Any bakers?? Help needes

[NotSoThinLizzy]

Making DD a Unicorn cake for bday and need to "paint" the horn with lustre dust now it says to mix with vodka/alcohol. My DD will want to eat the horn so will it leave a taste? Will the alcohol evaporate? Should I try something else? Argh

Not sure if it will evaporate, sorry! Could you use a syrup made from sugar and water with the lustre mixed through instead? Lots of recipes for simple syrup online.

It is not water soluble so you will just get a gooey mess. You only need a few drops and vodka is tasteless

Shouldve said DD will be 9 too. Is it such a small amount of alcohol that it'll be ok?

Paint the horn with water put the dust on a plate and roll x

I always paint cakes using vodka. It’s fine and yes it will evaporate. If you ever use vanilla extract that’s usually preserved with alcohol too, so don’t worry that you’ll turn your little one into an alcoholic with a swipe of alcohol to stick the dust!

That said, if the horn isn’t yet attached to the cake you could wet it with water and just sprinkle the lustre dust all over or brush it onto the wet icing? Maybe try a little bit and see how it works.

But yeah vodka is the usual way of thinning colours for painting on cakes.

Oh yes at 9 she’ll be fine! I thought maybe at 2 or 3 it would still be fine but I can see why you might worry. At 9 she’d be drinking wine if she lived in France

Yes the vodka evaporates and it's a tiny tiny amount anyway.

Lustre clumps together with water, and doesn't go as sparkly.

Rolling it doesn't look as good either as if you use a brush it gets sort of 'buffed in' and you get a smoother finish

Don't put water on it, it never seems to evaporate fully. Alcohol will evaporate and you'll use such a small amount anyway

Has to be vodka. But such a tiny amount it will be fine.

I’d use the vodka. Sugar and water aren’t a great mix. You’ll end up with the horn being sticky. The alcohol in the vodka will evaporate and gives a much better finish. If you don’t have any vodka, gin would do.

I used this to spray a unicorn horn gold.

It does only leave a small amount of alcohol.

However the water suggestion will bind it as well and it stops the glitter from going everywhere. I'm a messy painter.

A lot of professional bakers use water/simple syrup so the cake is Halal etc.

Agree with other PP's that you use such a small amount and it evaporates anyway.

As an alternative, in the local baking shop near me they sell small cans of gold/silver/whatever spray lustre dust which works like a spray paint can and gives a really good finish. Think you can find them online, or Dr Oetker also do their version of it www.amazon.co.uk/Dr-Oetker-Shimmer-Spray-100ml/dp/B006JOW5B8?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Yeah the spray stuff has alcohol in it anyways and a hell of a lot more expensive 😂 my mum's a recovering alcoholic and she flipped out about the gold having a smidge of vodka in it

Ah I can see why it may have caused some concern then op. It will be fine. Nobody else needs to even know there’s alcohol on there, least of all DD or your mum x

Nah not gonna say a word. Mum's not going to be here to eat the cake anyways