Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Does anyone have any tips on applying soft edible lace onto the side of cakes please, so that it is neat with no creases or tears. All the videos I have watched use a lustre mix which I understand dries stiffer than non-lustre lace.
Mine is just a white mix to which I have added a very little cream paste and which I will dust with lustre before it is applied to the cake.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

I have a few days set aside to try different methods but I need to solve this in time for a wedding cake I am making for the end of this month.

Thank you
Sharon

Hi Sharon

Are you using a remade mix or are you mixing powder and glucose together?

If you’re using mixing method, reduce the amount of glucose by a small amount so it doesn’t attract so much moisture into the lace.

You could also luster the actual mould/mat and make the lace directly on that. Give it more time to dry if humidity is high in your area.

Hope this makes sense ?

Thank you for your reply. I’m mixing powder and glucose. Thank you for the tips about using a little less glucose and lustering the actual mat. I’ll try them both.

The test piece I’m using was made a couple of weeks ago. In the oven at 60c for 15-20 minutes 3 times (I scraped the mix on 3 times)

So far it’s been back in the oven another 3 times (once last week, twice today) to stiffen up – at 60c for 10mins each time. Each time its softened up within about 30-50 mins.

So far I have attached it to the cake by putting edible glue on all the densest parts of the pattern and by brushing a litte water on the icing on the cake dummy and presing the lace onto the side. This is looking the most successful so far, though there are some small areas sagging, mostly where I’ve applied the lustre. I don’t know if that’s because of the lustre or because I missed a few bits with the water. I’ll leave it overnight and see how it looks tomorrow. Thank you for your help.

If you luster the mat first, the powder helps absorb some of the moisture in the lace. Unfortunately, white lace is notorious for not drying especially if there has been lots of rain or if humidity is high.

Another tip is to use white vegetable fat like Trex, instead of water to adhere the lace to the icing. Rub a small amount of Trex onto the area where you’re placing the lace and then line the lace up to it. Use a very soft, wide artist brush to gently smooth it down.
Using water will just weaken the lace as the glucose attracts it’s moisture.

I hope this will help but please do post back if you have more concerns. ?

Thank you so much for all your help. I’ll make some more using all these ideas and run another test. Fingers crossed 🙂 🙂

Thank you again,
Sharon

If the lace still sticks, lay the mat/mould face down on a bed of cornflour.
Cornflour is brilliant for absorbing moisture and dusts off easily with a small brush. Good luck, and let me know how you get on. ??