Hi, I am making a four tier wedding cake, bottom two tiers are rich fruit, top two tiers are styro dummies, all tiers covered in fondant, bottom tier secured with plastic dowels. The bride wants ribbon, royal icing initials and edible diamonds.
All tiers are presently individually covered in fondant, the wedding is on Friday, and I can't set up the cake until Friday morning. All tiers are sitting directly on top of one another, so I will assemble them at the hotel. (The hotel is half an hour drive away, so I will transport them individually in cake boxes.)
I have never used edible diamonds before, and I was wondering how long in advance I could put them on the cake. I will be fixing them with royal icing, but the instructions say to put them on 'at the last minute'.
I am also a guest at the wedding, which takes place at 1pm, so I will need all my time to drive to the hotel to set up the cake, then get home and get myself ready. I can't get access to the hotel until 9.30am.
Can anyone please tell me - is it safe to put the diamonds on the cake tomorrow (Wednesday), or is that too soon? I also have to make several carrot and vanilla sponge cakes which will be served in addition to the main wedding cake, so as I plan to make them tomorrow, I really need to know what my time schedule will be for the next few days so that I don't have a last minute panic!
Any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thank you!!! 
I have to do this for the first time later this month ...I won't be able to use RI and was wondering if gumglue will work..so if anyone has an answer to that???
Have you tried making glue out of Tylose and water. This is what I use.
I don't think I would try putting them on the cake that early. From what I have read they can lose their shine. They suggest spraying the diamonds with cooking spray it they look dull. Someone else posted that they add rainbow disco dust to the back side of the diamonds to make them sparkle. Can you add the diamonds early that morning?
Thank you all for your responses - I really appreciate your advice!
I am able to get access to the venue to assemble the cake at 9.30am, so I plan to arrive then, put the tiers together, and pipe the final edges, so I could put the diamonds on then as well. The wedding is at 1pm, and we should be arriving at the reception venue at around 2.30pm, so I wouldn't have thought the diamonds would dull over in that space of time.
I will let you all know how it goes! Thanks again!
I like the idea of dusting the backs with a sparkly substance...might give that a try and see how it looks! I'm also going to experiment with a gem to see how far in advance I can place them on the fondant with gum glue and still have them look nice and sparkly.
thanx!
Cat
I just finished a sweet 16 cake all covered in pink and clear diamonds on fondant(hopefully I can post a picture soon). Half the cake was dummy cake and I put the diamonds on the dummies way ahead of time using gumpaste glue. What I did was make tiny holes in both the dummy can real cake portion, wet the little holes with the glue and I had not problem. Now what I also did because for me the edible diamonds did not sparkle the way that I wanted them to, was before putting them on the cake, I dipped the head of the diamond (not the point) in disco dust (rainbow colored for the clear and hot pink for the pink diamonds) and then put them on the cake and it looked terrific - great, great sparkly diamonds. As soon as I get a copy of the picture I will post it.
Thanks so much for those tips - the disco dust sounds great, but I don't think I will be able to get any in time, as I've never seen it in the UK. I do have a tube of white lustre powder, which seems to have a shimmery effect, so maybe that would work? One other question, please - which way do you put the diamonds in the fondant - pointed end in or out? Thanks in anticipation!
I would say end in. Just like with jewelry.
Thank you! Well, all the cakes have been safely delivered to the reception venue, and tomorrow morning at 8.30am I will be assembling the four tiers, piping the edges, and putting on the diamonds. I will take a photo of the finished result, and post it (hopefully!) if I can, to let you see the finished result. I am so grateful to you all for your help and advice.
Well, the cake was a great success! It took me almost three hours to add the finishing touches - assembling the tiers, piping the edges and adding the edible diamonds, but it was worth every minute. The bride and groom were delighted with the end result. For those of you who have not used edible diamonds (this was my first experience!), I used the end of one of my plastic icing tools (one which I use for flower making) to make a dent in the icing. Using a piping bag fitted with a small hole nozzle, I filled the dent with a little royal icing. I used a metal strawberry huller to pick up each diamond, (which was FAR easier than any of the tweezers I tried), and inserted each diamond into the icing, gently pressing them into place with the tip of the huller. I used a small sharp knife to gently lift away any excess icing which may have squeezed out around the sides of each diamond. The diamonds were used for the bottom and second tier, and any extra diamonds which were left over were placed around the silver cake stand, which gave a really sparkly effect. The diamonds on the cake looked more like blobs of dew, with no facet visible whatsoever, but they were still beautiful. When the photographs were taken, the flash lit up each one, and the result was stunning. I finished putting the last diamond on around 11am, and the cake was still looking good by the time it was removed for cutting at around 5pm. We left the reception at 1am, and I checked on the second tier - by this time, the diamonds had frosted over. Thanks to you all for your tips! I am attaching a photo of the finished cake. 
There are several websites that sell them. You can try Global Sugar Art or just Google "Edible Diamonds".
Gorgeous! Hope mine turns out as well! Thank you SO much for the tips!
Thank you all so much for your lovely comments! I'm glad you found my tips useful - this forum is just wonderful, and I am so grateful to everyone for their hints and advice. It's always a bit daunting when you are working with technique for the first time, but now I won't be afraid to use the sugar diamonds again. Good luck with your cake - I'm sure it will turn out beautifully! 
Catlharper have you tried the rainbow disco dust on the back of one of the diamonds yet? I bet that would help them sparkle. Cake Castle sells it.
I do have some sparkle dust and will be trying it today...just taking a bit of fondant and going to give it a ring and see how long they look shiny and new. This will give me a time table for when I assemble the cake on Saturday.
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