Hello everyone I have so many questions. I have to make this cake for a bridal shower and I'm still not sure what to use to glue the pearls to the fondant. Has anyone made this cake or similar before? How much pearls will I need? Where can I find the cheapest price? Instead of buying gold or silver pearls, is it better to buy them ivory and then add the shimmer powder? If I buy the ivory ones do I apply shimmer powder with a brush or mix the shimmer with vodka then apply? Thank you in advance.

I haven't made a cake exactly like this, but I did do one that's sort of similar, so I thought I would help as much as I can. This is a terrible picture. The cake was much prettier in person. I colored my own pearls, just because I needed them to be "rose gold" and they don't come in that color. So I mixed rose gold luster dust and vodka in a little jar, poured in a bunch of ivory sugar pearls, then just shook it up until they were all coated with the luster dust. Again, this picture is awful, but they were very pretty in person. I used just under 4 oz of pearls on this cake. The band of pearls was 2 inches wide, and this was a 10" cake. So if you're doing a 10" 8" 6" cake, I would get 10-12 oz of pearls just to be safe. I stuck them on with piping gel, but you could use thinned corn syrup too. Oh, and here's a good tutorial on coloring your own dragees/pearls. This is pretty much what I did: http://ericaobrien.com/blog/gold-dragees-from-yuck-to-yay/#.WPD5i2dOmUk

Thank you kryptonite. Your cake looks beautiful. That is a lot of pearls I need to get. I have to find out where I can get them cheapest. I am only charging $290 for this cake because is for one of my daughter's friend but I would definitely charge over $500 for this cake next time.

Yes, I agree. It seems like a "simple" design, but I would definitely charge around $500 as well. Now I may be overestimating the amount of pearls you'll need. I'm bad about that, haha. That's why I always keep track of how many I use for a cake just for future reference. I'm lucky to have a local cake supply shop where I can get the pearls at a good price. Global Sugar Art has fairly decent prices, and you can buy them in bulk here: http://www.cakedeco.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?p_catid=295  I can't vouch for either of these, I just thought the prices seemed fair...Of course, I'm not sure how much shipping will cost you

It is easy to make them:)  I have just made dzs & dzs for Easter.  Just knead your fondant and sit in front of the tv to roll them:)  I pinch off tiny pieces and roll them with my fingers.  Don't have to see just look at each finished to be sure it's round and the right size.    Simple as pie and costs much less!  Unless you have to have silver but then to get a bit of silver look just get some *EDIBLE silver dust* put in a baggy, add your dried-overnight balls in and shake, shake, shake - whalalah you have silver pearls.

I think the easiest thing would be using a mold like the one pictured below.  Then you can paint them whatever color with some luster dust mixed with lemon extract.

Rachel, that's a great idea.  It would make it easier to place them on the cake & take FAR less time - flat bottom instead of round and they could be left in a strip instead of having to place each and every one separately:)

I do like the mold idea but will I be able to make the same shape as the picture? Won't it be too obvious where pieces meet?

I don't think it would be obvious.  It has a very abstract edge, not straight like some molds.  You could always fill in any gaps with some hand rolled pearls for when you stack them.

Thank you all for your help. Well I didn't find the mold anywhere closed to my house so I bought 1 kl of the white pearls. I will try to add the pearls to the cake first and then add luster dust to most of the pearls. The lady at the shop told me to glue them with sugar glue.  Wish me luck.