How to use a Bead-Maker for Cake Decorating

For the finishing touch on a celebration cake, a row of beads or pearls is a great idea.

 

I recently posted detailed instructions for how to make a wired sugar flower. I will soon be posting the full wedding cake that I used the flower on, but first want to show you another element of that cake.

 

You can roll individual balls of fondant and stick them in a row around the edge of your cake; if you do this the way to make sure they are all the same size is to weigh your icing. This whole process takes a long time though so I thought I would introduce those of you who haven’t come across it before to a bead maker.

 

I’ve tried a rigid plastic one from Lakeland and a soft silicon one that belonged to a tutor in a cake decorating class and I found the latter much easier to use.

 

 

It’s best to use a mixture of fondant and flower paste as I found fondant alone too soft, but it can work.

 

Open the bead maker and rub the inside with a little Trex (shortening).

 

Roll a fat sausage of your fondant/flower paste mix and place inside the bead maker. Squeeze it shut – there will be excess fondant that fills over the side but that’s fine – you need to make sure you’ve filled the cavity inside so this is the best way. Simply trim off the excess while still squeezing the bead maker shut.

 

Open it up and you should see a row of beads. Before you remove them, brush the side facing you with a little lustre powder – pearl is nice if you are making white beads but you could do them in any colour. Gently nudge the beads out of the mould so they sit in the other part of the mould and then brush the side that is now exposed with the lustre power. Carefully lift out and you have a string of pearls ready to go around the base of your cake.