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asked July 7th 2016

How to get ‘sand’ to stick

I’m making a Caribbean beach cake on a 12″ round. I’ve followed Paul’s tutorials on palm trees and figures and am using the couture fondant ( yes expensive but I’m new at this and wanted a good quality icing to make up for my lack of experience!). I’ve already put the fondant on the cake and it has dried. I’m using golden caster sugar for the sand as it’s nice and light coloured and goes with the Ivory fondant. I’ve got a bit of hologram sparkle through it too. How do I stop the sand from rolling off the cake now the fondant has set? If I’d have thought it through it guess I could have indented the middle to form a lip. We have a two hour journey to get it to to my auntie’s surprise party. Also I have made Palm trees and am worried about them breaking on the way there. Shall I pack in small poly beads and assemble at the venue?

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I’m making a Caribbean beach cake on a 12″ round. I’ve followed Paul’s tutorials on palm trees and figures and am using the couture fondant ( yes expensive but I’m new at this and wanted a good quality icing to make up for my lack of experience!). I’ve already put the fondant on the cake and it has dried. I’m using golden caster sugar for the sand as it’s nice and light coloured and goes with the Ivory fondant. I’ve got a bit of hologram sparkle through it too. How do I stop the sand from rolling off the cake now the fondant has set? If I’d have thought it through it guess I could have indented the middle to form a lip. We have a two hour journey to get it to to my auntie’s surprise party. Also I have made Palm trees and am worried about them breaking on the way there. Shall I pack in small poly beads and assemble at the venue?

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Hi Topsy

The palm trees will be easy to assemble at the venue and will save you a lot of stress if you are able to do that.
Take a peek at a previous answer for making ‘sand stick’ here:

sugar sand and seahorses


It works on cake too.
I’m a little worried about the hologram dust that you’ve added to the sugar. Does it say ‘edible’ on the packaging? Unfortunately not all glitters can be consumed, some are for decoration only and to be used on removable objects. However, gold lustre dust is edible and can be added to give a shine.

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You’re like my counselor – thank you! The dust is Rainbow Dust for food contact – Hologram White. Said it’s for removable cake decorations, which the sugar is? If not I can easily do some more with the Gold Lustre as I have some. Learning every day! I’ll read the answer to the previous question. Thanks againxx

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If it says for removable decorations don’t use it in the sugar if it is going on the actual cake. If it’s just on the board it will be fine. The dust is for food contact so fine to use. If you’re unsure of anything at all, just post again. xx

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Thank you – will alter it – I’ve a bag full. I’m not sure the question on sticking sand helped me much. I need to adhere it to the top of the cake, so do I use glue? Won’t it melt the sugar and turn it into a syrup? My cake is a bit like Paul’s Beach cake idea but flat on top with palm trees and her laying on a towel. I don’t have any glaze sadly – guessing hairspray won’t do the same job, ha! Maybe not.

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Not hair spray, it’s not a food product, but you know that anyway 🙂 You can use piping gel, sugar syrup or edible glue to stick some of the sugar down. The edible glue will not melt the sugar. On the whole though, it will need to be placed on loose the same as Paul has done.

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Loose has worked fine – it looks much better than I had hoped and I didn’t need much. Can my friends see posts on the facebook page? It’s a surprise for both of them, so maybe I’d best wait until after tomorrow and Saturday.
Thanks very much for all your support. I’m exhausted but proud of myself. x

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Hi Tposy

Your friends will be able to see the pictures on the facebook if they look at Paul’s page. It’s best to wait until after they have seen their cakes.. You deserve a rest now, enjoy it! x

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