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–+ servings
Nut Free Raspberry Truffle Macarons with gold snowflakes on top
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Gold Painted Buttercream Designs

These Gold Painted Buttercream Designs employ a method for painting buttercream with a gold luster dust suspension. The designs can be made on macarons, cookies, cupcakes or cakes.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Chill Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 20 approx.
Author Meghan

Equipment

  • Disposable piping bag
  • small round tip, such as #2 or #3, optional
  • plastic piping bag tip coupler, optional
  • Paint palette dedicated to food
  • disposable transfer pipette
  • food grade paintbrush

Ingredients

  • dessert to be decorated such as macarons, cake, cupcakes or cookies
  • buttercream flavor of choice, light colored or tinted with gold food coloring gel
  • pink sugar pearls optional
  • gold edible luster dust
  • Everclear or vodka

Instructions

Pipe the Buttercream:

  • Place the buttercream in a disposable piping bag. Cut off a small opening. Alternatively, attach a small round piping tip to the bag with a plastic tip coupler. This allows you to swap out the tip if you find that the size is too large or too small.
  • Pipe your design of choice on the macaron, cake, cupcake or cookie. You can also pipe a flower on a flower nail.
  • To create a snowflake design, pipe a line then piping 2 more lines evenly spaced to yield 6 equal sections, almost like a pie or pizza. Then, pipe small v-shapes on the ends of each line to create the snowflake pattern. Place a pink sugar pearl in the center, if desired.
    a pink macaron with a piping bag of raspberry buttercream next to it and a snowflake piped on top
  • Place dessert with the design in the freezer to harden the buttercream. The amount of time required to freeze will depend on the thickness of the buttercream. For the snowflake design, about 30 minutes should be adequate.

Make the Gold Suspension:

  • Shake or tap out some gold luster dust into the well of a food-dedicated paint palette.
    gold luster dust in the well of a paint palette
  • Pour some Everclear or vodka into a small bowl. Use a plastic transfer pipette to transfer a few drops of alcohol to the well with the dust.
  • Stir it around with a food grade paintbrush to make the gold suspension. You may need to add more luster dust or more alcohol depending on the consistency of the suspension.
    gold luster dust suspension in the well of a paint palette with a paint brush in it

Paint the Buttercream:

  • Dip a thin paintbrush into the liquid gold and allow the excess to run off.
    a pink macaron with a pink buttercream snowflake piped on top in the center of a paint palette and wells filled with gold luster dust and a paintbrush in the liquid
  • Quickly brush the gold across the cold buttercream.
    a pink macaron with a pink buttercream snowflake piped on top in the center of a paint palette and wells filled with gold luster dust
  • Repeat with the remaining buttercream designs.
    a pink macaron with a pink buttercream snowflake piped on top in the center of a paint palette and wells filled with gold luster dust suspension and a paintbrush
  • As you use the suspension, you will need to remake more in the same well. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so if you don't use it right away, you will need to add another drop or two to get the suspension back to the original consistency.
  • Once the gold has dried, store the dessert according to the recipe's instructions.

Notes

You're Gonna Bake It After All
bakeitafterall.com