Cake decorators, can I pick your brains a mo please?

[lucysmam]

I want lots of edible gems (diamonds/whatever, doesn't really matter) to sprinkle liberally on dd1's birthday cake. But they're quite pricey so I wondered if anyone had a tried & tested method for making edible gems instead? Or suggestions where to find a mould for small gems - I can find plenty for large ones, but not small 🤷‍♀️

Or is there a product I could buy that would achieve a liberally sprinkled with jewels kind of feel?

Tia for any help!

This is not my area but would different colour chopped up bits of jelly work? Told you it's not my area.... :-)

Or sweets e.g midget gems?

Can you give us an idea of what effect you're looking for? A link to something or a pic

I'm not a professional cake decorator for full disclosure, but I have a good history of cake decorating on the cheap 😁

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/382900627548?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=POclN_sVSv6&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=38qk1PYuQ82&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Would something like this work?

Or you could have a go at making kohakutou jelly and cutting it up as small as you need.

I don't know where to find edible gems (Google has brought up suggestions but its £2+ for pack of 20, which is pricey is you're looking for loads

How about making small chocolate truffles and dusting in edible gold glitter? Throw in some chocolate coins and maybe a pack or two of the edible gems - for a more "treasure" vibe than actually just gemstones?

edible gems I found online
fancy sprinkles

I have a plan (in my mind 🤣).

Dd1's a massive Taylor Swift fan & Bejeweled is one of her favourites off Midnights. So the attached image is sort of inspiration...I was going to ice her cake in white, stand a martini glass on it & then try to cascade some sort of jewels from it onto the cakes top, & add some shimmer as well.

It may not work but I want to try before I go with easy & simple

What about a martini glass dipped in icing, then dipped in these, or edible blue glitter? Could sprinkle in a sweep across the top of the cake too - you could paint icing on with a pastry brush

groceries.asda.com/product/sprinkles-placements-decorating-icing/dr-oetker-mermaid-treasure-sprinkles/1000120961341

Might need to hang the glass to dry, or drips might look intentional, who knows!

you could make clear coloured sugar syrup stuff and pour it into trays to harden then smash up or pour into moulds
like the stained glass windows in gingerbread houses ?

Can you get Fox's glacier mints or fruits and break them into pieces? Wouldn't be shaped like gems (as in faceted), but would have the sharp edges and transparency you want?

I have spent my evening down an internet rabbit hole of 'candy' making.

As far as I can work out, to make hard gems I need either isomalt, or sugar & corn syrup. Corn syrup and isomalt are pricey. So now I'm wondering whether jelly would be manky on a cake top or the colours smoosh into the white icing I have planned🤔

I've also found an edible martini glass tutorial but dd keeps appearing for various things so will watch that after work tomorrow, in peace 🤣

Not the cheapest but lots of gems?

https://thecakedecorationshop.com/shop/pack-of-240-edible-5mm-clear-diamante-jelly-cake-gems-diamonds/?utmsource=Google%20Shopping&utmmcampaign=Latest%20New%20Shop&utmmedium=cpc&utmmterm=857&foc=4497&fook=13abd35cbdbd162d44be86cd67d7650a&fos=gplauk&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6cfjnbfCCAIVBe7tCh2RRw-BEAQYBSABEgJypvD_BwE

Amazon do resin fake diamonds … very cheap, could you glue some
together to cascade out the glass and onto the cake? And obvs make sure people don’t eat them?

Ooh, crikey; as special as dd is, my budget doesn't really stretch to £22 ish to decorate a diy cake.

Maybe I need a re think!

This is no help at all but I read 'daughters 1st birthday' then saw the martini glass and the Taylor swift fan and got very confused 🫣

If she's into the bejewelled video - Taylor wears a black outfit with multi coloured gems on - could you do a black cake and multi coloured jelly (just regular from the shop in all different colours) in a gem mould? A mould hopefully wouldn't be too much and the jelly is quite reasonable compared to fake gems (which get mega expensive!).

What about those candy necklaces and spray them with edible spray? Or fruit pips? Or millions?

Rubbish suggestions but felt invested after the Taylor swift thing. 😀

Have you had a look at geode cake videos? Lots of them have advice on making the crystals which might be useful

I'm trying to find an image on google to demonstrate what I mean but failing 😆

Before Xmas I saw an elf on the shelf photo/description showing the contents of a box of cereal cascading out from a height into a sink (I think).

The description said it was mainly "something" stuck together using hot glue, with the cereal only covering the outside as opposed to being only cereal - if you see what I mean? But I'm afraid I can't remember what the "something" is!!
Basically, make the structure and only superficially cover with gems so you wouldn't need too many?

I'm not suggesting eating the hot glue stuck together thing - just for decoration 😬😂

As PP have said, for a more budget friendly shortcut, I would use smashed boiled sweets. If you use ones made from a sugar alcohol (isomalt, xylitol etc) like these, they're less likely to turn into a sticky mess. Just make sure that not too many are actually eaten due to, ahem, laxative effects.

Couldn’t you slice lollies like wine gums? Gummy bears would be perfect for glow but too hard to slice- raspberries?

Click you get the effect with a geode cake? Using sugar?

Geo