When Making Sand - Will Brown Sugar Melt Into The Buttercream Frosting?

Decorating By kbnickel Updated 18 Apr 2013 , 9:02pm by sixinarow

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kbnickel Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 2:09pm
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Hi - I need to make beach cupcakes for an upcoming event.  I have used brown sugar, raw sugar, and graham cracker crumbs on fondant before, but these will be buttercream and I am worried that if I put brown  sugar in the top for sand, it will melt into the frosting.  The same for graham crackers crumbs, will they get soggy or hold their form to still look like sand?

 

Any suggestions would be GREAT!  Pics of sand on buttercream would be great too!

 

Thanks so much!

6 replies
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kbnickel Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 2:12pm
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Yes, but only on fondant.  Will they get soggy on the buttercream and not look like sand?

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aem1029 Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 3:12pm
post #3 of 7

I used brown sugar on top of one of my buttercream iced cakes and it was fine.  i sprinkled it on right before delivery, the cake was not eaten until the next day so i'm not sure what happened but i didn't get any negative feed back.  let your buttercream crust up a bit, then sprinkle and it should be fine.

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aem1029 Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 3:14pm
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if you look at my photos, take a look at the mermaid cake and you'll see the brown sugar that was used on top for the sand.

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FromScratchSF Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 3:28pm
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No, it will not melt.  Brown sugar has an even higher decomposition point then white sugar when making caramel, and it does not dissolve in water easily at all.  Think about the last time you made chocolate chip cookies.  You know that point when it's just the butter and sugar?  You know, the magic delicious time?  It's still gritty because brown sugar does not break down until it's been blasted in high heat.  I've used graham crackers, brown sugar, and all kinds of other bits on my buttercream cakes and they are just fine.

 

Note:  Dark brown sugar is the less refined and contains has the most molasses is it, so it has a higher decomposition point then light brown sugar, which is 1/2 way refined white sugar.  I generally use dark brown for any decorations.  Actually, for sand I do 1/2 dark brown sugar and 1/2 graham crackers so it's not just clumps of sugar of the cake.  For added texture chuck in a bit of sugar in the raw or some clear sanding sugar.

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taartenmaker Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 3:36pm
post #6 of 7

AI have used brown sugar on buttercream and it didn't melted into the buttercream This was the cake

[IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/2984057/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

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sixinarow Posted 18 Apr 2013 , 9:02pm
post #7 of 7

I made an octopus cake for my little boy, granted, it was covered in mmf, but I used crushed rice krispies instead of brown sugar for the sand. Just smashed them up super fine and left some bigger pieces for some bigger "pebbles" of sand.

Octopus Cake Octopus and shark made out of rice krispie treats covered with modeling chocolate. All other shells, crabs, undersea plants, signs, seaweed made from fondant. www.thecrumbcoat.wordpress.com

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