I have a question for all of my cake friends out there. I was asked to do a wedding cake today that has quite a bit of Silver Dragees on it for decoration. When I say alot, I mean 30 - 40 percent of the cake is covered in them. Anyway, I was doing some research online about them and the centers are sugar, but the outside is covered in real metal. The websites that I have checked say it is safe to eat, but they recommend picking them off before eating the cake. Have any of you used them and what would you recommend? Thanks for any advice!

That is a lot of dragees on a wedding cake. I would be interested in seeing such a design. My guess would be that when the cake is served the guests will pick them off. Dragees are really hard and I don't see anyone trying to gnaw on them. But I would be irritated to get a plate full of dragees, LOL.

If you are concerned you can make your own out of fondant and airbrush them but that is extremely time-consuming. Or you could cover the cake in fondant and (gasp) peel it off before serving. I just don't see why anyone would pick such a design.

Technically, they are *supposed* to be for decoration only - not consumption. But I used to eat them as a kid. I loved them! I did a cake with a fair amount of them on there, and as I cut it I took most of them off. But people kept coming over to the cake table and popping them in their mouths before I could get to them. I think a few are fine for consumption.

Many states have banned the sale of those. It started w/some man in CA being asked by wifey to go to the store & get them. He read the 'caution' and ended up forcing through a law because they contain 'heavy metals'. The body *never* expells that so it accumulates over the yrs. and in rare cases can cause kidney failure.
Be sure you customer knows that background. I think that making something similar yourself is the way to go. Yes, it can be very time-consuming & they will not be as bright/shinny but you can sit in front of the tv and roll 1,000s of tiny balls of fondant; after they dry overnight, put in a container of silver dust; shake well then WAH-LA (is that a word?) you have dragees

You could pipe pearls of royal icing onto the cake and go over with silver luster.

But silver dust is not meant for consumption either - correct?

Yep

[quote="kakeladi"]WAH-LA (is that a word?) [quote]

voila

My concern wouldn't be so much the number of them, since when the cake is cut the number that any one person will get won't be that much. My concern would be the fact that those things are hard as a rock and will break grandma's dental work during the reception.

I'd either make them out of fondant so that they remain soft, or just tell the person who's cutting the cake to try to cut them off before the cake is served. No big deal.