Help, Need Advice On Shimmer Dust!!
Decorating By cakequeen40 Updated 19 Jan 2007 , 8:05pm by heyjules
I am doing this wedding cake, 4 tier, and they want me to spray the sides with silver and gold. They gave me shimmer dust, and I was told on this site they I could run it through my sprayer with clear vanilla. I tried it, but it didnt work, so can anyone help me with this, I hope you can, and thank you in advance. Sheila
I used the clear vanilla extract from wilton, and it didnt run through. I tried pure pepermint extract also, still didnt go through. I could see it all pooling down in the bottom of my cup. I called the supply house close to me and they said to use lemon extract or clear grain alcohol. Would that make a difference. Thanks
You CANNOT mix shimmer dust with any liquid. Shimmer dust is just finely ground cake sparkles (gum arabic), so mixing it with liquid melts the gum arabic into a sticky mess. It's meant to be sprinkled/blown onto a lightly damp surface. This is the link to the Wilton directions:
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/shimmerdust.cfm
If you want to spray color on the sides, you need to use a mixture of luster dust and a clear alcohol (Everclear, gin, or vodka) so that no sugars in the alcohol clog up your nozzles and hoses.
Rae
Shimmer dust does not work well with any alcohol based liquid. It tends to clump and be messy. Luster dusts work fantastic with the alcohols and will go through most airbrushes. Pretty much Wilton shimmer dust can only be sprinkled on a BC iced cake or for fondant, spritz some water where you want the shimmer dust to go and then sprinkle it on.
Oh thank you so much, my husband is off to the store to buy the luster dust. And when I am done, I think I will drink the leftover alcohol.hahaha
thanks for everyones help.
Thanks to all who answered my sos call. I must say though, I tried the luster dust, and it still did'nt go though my sprayer very well. So after staying up till 4:30 am I did it the old fashing way and kneaded my color in the fondant.. I would like to her more people's experience with the luster dust. I would like to try to use it again sometime. thanks again
If you have to do full coverage of a cake and don't have an airbrush (or it doesn't work), you can use a big blush brush (one that has not been used for make-up 
) and dust the dust on that way. In my pillow tutorial, I show that--just scroll down towards the end: http://www.cakecentral.com/article66-How-To-Make-A-Pillow-Cake.html FOr a different look, you can mix the luster dust with a clear alcohol and paint it on--with a good quality artist brush that does not shead or cause streaks.
Thank you for your advice, I am going to master the luster dust if it kills me. I will try again, but this time I will use your method of using a unused blush brush.
ok, i don't know if this helps at all, but I remember seeing this silver and gold cake in a book and it said to use some kind of gold sheets or something on the sides and it will absorb into the fondant. i can't remember exactly what it's called, so maybe someone who reads this can help more
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