This week I will be using lustre dust for the first time. (If it goes well I will be using it on all of my cakes in the future). So to prepare myself I did a little research on how to use and apply it to fondant. I have read in several places online that everclear is the #1 alcohol to use with lustre dust due to its high content, but nowhere does it say how the fondant will taste. From experience, just sniffing everclear will burn your nosehairs much less make you blank out from 1 shot. So I was wondering how safe it was to use. I know that the lustre dust is ok to consume; im just worried about what the fondant will taste like once you add the everclear.
And uhm......will it be permanent b/c it's everclear? I dont wont the color to smudge or come off my hands while working with it; or while someone is consuming it.
Thanks in advance!
I cannot get Everclear in my state (too high of an alchohol content), so I use lemon extract. It works really well, and I know that is what Collette Peters uses. After the luster dust dries it does not smudge, at least in my experience. HTH.
The alcohol will evaporate. I use everclear all the time without any problems. But, if you're extrememly concerned, lemon extract works well also.
As for it being permanent, my experience has been that--once the dust has dried--unless you're rubbing the heck out of the fondant with your finger, the dust won't smudge. It certainly has never come off while someone has been eating something with dust on it (in my experience).
I always use vodka when I work with Luster Dust. The reason you use alcohol over some of the other alternatives is that it evaporates so fast. Trust me...it evaporates and you can't taste it at all. I have a hexagon cake iced in bc in my photos that I airbrushed every single cake in a different color with this method and we didn't taste it at all. (And no one was drunk at the end of the party either!)
-Michelle
I saw that lemon extract was the basic thing to use but the fondant is chocolate flavored. Those two flovors dont sound tasty. Im hoping that the everclear wont leave a taste (or side effect) when used.
Come to think of it, why is everclear the best? What does the high proof do for the lustre dust? Will is disinegrate in the container while I am using it?
it all has to do w/ "proof"....after all the proof is in the using the alcohol of the right proof.
proof = 2xtimes % of alcohol in product.
higher the proof, closer to pure alcohol
most vodkas are 80 to 100 proof or 40-50% alcohol, the rest being mostly water. so 1/2 & 1/2 alcohol and water.
everclear is 190 proof...or 95% alcohol and only about 5% water.
therefore, everclear will do the least "water" damage -- and evaporate the fastest.
further, UNFLAVORED vodka has very little to give it a taste and everclear has no detectable taste (tho' a heck of a burn!) -- so neither will affect the taste of the fondant/BC/etc.
and as pointed out, the alcohol evaporates off very quickly leaving just the shimmery dust behind.
(hmmmm....and considering how everclear burns....hmmmm.....that means Duff could do one heck of a flaming cake!!! OOPS, better not give him any more ideas!!)
Hey Cakesoncall,
Is that your cat in the photo? She/he is beautiful! Looks just like my cat that I had. I loved her so much. Had to put her to sleep last year. But I would love to get another Maincoon cat. They are wonderful.
Joanne
Yep, she's mine, and thank you. 
Her name is Mia, though we call her Mia Monster. lol She's so spoiled. Heck of a shedder too, but we keep her brushed and follow her around with a Dust Buster. LOL (j/k on the Dust Buster part) She was a rescue cat, and I just love her!
So sorry to hear about your cat. That's so hard to take when they are more than just pets. My parents just had to put theirs to sleep last month. She had been with our family for 18 years. It's just not the same now when I go to their house and she's not there to greet me at the door.
The alcohol in everclear evaporates. I have used it to paint with and had it eveporate from my luster dust before I got done painting what I needed and had to add to it. I've never noticed a taste left behind and I have used it to airbrush entire cakes at times.
(hmmmm....and considering how everclear burns....hmmmm.....that means Duff could do one heck of a flaming cake!!! OOPS, better not give him any more ideas!!)
So for those of you who use Everclear/vodka - what ratio of dust to alcohol do you use? What exactly should it look like? I cannot seem to get it right!
I've always used lemon extract at a ratio of 1 tsp. extract to 1/4 tsp. dust. I tried with vodka once (because I had run out of lemon extract), and it didn't work at all. In fact, it actually somewhat dissolved the top layer of the royal icing monograms and made them fall apart. 
I was so perplexed by that because I read so often here at CC that people use vodka with dust!! What is your ratio??
Hey Cakesoncall,
Is that your cat in the photo? She/he is beautiful! Looks just like my cat that I had. I loved her so much. Had to put her to sleep last year. But I would love to get another Maincoon cat. They are wonderful.
Joanne
Yep, she's mine, and thank you.
Her name is Mia, though we call her Mia Monster. lol She's so spoiled. Heck of a shedder too, but we keep her brushed and follow her around with a Dust Buster. LOL (j/k on the Dust Buster part) She was a rescue cat, and I just love her! So sorry to hear about your cat. That's so hard to take when they are more than just pets. My parents just had to put theirs to sleep last month. She had been with our family for 18 years. It's just not the same now when I go to their house and she's not there to greet me at the door.
Totally off subject here but I had to respond! I had a maincoon when I was growing up. His name was Fenster! He was such a cute cat. He was tough but then mellowed as the years went on. He'd never have admitted it that's for sure. I swear we were that cat's doormen! He'd beg to be let in the front door, walk up the stairs, go to the back sliding door to the deck and beg to be let out there. This was his routine the little hairy gomer. The turkey (a.k.a. Fenster) was outside one day after I got married 8 years ago and never came home. I hated that phone call from my dad! I cried and cried. We think a racoon did him in! We had quite a few of them where we lived. I miss my Fen Fen!!! He was a great cat! Now I have George and that's another story!! 
Amy
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