I have a 50th anniversary cake I'm doing this weekend. My friend would like gold scrolling on the sides on the tiers. My question is, do I hand make the scrolls myself and then paint them gold or do I take a scroll stencil and use royal icing? I was thinking the stencil would make it a bit more uniform looking. Should I color the RI like a golden yellow/tan color and then once it dries then do I paint it w/ gold luster dust and vodka? Any tips would be so very helpful. Thank you!!

One more question.....the only vodka I have is huckleberry vodka, the cakes are chocolate and vanilla. Will anyone be able to taste the huckleberry flavor or is it ok to still use?

Yes, make your royal icing a gold color. I made the mistake once of doing it in white and then painting over it with the gold but it looks so much better if the base color is already gold. You can either freehand pipe or stencil, whatever you choose.

I don't think that anyone will taste the flavored vodka, you use so little of it, don't worry.

Thank you very much!!