a lustrious look?

hello and welcome to CC!
i add dusts to my buttercream dry i just sprinkle it on lightly. not sure if there is another way-so im just as eager to learn more.
i mainly use snowflake or mystical dust to get the shimmer affect.
HTH

I have wondered about this myself. I might take a tiny bit of buttercream and add some dust just to see how much of each it would take to get the right effect, or if it will even work at all... I'll try to do this tonight and update to let you know if it worked.

If I may hijack the thread....How do you apply the dust lightly and evenly, like say for a snow scene?

I just iced the cake normally and applied the luster dust onto the iced cake. I've never tried to mix it into the buttercream. I'm afraid it would take too much to get a good effect. Let us know how the test goes.

I apply it with a paint brush (clean blush brush would work) or sprinkle it on as mentioned.

I don't think I'd add it to the BC, as it will mostly get mixed in and you'll use a lot more than you need to. I'd put the BC on the cake, then use a paintbrush with loose bristles, or a make-up brush would work too (new, or just for food of course), and dip into the luster dust, then lightly shake it above, or dab it on (crusted if you're dabbing) the BC. I mainly use it over fondant, unless I'm painting it wet on a BC border so someone else may have more experience w/mixing it.

When you mix it in, it just disappears in the buttercream.

You can brush it onto crusted buttercream with a big soft brush. It's pretty easy to get it even, because you just go over it until it all looks the way you want it to.

You cannot mix it in. It will just make the bc hard to work with.

An airbrush is the best way to get luster on butter cream. Other then that sprinkling some on a piece of paper and hold it next to your cake and give it a shot with the cool setting on your hair dryer and the powder will become air born and blow onto your cake.

LOL, you are all correct. I finally tried it last weekend with just a little bit of BC and some gold luster dust. It just gave me a light tan colored BC. Not good at all.

If you want a sparkly effect, then Wilton cake sparkles work well with BC. You can get them in various colors... just sprinkle them on. Otherwise, you can add lustre dust to your RI or paint it on fondant

I did tried this once, the luster gets lust and doesn't sparkle. Is a waste of powder.
You can airbrush the buttercream with an airbrush or even handpaint the buttercream if it's a crusting buttercream. You just have to have a delicate hand with it. But the handpainting I usually do in smaller details, not the whole cake.
Edna

I agree that you should use a brush to apply it to your BC. I usually spray my cakes with edible luster spray that I order online. Maybe you could try that next time to side step having to brush something on. Might save you some time. HTH! Merry Christmas!

I did it on a large 50th anniversary cake that was iced in BC, if you look in my photos, it's the big gold and white cake. Mix your luster dust with vodka, lemon extract, etc (something with alot of alcohol, which eventually evaporates), you want the consistency of wall paint, or even slightly thicker, and paint it on the crusted BC, I use a clean make up brush to lessen the visible brush strokes. HTH!

What about putting it in a sifter and sift on top of the cake? Never tried it myself.

If you look in my pix, I have two cakes that I did with lustre dust on buttercream. One is the gold monogram cake using white buttercream roses that were frozen then dry dusted with gold lustre, and the other is the chocolate heart's desire cake which has chocolate buttercream roses that were also frozen and dusted with fall colors. I've never had success adding the lustre right to the buttercream, I always dry dust everything.

Hello everybody
I was wondering how is this done? is it with a brush?is that butter cream put to froze to be harder?

That looks to be RI that was allowed to hardened then painted with wet highlighter.

It sure is a big dilemma! and this? doesn't seem to be painted or airbrushed; this is also breathtaking...

iulishca that gilding is done on hardened royal icing. It's hand painted. Just mix the lustre dust with Vodka into a paint and paint on with a tiny brush. Do you have a picture of the entire cake? I'd love to see it.

Yes sure It's an amazing job

Yes, definitively handpainted royal icing!
Edna

Oh my god, that must be so hard work!
How many hours do you think it took to make that cake (the gold painted part)?

It does take a long time!!!
Edna

Which brand of luster dust do you think is best suited for this type of 'grand master work' ?

I've used all kinds of lustre dust, I didn't find any difference in brands. The only difference I've found is in color of gold (bright gold vs antique gold, etc.) and the lustre vs. metallic (which isn't as fine as the dusts.)

Here is some info on golden lusters

thanks

For more from that cake decorator, see here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakecoquette/
and here...
http://blog.cakecoquette.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

Can I add luster dust over a glaze and the best way to do it.