After all that snow that the beast from the east left us, how about something all glittery and sparkly? During my usual trawl through the cake supplies shop, I took the plunge and bought some sheets of gold leaf, something I’ve wanted to try for ages. And while I was there I picked up some edible gold paint and sprinkles, well it would be rude not to.

As it was my first foray into gold leaf I wanted to give myself something simple to get a good feel. I decided on a simple design on a plain iced white cake and topped with some silk flowers. It’s actually a lot simpler than I thought. You need a couple of brushes and some water; brush the water onto the area you want to cover, then place the gold leaf onto that area and smooth with the dry brush. I jabbed the gold leaf a little to give it some texture. I used some silk flowers that I had that had a little gold sparkle to top off.

While I was on a roll, I decided to paint some Haribo Star Mix in the edible gold paint, because why not? I opted for the ring and the love heart over the egg. The paint is ready to use, just brush on. It’s quite thick so you get a good coverage but the Haribo still needed a couple of coats. If you were painting straight onto icing one coat would be plenty.

And to complete the gold rush, sprinkles and stars scattered over cupcakes, probably the simplest way to bring a bit of bling into your cake making.