Cake Central › Cake Forums › Cake Talk › Cake Decorating › help with cake 'encrusted' in pearl dragees....
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

help with cake 'encrusted' in pearl dragees....

post #1 of 20
11/23/11 at 12:14pm
Thread Starter 
I am making a large wedding cake where every tier is to be 'encrusted' with ivory pearl dragees. Basically no spaces right from the top of each tier and beginning to taper out about half-way down the cake.

I have seen that places like global sugar art sell these dragees in bulk (2.2 lb) boxes. How many boxes do you estimate I would need to cover 5 stacked tiers (8"-10"-12"-14"-16" rounds that are 4" high)? Also, according to the photo the bride sent me, it seems that there is some variation in the size of dragees, so I think I'll buy a few larger ones in a smaller quantity, but what size should I buy for the majority? 4mm, 5mm, 6mm??? Could I brush my fondant with a little piping gel and just stick them on this way? Any advice would be great! Thanks!

As long as I did this correctly, the photo that the bride sent me should be attached.Imageπ
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 20
11/23/11 at 12:24pm
Thread Starter 
well, looks like my photo from my computer didn't upload. Any suggestions on how to do this? its a jpeg image that is 37kb.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 20
11/23/11 at 12:27pm
No photo attached. I think that part of the site is broken. Can you link to a website or put it on Flickr?

The Dude abides.

Reply

The Dude abides.

Reply
post #4 of 20
11/23/11 at 12:33pm
Thread Starter 
Ok I found this image online. Hope this helps
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 20
11/23/11 at 3:59pm
Wow that is a very pretty cake. Very pretty. I hope you are getting very well paid for that one!

I think piping gel would be fine. I honestly have no idea how many dragees you would need. I would just buy more than what you think because you can always use them for future projects.

Let us know how much time it takes you to do that! Also post pictures!

The Dude abides.

Reply

The Dude abides.

Reply
post #6 of 20
11/23/11 at 5:17pm
I did an orange and green one you can see in my photos that had pearls piled up on the ledges as borders - I think the orange cake was a 14", 10" 8" and 6" and it took about 3,000 pearls total. Those small jars used to have a number count on them, so I just added that up - did not COUNT it.

If I were to apply pearls like that, I would cut out wax paper or parchment the way I wanted it to taper off and wrap it around the bottom. The wet the fondant on top with water, fondant glue, maybe even a light coat of royal icing. Put the cake over something to catch the fallen dragees and then using your had or something else take a bunch and lightly press them in starting from the bottom and going up.
Alison
Reply
Alison
Reply
post #7 of 20
11/23/11 at 9:46pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! This is super helpful. Your cake looks terrific! What size dragees did you use? I am still trying to figure out how small I should go and am leaning towards the 4 mm dragees. I think the 2 mm might be a bit small and look more like sprinkles than pearls. I am also thinking I'll add some 6 or 8 mm to create the variation seen in the photo. I think I'll definitely need more than 3000 for the 4mm, but I'm still not sure how much more I'll need, especially if the whole tops of each tier are covered, plus half of the sides of each tier. I figured out that a 2.2 lb box of 4mm dragees is about 6,500. I still wonder if I'd need more than this?
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 20
11/24/11 at 4:07am
For the three bottom tiers, be sure and place a cake board in the center the size of the next tier up so you don't waste dragrees and you have a flat surface for the next tier. By the way I think we can figure out how many dragees you're going to need . Get a piece of wax or parchment paper and cut out a circle that covers the top of each tier and hangs over the amount you would like. Then calculate the total area of the circle. A=3.14*r^2
Where r is the radius of the circle ( half the diameter)
Do the same thing for the inner circle that would represent the next layer above. Subtract the two. Now you have the area of the section covered in dragrees. Convert it to mm.
The area of a 4mm dragee is 12.6 mm square. Divide the area you calculated above by 12.6 and that will give you a general idea for each tier. I hope that helps. It's a beautiful design.
Visit me at www.keeponcaking.com for tutorials and other cake stuff.
Reply
Visit me at www.keeponcaking.com for tutorials and other cake stuff.
Reply
post #9 of 20
11/29/11 at 12:24pm
I did a buttercream version of this cake, but with the pearls at the bottom (rather than the top) of the tiers. I used 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm. I found I mainly used the 6 & 8.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 20
1/12/12 at 6:05am
Thread Starter 
Thank you all for your help! I was very pleased with the final results! I used mostly 4 mm dragees with a few 6 mm to give it more dimension. I ended up using about 1 1/2 boxes of 4 mm dragees I ordered from GSA (2 lbs. per box)!!
LL
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 20
1/12/12 at 6:22am
Gorgeous!
Visit me at www.keeponcaking.com for tutorials and other cake stuff.
Reply
Visit me at www.keeponcaking.com for tutorials and other cake stuff.
Reply
post #12 of 20
1/12/12 at 6:44am
Very nice! what did you use to attach them? piping gel?
I've learned so much from my mistakes..... I'm thinking of making a few more!
Reply
I've learned so much from my mistakes..... I'm thinking of making a few more!
Reply
post #13 of 20
1/12/12 at 7:01am
Thread Starter 
Yes, I used piping gel and it worked great!
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 20
1/12/12 at 7:32am
Stunning!
Art comes in many forms.
www.texasgalgallery.com
www.sweetinspirationsblog.blogspot.com
www.cancer2curedjourney.blogspot.com
Reply
Art comes in many forms.
www.texasgalgallery.com
www.sweetinspirationsblog.blogspot.com
www.cancer2curedjourney.blogspot.com
Reply
post #15 of 20
11/30/12 at 4:31pm

Did you attach each one with piping gel or did you spread a thin coat of piping gel on the fondant and just stick it on? How much piping gel did you use? I have to do a 6,8,10 wedding cake with silver dragees... trying to figure out how many million I will have to put on... I think I'll be cross eyed by the end!! ;)

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cake Decorating
Cake Central › Cake Forums › Cake Talk › Cake Decorating › help with cake 'encrusted' in pearl dragees....