I will start by saying I am freaking out. I have my first real wedding cake to do. The bride is super nice and laid back. She wants a beach/shore type of wedding cake which I thought "great". So, I was thinking typical white and sea shells etc....but then she says and we would like sea glass on it too since they are using in their vases. Now my mind is blank and I can't picture how to make sea glass (the kind they sell at craft stores- blue's and green's) and how to design it all together.

Any advice out there?

Thanks,
Kim in NJ

is it tiers?

separated on columns?

the columns could be the very slender bud bases filled w/ sea glass.

or...

use extra wide cake plates (like a 10" for a 8" tier) so have a ledge to sprinkle the sea glass on.

Hi Doug, I am going to do 3 tier cakes stacked on each other. I am thinking of using the Wilton globe/balls in between. I have to make the sea glass and incorporate it into the design.

Thanks!

if making it out of sugar...

then can place anywhere on cake.

possibility: mosaic design

or-- just it to do swirls, loops, curlicues on sides of cake.

Wow - good luck! The only idea that I can think of off the top of my head is making a sheet of hard candy in the colors that you need, and "shattering" it into pieces to look like real sea glass. Since the real glass has almost a "frosted" look to it, perhaps you can shake the hard candy in a baggie of either corn starch or powdered sugar, and dust off the excess with a good sturdy pasty brush to achieve that "frosted" look to the glass.

Best of luck to you!!!!

something like sugar bubbles around the border- or this issue of acd has pilled glass flowers in it which - the petals could be modified to be glass pieces

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=54514

Find a hard candy/lollipop recipe. Spread on flat pan and crack into shapes of glass.

I have made glass before by melting jolly ranchers in the microwave. You can then pour the liquid onto a sheet of foil and let it cool. Then shatter it with a meat mallet. WARNING-the liquid is VERY HOT. Do not let it touch your skin!!

the only cake that immediately came to my mind to make sea glass would be this one...i found it here on CC, but saved it to my computer and have no idea who made it. But i think its sooo pretty.....good luck

Thanks for the ideas. I am not sure what a sheet of hard candy is? Sounds like that might work though. Perhaps I can get hard candy and chop it up and do like was mentioned and give it that frosted look. Now my question would be is hard candy broken up a good idea to put on the cake choking hazard wise? We're talking adults at the wedding but still, what do you all think? Otherwise, thats a perfect idea.

I don't get the acd magazine. Do you know if they have it at Barnes and Noble? I would love to check out what was suggest w/ the petals.

Thanks again everyone!

I have made it of Isomalt before. Lay a Silpat Mat in a cookie sheet, sprinkle it with Isomalt granules, sprinkle in a little blue color here and there, I used airbrush colors just dotted with a eye dropper randomly in a few places, and swirled it around with a butter knife blade. Level out the Isomalt granules, lay another Silpat Mat on top and bake in pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes. Remove tray from oven and set on a cake rack to cool. Don't lift the top mat off till cool, then carefully peel away the mat, lift the melted sugar out with the second mat, lay on counter and break into pieces the size you need. Just clear without the color is very pretty too, sparkly.

I found the page with the maker of that cake... http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_554.html (just wanted them to get some credit for the beautiful design)

Here is a tutorial on those sugar bubbles.

sorry about that, hit submit way too soon...

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-41980.html
That is a tutorial by moydear on how to make some sugar bubbles (sweetviolent had sent you the link for the pic)
You can follow those instructions on how to cook and color the sugar. When it is pliable like on that first picture in the tutorial, you can just take those pieces you pull off and let them cool on a silpat in chunks with odd shapes like sea glass. You can play with it for temp and consistency. You can pop in the micro at 15 sec interval if it gets too hard too pull pices off. Or keep a hot bulb (lamp) over it as you work with it.

Thanks so much for all the help!! Those sugar bubbles are gorgeous! I will try to find a candy recipe and follow your instructions Shirley. That cake is so pretty, thanks for posting it.

I can sleep a bit better tonight thanks to you all

my brother and I make hard candy every christmas. We've been doing it since we were kids.

Our recipe is:

butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting
2 cups white sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon flavored oil
1 teaspoon color food coloring

Generously coat a cookie sheet with butter, and set aside.

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and corn syrup until sugar has dissolved. Then boil over medium-high and cook to a temperature of 300 to 310 degrees F if you don't have a candy thermometer you can drop a small amount of syrup into cold water it's ready when it forms hard, brittle threads. Remove from heat, and stir in the flavored oil and food coloring. (it will get really bubbly when you add the oil).

Immediately pour the sugar mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet in a thin stream (this helps it cool). When the candy is cool enough for the outer edge to hold its shape, cut into bite size pieces with scissors. Really butter up your hands so you don't burn them. Toss with powdered sugar for the "frosted" look (and who doesn't love more sugar!) Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

I also made sea grass with the same method of using Isomalt and the two Silpat mats, but for this I didn't let it cool before pulling off the top mat. Then I allowed the sugar shapes to cool in the bottom pan and just peeled them off. I don't know how much you can tell by the photos but the sea grass is on the sides of the top and second tier. The clear, shiny shapes. This was my Granddaughters wedding cake.

And the full cake.

Here is a link to a picture of sea glass. HTH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fenway_Day_006.jpg

Shirley,
I clicked on both of your links and they are not working. It is telling me it doesn't exist.
Never mind I came to the topic and there they are. Must have been my computer. Thanks

First crumple up a sheet of aluminum foil and then flatten it back out again and spray it with nonstick cooking spray. Mix half cup granulated sugar and half cup light corn syrup and microwave on 50% power for 6 min and pour it over the foil. Once it hardens, peel it off and break it into pieces. Super easy.

I don't mean to interrupt the topic, but that cake is GORGEOUS!!!!, Shirley W.

I made "glass marbles" out of sugar for my MACS cake. Since sea glass has been tumbled smooth, you might want to do something like that, but in different shapes. I used the hard candy recipe from my BH&G cookbook, and waited for it to cool to a syrupy consistency before I dripped it onto a silpat. It was really easy, just time consuming.

I'm not sure if the photo is in my gallery or not, but you can see it on my website if it isn't.

here is a link to that Broken Glass Hard Candy . Easy and delicious!
http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/ubbs/archive/CANDY/Broken_Glass_Candy.html

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but you could incorporate the sea glass around the parameter of your cake board. That way your cake will remain level & you won't have to put hard candy on the cake.

Ditto on what lecrn said. It's a wonderful idea!

In September I'm doing 28 cake centerpieces for a beach wedding. We are incorporating beach glass as well. The cakes are all going to be on cake stands and then the glass is going to be around the cake plate. That way we don't have to worry about glass on the cake. We had thought about making candy as well, but since they are using real glass to decorate, I was afraid small children would confuse candy with the real thing and eat glass. Didn't want any part of that! HTH. Jodie