Ok, all of you who have made pearls, please help me out here. I have an order for a cake on Sunday (3 tiers) and it has pearls aroung the bottom of each tier. I have the mold for the pearls and luster dust. My question is...I know I need to be working on these but if I make them now, won't they break when I place them around the cake? And when they dry they'll be in a line and not curved, so should I let them dry around the edge of my cake pan? I'm just clueless on this. Any advice would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Jenny
I would just roll them induvidually and then powder them with lustre dust in a bag and set on the cake one by one.More time consuming but at least you will have control over placement.
Ok, all of you who have made pearls, please help me out here. I have an order for a cake on Sunday (3 tiers) and it has pearls aroung the bottom of each tier. I have the mold for the pearls and luster dust. My question is...I know I need to be working on these but if I make them now, won't they break when I place them around the cake? And when they dry they'll be in a line and not curved, so should I let them dry around the edge of my cake pan? I'm just clueless on this. Any advice would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Jenny
I never made my pearls ahead of time..It would be too hard to make sure they fit around the cake once they're dry. I just did the pearls on the same day I decorated the cake. Once you get the hang of using the mold, it goes quickly.
I usually added some powdered sugar to the fondant if it was too soft... I brushed the mold with pearl dust, put my fondant in the mold, squeezed the mold shut, cut off the excess fondant and then pulled the pearls out. I usually dust a little more pearl dust to even out the color. If I had trouble with the fondant sticking I would stick the mold in the freezer for a min or two and it would come out fine.
In my opinion to guarantee your cake is a success, make the pearls as you place them on the cake. Drying them ahead of time on the pan you plan to make them in still isn't going to give you the exact amount you need because you'll have icing on the cake and that will add mm to the size of the cake.
Yes, you could make them individually but oh boy is that time consuming!!!!!! You paid a good price for that mold so you should use it!!!!!!!! I used my mold for the pearls on my Cornelli lace Swiss dot wedding cake and I made them right before I placed them on the cake. I made four or five strands at a time and then placed on the cake. You'll have to let them sit for a few minutes to "set up" or else they will be too soft if you place them right away!
Trust me, you'll want to do it this way!!!
Amy
I found that MMF sticks more than regular fondant. Which are you planning to use? When releasing the strand from the mold, let gravity do most of the work for you. When I "open" the mold right side up, I take my Pampered Chef (they are the best) utility knife and gently pull each pearl away from the side of the mold. I then turn the mold upside down at an angle not parallel and let gravity pull the pearls out! Works like a charm! I've made so many of those little buggars that I have had to try different ways to get those things out!!!!
Amy
http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp?pn=CD2906
They come in different mm sizes. Different sites offer more sizes!
Amy
Cakemommy, what a gorgeous cake! Please let us know what size pearl mold you used (so confusing when you go to the site to order) and did you use RI for the stringwork or is that buttercream? Is the cornelli lace RI or buttercream as well? Thanks!
Thank you so much! Everything is buttercream! I used my 8mm mold for that cake. The 8 mm is (IMO) the standard size. Not too big and not too small! I also have a 6 mm but they would have just been lost on the cake! 8mm is the way to go if you are going to invest in one!
Amy
Thanks everyone for the advice and tips...
Cakemommy, your cake is so pretty. I plan to use wilton fondant, I've never made the other.
I was wondering if there was a trick to getting them out without them tearing, that was my biggest problem when I was practicing the other night. Do you us lust dust in the mold or after they come out?
Jenny
I've made fondant pearls with the mold and had them stay soft for a week's time. After I took each strand out of the mold - I placed it immediately in a zip lock bag (after getting as much air out as possible). After I roled about 6 strands I then took a piece of saran wrap and rolled 1 strand in the wrap. I rolled it about 2 times and then I added another strand and rolled them 2 times - then another - and so on until all 6 strands were wrapped in the saran wrap. This keeps them from sticking to each other as well. I wrapped the ends to seal out air and then put the whole thing into the zip lock bag and squeezed out any excess air and zipped that closed. I then did this procedure all over again for the next 6 strands I'd make and seal up. Make sure they are covered in the luster dust well so they don't stick to anything. They kept pliable for a week (that's when I needed them). I always put a good dusting of the luster dust IN the mold before I put the fondant in. After you put the fondant in and press it together to make the molds - open up the mold and use your brush that you used to put the luster dust in to kind of "brush" the pearls out of the mold. I've found that if you use your fingers - you ususally dent the pearls trying to pick them out. The brush works great. Hope this helps. I do the pearls on my gum paste bowes as well. See my pictures. I love them. They are so pretty. Good luck. 
BJ~Do you have to re-dust your pearl strands? It sounds like a lot of work to wrap them up.
That bow you made btw is so beautiful! The one thing I wish I could find without having to order online is a textured roller. Is that what you used for your bows or did you use a textured mat?
Amy
No - I don't have to re-dust. The wrap up really isn't alot of work - I guess it sounds it in writing. I needed to do as much prep work as possible and I had 3 layers to wrap in pearls. It worked great for me. You'll never believe what I used for that texture..... I bird pirch! 
I purchased a new (of course) bird pirch from a local pet store - you know the white plastic ones? That's the trick. I still crack up when I tell poeple what I use. 
After I rolled the gumpaste out to the proper thickness I did a final roll with the pirch and then cut the loop strips. Thank you for the compliment on my bow.
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