Painting Gold On Buttercream

Decorating By sweetwhimsycakes Updated 20 Aug 2015 , 6:55pm by KathysCC

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sweetwhimsycakes Posted 3 Apr 2015 , 2:33am
post #1 of 6

Is it possible, and if so, what is the best way, to paint gold onto crusting buttercream frosting?  I want the stripe to look like true metallic gold.  I am thinking lustre dust with Everclear will work, but thought I would hunt for someone who has done it successfully before I started experimenting.  Thank you in advance for your tips!

5 replies
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julia1812 Posted 3 Apr 2015 , 4:11pm
post #2 of 6

Sorry, I'm not a big help, but since nobody replied yet, I thought I just share my thoughts.

 I'm pretty sure the choice no one would be an airbrush. If you don't have one, I would go with luster dust spray - thin coat, let dry, second coat etc.

 Trying to use a brush and dust powder...hm...not sure about that. You might see the indents from the brush and I can imagine it'll be difficult to achieve an even coat.

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MadamePattiKakes Posted 3 Apr 2015 , 8:34pm
post #3 of 6

I have not done metallic colors, but I have done regular 'paint' (food color and vodka), and it works just fine.  The trick is not only using crusting buttercream, but making sure that you are also working with a very cold cake.


Allow the buttercream to crust first before chilling that way you get the matte finish on the outside, then chill til very firm, then paint away.

The paint does have a tendency to bleed a bit just as it would if it were on your skin so keep this in mind.  If you are doing a stripe, the way I would approach it is to use a straight-edge and indent the outer lines for however wide you want your stripe, then paint, this way if there is any bleeding of the paint, it will stay contained within the indent and not bleed out onto the other parts of your cake.

I think I have a pic on the forum here somewhere....Zombie Wedding Cake....the entire cake is buttercream that was painted to look like marble.

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sweetwhimsycakes Posted 20 Aug 2015 , 5:08pm
post #4 of 6

MadamePattiKakes,  Thank you for your advice!  (Julia1812, I tried all of your suggestions too!).  I ended up painting on the metallic paint that has been premixed from the cake supply store...mixing the lustre dust with vodka just kept making it clumpy.  Here is the end result in case you wanted to make a note....The color did bleed a bit, but the idea was supposed to be rustic anyway so I wasn't too worried about not having sharp clean lines.

55d6098e69b61.png

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julia1812 Posted 20 Aug 2015 , 6:44pm
post #5 of 6

Great job! Must have been quite difficult since you didn't paint on smooth buttercream but textured one...

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KathysCC Posted 20 Aug 2015 , 6:53pm
post #6 of 6

You can mix the gold with mineral oil to paint on buttercream.

*Last edited by KathysCC on 20 Aug 2015 , 6:55pm

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