I'm just a hobby baker(and a new one at that), making cakes for family only. In need of some advice. My sister asked me to make her wedding cake. 3 tiers with very simple decorations...top and bottom with bc swirl roses, middle with fondant wrapped with a ribbon with a rhinestone brooch. She also wanted to have more jewels on the cake. I told her to order sugar diamonds online.....she decided to get non edible craft jewels and said that we can either take them off before serving the cake or tell people not to eat them. Who is going to pick all of these off (not me, have enough to do, in the wedding party as well) and what if some are missed?! This sounds like a really bad idea to me. What do you all think? Are there any alternatives that I can get at a local store like Michaels? Thanks!

I would never rely on telling guests not to eat something. You can't depend on it. Aunt Dot may have been chattering away in Cousin Roberta's ear so neither of them were paying attention. And you can't know what kids will do. If you put something on a food plate, it should be food, in my opinion. The only way I would put non-edible things on a cake at all would be if I were personally there to take them off before cutting. I would not rely on someone else to do it.

Hi,
Yeah, you're right, lots of little non edible jewels are not a very good idea, especially if children are attending the wedding, and they could go missing like you said, the big rhinestone brooch is fine, because it wouldn't be as easy to lose.

How about getting your hands on some edible pearls, glitter and the jewels,
but if you can't get the sugar edible jewels, decorate with less and bigger jewels, so you know if one is missing.
They sell the sugar diamonds here,

http://www.globalsugarart.com/search.php?search=diamonds

Hope this helps, good luck!

Hi! I am not comfortable putting anything non-edible on a cake - even ribbon! People assume anything on a cake is edible so why take the chance. I bought some 'cool jewels' ice cube trays made of silicon through perpetualkid.com (6.99) . I've never tried the isomalt for the clear glass (I'm sure thats the way to go!) but i have used jello. If you have time to experiment before the actual wedding cake by making different jewels that would be great. I find a lot of inspiration in the candy aisle at Party City too! They either have things you can use or give you ideas on what you want to make. Good luck! Enjoy yourself!

Sorry, but I won't put small, non-edibles on a cake--just too much liability doing that.

If she insists on the non-edible gems, then she makes the cake--OR--I make a dummy using them and basic kitchen cakes get served to guests.

JMHO
Rae

duplicate post

Thank you for the responses! This has confirmed my thoughts of it being a bad idea. I'm going to tell her I won't use them. I checked out global sugar art and I think the sugar diamonds are pretty reasonable....thank you JamandButtercream for the link! And thank you Theresaf for the ideas! That website is AMAZING! So much fun and unusual things...had to pull myself away from it. Lol! Going to run all of the suggestions past my sister and see what she thinks. Unfortunately, she has zero idea about what goes into making a cake, the cost, transporting, etc. To her it's as simple as "tell people not to eat the jewels" or " just put it in a box and have someone else take it over to the site" when I asked her what I was supposed to do with the cake while I'm getting my hair done for the wedding. Haha! If only it was that easy. Hope things go well! Thanks again!!