Hi! Am new here- I hope you can help me!

I (stupidly) brushed my cake, covered in red sugarpaste icing, with a sugar water solution to remove the icing sugar. It now looks horribly shiny and messy. Is there any way to de-gloss the cake, does anyone know?! I am thinking sand-paper! 

i do not know--i thope it will dry

but a spirit will work for next time

an alcohol, vodka, everclear, grain alcohol, or lemon extract which is high in alcohol

because alcohol wets which cleans for you then evaporates

hopefully it will dry off for you

Wow- good tip thanks! I assume it doesnt taste like vodka?!

ok--it's not supposed to

and it probably fully dissipates a great percentage of the time

and it probably goes unnoticed if it does linger

but i have noticed once in a while myself

but nobody started slurring thier speach or anything but since it's the first part to touch your tongue...

a very light airbrushing of it would probably be best

the lightest touch is the best

maybe a cotton ball with a little on it

keeping the work as clean as possible helps too

and using a blob of fondant to rub on it helps polish it up too

just my experience

hey--test it out on some scraps in different ways/products & see what you think

would love to know how it turns out for you

Ok so my cake has dried out plenty, so I am going with it! It's for a friend's birthday and I am not being paid or anything, so it will do! 

I will try the alcohol thing in future though!

Any liquid in any form will do the same thing. 

One possible solution would be to dust the 'glossy mess' w/powdered sugar.  Make a pouch by putting the sugar into a lg sq of cheesecloth and rub it over the fondant.

AI always used alcohol to clean icing sugar off, I mostly used gin as it was cheaper and no you can't taste it at all, nor can you get in any way affected by the alcohol or drunk from it. I was quite heavy handed with too.

I steam my cake if I have too much icing sugar on it.  This does give it a glossy appearance, though it generally fades with time and as it dries out.  I  have one of those mega steam irons which I hold over the cake.  It doesn't spit drops of water only steam.