Im making a golf course cake for a grooms cake and am trying to figure out a good way to make a lake. On the cake shoes on tv i've seen them pour some kind of blue liquid to make lakes. Does anybody know how to do that? Is it regular poured sugar? I've made sugar tiles before but thats really hot when poured so im scared if it poured on a fondant cake it would melt it? Any suggestions on how to make that or of another way to make water would be much appreciated

Piping gel colored with gel paste coloring.

make the poured sugar lake and then once hard, lift it up and set it on the fondant covered cake (if you pour it directly on the cake it WILL melt the fondant)

here is some I just did for a duck cake......I used a 14" round cake pan and lined the bottom with foil, dumped in the poured sugar, let it set up and lifted it out and peeled off the foil (foil is nice because you can adjust the "wrinkles" in it to make an impression in the sugar, giving it a realistic water look)

Here is a photo of just the sugar.

I know it kinda looks like cracks in the sugar, but that's the "veining" from the foil imprint put on it.........they wanted it to look like a swimming pool w/ the reflections that you get!

piping gel tinted blue, easy, no fuss, and fast

If you would rather not work with sugar piping gel colored blue is a great alternative. Look at my pool party cake for an example.

Thanks ya'll for all the ideas! KHalstead how did you get that color? When i made sugar tiles thats color i tried to get but the sugar had a yellowish tint that made them look greenish instead of blue. Do you use isomalt or sugar?

Wow KHalstead I think your pool looks lovely. What a good idea.

I think i must have cooked it too long too or got the temp above 300. What happens when you cut the cake? Would i be able to cut though it with a sharp knife without smushing the cake underneath or would i have to remove the lake to cut it? Thanks so much!!

I've love working with piping gel for water, because it's so easy to work with and IMO looks real natural. But, if you go this route be sure to start off with a very small amount of food gel color. You might even find that a small drop will be too much color. I use a tooth pick.

with this penguin cake, I used blue jolly ranchers for the "pond" and actually hollowed out the cake underneath (just an inch or so) and iced it and put fish down there and layed the candy "ice pond" on top so you could see the fish through it, it was really cool looking.

And yes, I just lifted it off and we cut the cake..........everyone was fighting over a piece of it too!

I used to always use piping gel, but don't care for the taste......but it does look realistic and is much faster and easier than cooking sugar

The penguin cake is adorable! And what a great idea to put fish candies in it....awesome!

glendaleAZ how did you get the piping gel so smooth? Do you thin it out or heat it? Yours is very even ad see though too im paranoid that mine will be more messy and opaque looking : (

KHalstead im liking the jolly rancher idea too. What flavor are those? The color is exactly what i have in mind.

I also dig out about 1 inch of cake. I added about 30/70 corn syrup to piping gel and then stir slowly. Once you get it mixed you can then just pour it into the pond/pool area. Just a side note: If you stir fast you will get a lot of air bubbles in the mixture that you might not want for a pond, but if you're doing a waterfall it looks really cool.

KHalstead - how did you melt the candy? Did you need to add any extra liquid?

I am not a professional, or anything that resembles one, but just did this with blue gummy bears melted in the microwave then poured into a carved area iced with white BC. Recived some odd looks at the grocery store picking out the neon blue gummy bears from the bulk bin.

Have to work quckly and it is more opaque than with hard candy but a nice effect because you can ripple it by pushing on it when it's mostly cooled.

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I made this water using piping gel, i added a small rippling effect to show wind.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1548591

I have used the blue Wilton Sparkling Gel, the one that comes in a tube. It works really well, it is fast and easy to use. I have even used it as a cascade. I did not even have to carve the area where the "water" went. Just iced the cake with white BC and made a border also with the BC to make the shaped I wanted, then lightly poured the Sparkling Gel. I like to use this because it gives the "water" a nice sparkly/shiny look, as if the light was shining in it. Good Luck!!