Sugar pearls

Sugar pearls and beads to decorate a cake

You've probably already seen them on a dessert or on cupcakes: sugar pearls.

In small pots or bags ranging from 50 grams to 1 kg, sugar pearls are edible decorations for pastries or cake design , a real must-have in cake decoration.

There are several sizes and shapes:

The little sugar pearls

These are the smallest, found between 1mm and 3mm. They are available in all colors: red, green, blue, pink etc. The composition is often the same depending on the brand: sugar, puffed rice, sugar syrup, corn starch, powdered sugar and some food coloring .

You can use them to make cake sprinkles , which is a cake covered with buttercream or ganache, on which you add edible pearls until you can no longer see the cream!

To make it, empty the sugar balls onto a plate and dab them onto the cake to stick them. It's a very appetizing and colorful cake. You can, of course, use them on any cake as decoration.

You can also place sugar figures next to your sugar pearls to enhance your decoration.

The bigger pearls

This is the slightly larger version: you'll find them between 4mm and 1cm in diameter. Like their smaller sisters, they're available in all colors. Another similarity is the ingredients of edible pearls : sugar, puffed rice, sugar syrup, corn starch, powdered sugar, and food coloring. However, they're also available in chocolate.

They are rarely used for cake sprinkles, but are perfect for placing on a wedding cake or cupcake. Their size is an asset and makes them a central decoration in your cake design.

You can also place them on sugar flowers .

How to use them?

There are several techniques for decorating your cakes with sugar pearls:

Pour them directly onto the cake . This is the crudest version; you just uncap the jar and sprinkle your sugar decorations over the cake.

Use an angled tweezer . A little longer but more precise, we mainly use this tweezer with sugar pearls, you will have great precision to place your decorations on the cake. In the same style you can also use a pearl gun, it's even faster since you load the edible pearls directly into the gun

Is your cake not covered in ganache or buttercream? The pearls won't stick to a dry cake, like a yogurt cake for example, so you need to use a product to stick them: edible glue, it takes a little longer but is very effective. It will also be difficult to stick them to a wafer sheet .

Do not use them in the oven. The decorations can be baked, but they will certainly lose their color, so avoid them if you want to keep them shiny.

Create modeling details. For example, you can create the eyes of your sugar paste models with black sugar pearls.