pecan sandies and it looked very realistic. Had a nice sand color and had the darker specs in it and everything. And who doesn't love the taste of pecan sandies? If I can find it again I'll post a link.

ETA: it was easier than I thought. I saved it to my favs

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1391427