I'm doing my second wedding cake very soon, and the bride wants the edible pearls for the border. I'm ordering them tomorrow and was wondering how many I'd need. I'm doing a 6", 3-10", and a 12", all rounds, as well as 2 12x18" sheets. I only need the bottom border since I'm covering in fondant and flowers for the rest of the decoration. I checked Earlene's chart, but it was for the patterned mats, so now I'm not sure what to do. Also, do you think I should use the 4, 5, or 6 mm pearls? Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

tsc

anyone???

I will have to make a similar cake in June !!! I will check this post to see advices of others !!

Thanks in advance

If you go to www.cakesbysam.com she has a edible pearl chart that will tell you how many pearls you should need for each size cake. HTH.

I make my own and just keep a supply around. I've never counted how many I use, so I can't advise on quantity.

As for size...IMHO for a border, bigger is better. I'd probably go up to 9mm at least. Maybe 13. See if you can find some cheap plastic pearl beads at the craft store and experiment. Find the size you like, then lay them out as you would on the border...measure how many it takes to cover two or three inches....figure out the diameter of your layer and just apply the math. Then you'd not only know if you've chosen the right size for the look you want - you'll know how many with a fairly high degree of accuracy.

Thanks so much jo_ann that was exactly what I needed.

Thank you very much !!!

You can also experiment by making them yourself. This is a tutorial on making the pearls. I have an anniversary cake to make and made all the pearls I need. While watching tv at night you can sit and roll them up.
Here is the link:
http://www.earlenescakes.com/prlinstruct.htm

I just make my own pearls too. Cheaper and a good excuse to watch movies. Two of the cakes in my album have pearl boarders. I think the fondant one took about 200-ish (6mm) for the borders and the BC one took around 150-ish(8mm). The cakes are both 8 and 6 inch rounds.

Thanks Jo Anne and Cashley, I have a bead maker and I am going to look at Earlene's and Sam's sites.