Hi everyone,

I made the attached cake this weekend and I am still in my decorating infancy. I had a grand idea planned and my real cake came close...

How could I have done a better job sticking the "sand" to the sides of my cake? At first I couldn't get it to stick at all, then I patted the sides of the cake with a damp sponge, and it helped it stick a little better. Do I need to invest in a tilting lazy Susan?

The only disaster happened during transport...one of the shells fell off and landed in my writing (of course!) but overall I was happy with the overall outcome. Best part is that it was delish!

Andrea

good job. Next time I would use a damp paper towel instead of a sponge. I also have a tilting turntable which I love, it would be easier to stick sand on with it. (I got it at Michaels with the 50% off coupon I had, so it wasn't expensive)

Hi Patty,

I've heard so many poor reviews on the Wilton one, that I was afraid to buy that one...is yours Wilton?

Thanks!

Andrea

First of all, thats a nice cake!

I'm not sure if tylose glue would work (it might make it soggy--but not sure) but I'm pretty sure melted white chocolate thinned with shortening poured onto the cake like ganache would work well. From that point, you can stick your "sand".

As far as the tilting table, I think the heavy metal wilton one is very wobbly. I don't recommend it. I think the wilton plastic white with the green one is a lot better and cheaper too.

Thank you RylanTy! I tried really hard on this cake! It was the first one I've made for someone else and people loved the taste, so that's a good thing.

The sand didn't look bad, but not completely like I'd envisioned. Maybe next time I will be able to try your idea. I'm going to check out the Wilton turntable...I never saw the big metal one, though.

Thanks!

Andrea

mine is the white plastic wilton one, with a black non skid top. I also never saw the metal one. I realize that most people on cc are antiWilton, but I have many of their products and can't live w/o the tilting turntable (good for doing basketweave on side of cakes) and their cake lifter (I use it when I tort a layer, slip the lifter between layers, use 2 if a large cake, and lift layer right off)

As soon as you get the BC smooth put on the sand so it will stick. I put mine on a turntable (I don't have a tilt one either) I had a tray under it so any crumbs that fell while I was placing them could just get picked up easily for clean up or to re-use the sand crumbs.

I iced one cake-pressed in the sand crumbs- and then would move on to the next one.

I would just run a smoother over the parts that the BC were crusting over to make it not crust anymore so I could stick the sand.

I have a 3 tier wedding cake covered in sand in my photos. It was my first wedding cake so it's something I would change border wise now. I've done about 8 others since then. As long as you work a little fast it goes better for the sticking issues.
I just put it in the palm of my hands and gently pushed it into the BC like you would make a scalloped bottom border out of nuts on a cake.

Thank you, mkolmar! You know, my buttercream was probably too crusted at this point for it to stick well at all. Your sand wedding cake is very pretty...it looks a lot nicer than mine! Thank heavens mine wasn't for a wedding....

I appreciate the tips and will definitely try it out next time!

Your being too hard on yourself. Your cake is fine, I can see what you are talking about though about the spots that the BC can be seen because the sand wouldn't stick. I actually really like your cake and think it's a good insperation photo.

Just make sure your BC isn't crusted over and things will go a lot better for you.