I just made a cake to look like a slab of steak. It came out really good, I covered it with fondant and painted it to look nice and juicy with marbelized areas of fat, etc. There are some areas I would like to give it some extra shininess to give the impression it was freshly cut (this sounds weird seeing it in writing, I know!) I want to put some edible varnish on it but when I have used it on other cakes it does alright for a minute or two but then turns brownish and gloppy thick. Am I supposed to be mixing it with something to keep it paintable? If anyone knows I would sure appreciate the help. Thank you!

anyone?
please?

I think I would go with piping gel.

I would airbrush with vodka. This gives an extra shine to fondant and works very well for me. You could also steam the areas you want to shine. Let us know how it works.

Are you using homemade edible varnish? I've seen recipes for it but haven't tried it.

The confectioner's glaze that I have is a yellowish brown liquid. It goes on clear (and stinky!) and dries clear. The odor goes away too. I had to buy thinner for cleaning it off of paintbrushes, but I don't think diluting the glaze with thinner and painting it on something edible would be good, because the thinner has acetone and last I heard, that's poison.

If you are wanting to make it look like the steak is oozing a bit, then piping gel like MBHazel suggested, or adding some gel color straight from the jar would probably work. Don't use Americolor's super red for it though, when it's not diluted and you paint with it, it dries almost black, which I learned the hard way

Thanks everyone! If I had an airbrush I would try the vodka, gotta bet one of those when I can! I'll try the steaming for the "fat" portion around the steak and I'll try the piping gel on top where the red meat portion is to make it look a little oozing. Thanks again and I'll post a pic when I'm done....

You can paint the vodka on with a paintbrush too. It will make it look smoother and shinier for a few hours. I think a very small amount of peach color diluted in vodka would be about right to add shine to the fat part.

Thanks Texas Rose....I will do that

I've used confectioner's glaze many times and never had the problem. No you don't mix it with anything. The only thing I can think of is when you painted on the other cake did it soak into the fondant and melt it (if that makes sense) and kind of drag it along? I know I have to paint thin and quick let it dry and maybe go over it again after that. HTH. Good luck!

jilangel-
No, it didn't soak into the fondant and melt it though I know what you mean. Sometimes that happens to me when I'm painting with vodka/gin and color on the fondant but never the edible varnish. It usually just dry up so fast and gets thicks and brown. It's really strange because it is always much lighter in color and very liquidy for the first two minutes of use or so. Perhaps I need to find another brand or make it myself. Thanks for your help!

Here's the photos of the cake, I think it came out pretty good although it looks a lot better in person. I need a better camera!
I found the inspiration picture on google images but it didn't give credit to the decorator so I have no idea who it was...

another pic

That turned out really great!
Edna

Looks awesome!!! Great job!!

Looks great!

Your cake looks great!

I mix my confectioner's glaze with grain alcohol (such as everclear). It's a 50/50 mixture of the two. Vodka does not work as well as the grain alcohol to keep it a paintable consistency.

Thanks Ivnvcowgrl-
I had been wondering what everclear was, now I know. I suppose I could try to make my own everclear too..
thanks again, it sounds better than using the vodka.