Baking isn’t just about buying the right ingredients, measuring components, or following the instructions to the teeth. It’s an outlet where you can unleash your creativity and make one-of-a-kind aesthetics, especially with the decorations.
What kind of decorations am I talking about? Have you tried elevating your bakes with edible gold and silver accents?
No? I didn’t think so. Well, that’s what I’m here to teach you, so let’s not waste any time.
What Are Edible Gold and Silver Accents?
At first glance, the idea of adding gold and silver to your pastries might sound bizarre. However, these two components have been part of the culinary world for thousands of years.
It’s only with the rise of social media and digital communication that they’ve become more trendy. Before I delve into silver and gold usage in baking, I want to give you a quick overview.
Edible Gold and Silver Accents: An Overview
Edible gold and silver accents are food-safe metallic objects you can add to your recipes to elevate their extravagance. You’re probably wondering: “Is it safe to eat silver and gold?”
There have been a few suspicions over the safety of edible gold and silver. Overall, though they’re safe, as long as the silver is within the acceptable quantity and the gold is 24 carats.
Plus, gold is biologically inert, meaning it won’t disrupt your body during digestion. Note that these components aren’t always made from real gold and silver.
For example, manufacturers can take real gold, melt it, stretch it, and pound it until it’s thin enough to be edible. However, they can also create pseudo-gold by mixing zinc and copper.
Since it’s not real gold, you don’t have to worry about potential digestion issues, not that you had to worry in the first place.
What Do Edible Gold and Silver Accents Taste Like?
Reading the previous section, I’m sure you’re curious to know what gold and silver taste like. After all, you’ve probably only considered them luxurious decoratives until this point, right?
Well, that’s not entirely wrong. You see, those who have eaten real gold and silver with pastries reported that they’re pretty much flavorless.
That’s anticlimactic, isn’t it? I bet you were expecting them to say they have a metallic taste.
That’s actually what pseudo-gold and silver taste like (ironic). That flavor is usually taken over by the other components in the pastry, though.
Now, for the million-dollar question: Why do people add silver and gold to their pastries?
It’s mainly for aesthetics. As I mentioned before, gold and silver increase the visual appeal of any pastry tenfold.
That said, they can also improve the texture of your recipes. Gold and silver have a slight crunch.
So, if you ever think that your cookies are too soft or chewy, you know how to fix that.
How to Decorate Your Pastries With Edible Gold and Silver?
Now that you understand the role of edible gold and silver in baking, let’s see how you can use them in practice.
Coat the Entire Cake
This might be the most straightforward method to apply gold and silver to your pastries. It doesn’t require any experience or advanced techniques, so you can do it even if you’re a beginner.
To coat an entire, I recommend using gold sheets or silver dust, as they’re easier to apply.
Here’s how to do it:
- Apply an even layer of fondant over your cake.
- Grab a damp paper towel and lightly tap the fondant to moisten it.
- Add your gold sheet and gently press it down the fondant.
- Slowly pull the wax from the sheet.
- Repeat the process until you coat the entire cake.
- Alternatively, combine silver dust and alcohol to make a paint-like mixture.
- Apply your silver mixture to the cake until you get an even tone.
Of course, you don’t have to leave your cake with a solid silver or gold tone. You can add different colors and combinations to increase its visual appeal.
Make Circular Patterns
You prefer playful, pizzazzy patterns over solid colors? Well, these might be a tad more challenging.
However, I’m coming to you with the simplest patterns you can make: Circular shapes. Unlike the previous method, though, you want to focus on gold and silver dust exclusively.
Here’s what to do:
- Apply an even layer of fondant over your cake.
- Combine your gold or silver dust with alcohol until you get a consistent mixture.
- Dap a circular piece of cotton in the mixture, then tap it on the cake to make circular patterns.
As you can see, this technique takes less time than the previous one. However, it doesn’t give as much creative freedom, so identify your priorities before you make your choice.
Add Silver Accents
Yes, using edible gold and silver is all about unleashing your creativity and introducing unique aesthetics. However, it could also be as simple as adding silver accents to your pastries without needing to make a 19th-century painting.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, elevating your bakes with edible gold and silver accents requires an artistic sense. So, plan your decorative patterns thoroughly before you start to have a clear idea of how you want to approach them.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.