Applying gold to royal icing usually calls for the addition of alcohol in order to turn gold pearl dust into a paint. You can read my original tutorial on how to make gold royal icing here.
I've received lots of inquiries about what can be used in place of alcohol for this method, so I decided to try out some different liquids to see what works best. I was surprised by the results! For products used in this and other tutorials, visit my recommended products page. Shown here are Beanilla vanilla extract (35% alcohol), Mount Williams imitation vanilla (water, vanillin, artificial flavors, caramel color), Bacardi 151 (75.5% alcohol), lemon juice and water.
I almost always use Wilton gold pearl dust for this method. Wilton is one of the only companies I know of that make FDA approved pearl dusts and color dusts. Most of the others that are available on the market are labeled non toxic, but also non edible, so they’re just meant for use on decorations that won’t be consumed, such as gum paste flowers. NY Cake just came out with a line of FDA approved dusts, which I haven’t had a chance to try yet.
I piped some royal icing disks for this experiment using the royal icing transfer method. A video tutorial on this method is available in my tutorial shop. You'll also find my cookie and royal icing recipe there.
When painting with gold, I like to start with a brown base because it helps the gold stand out and it is also more forgiving if you miss a spot. The brown gel paste that I use is too pink on its own when used to make light and medium shades, so I almost always add a little bit of green in order to neutralize it.
The reason that alcohol is used to paint on royal icing is because it evaporates very quickly, so there is little time for the liquid to dissolve the icing. In order to get the best results, you need to start with a smooth, shiny royal icing surface. Read this post for more information about that.
I was not surprised that the Bacardi 151 and the vanilla extract produced the shiniest gold finish. You can use any alcohol based flavored extract in place of vanilla. Vanilla extract has about the same alcohol content as vodka, which, as I said earlier, I find to be a little too watery. So, if you're okay with using alcohol, I recommend the Bacardi 151 for a shiny gold.
What surprised me the most was the result of the water versus the lemon juice. I had always assumed that lemon juice would be the better choice (not that I have any reason to believe that other than I read it in a forum once). The gold mixed with the water actually turned out to be shinier than the gold with the lemon juice. As you can see, however, both the water and the lemon juice have dissolved the icing slightly, leaving the surface porous and somewhat dull compared to the alcohol. The lemon juice took much longer to dry than the water.
Here's the result of the imitation vanilla flavor. It dried a little faster than the lemon juice, so the surface didn't end up as dull.
The Winner:
Water! After all of the disks had some time to dry, the one painted with water remained the shiniest out of the alcohol-free options. While the lemon juice and imitation vanilla are water-based, the water on its own dried the fastest, leaving very little time for it to soak into the surface of the icing.
If you are going to be painting with an alcohol-free liquid, be sure to use light, quick strokes with your brush. You want to make sure that the liquid has as little time as possible to dissolve the icing. I wouldn't recommend using this method for painting tiny details or for delicate royal icing transfers, as it will make your icing porous and fragile. Starting with royal icing that has dried smooth and shiny (again, tips on that here) will help to prevent any problems.
I'd only recommend using water when painting with gold in cases where it is absolutely necessary. As you can see in these results, alcohol gives the shiniest finish with the least risk of dulling the icing.
Another option is to apply the dust with a dry brush. This method is great for covering large areas. However, you have to be careful because it will get all over everything! Also, it smudges and rubs off very easily.
Here are some different angles so you can see how the light reflects off of each one. Individual results may vary!
Click on the images for more on these designs that are painted with gold pearl dust: 
Share your gilded creations with me on my facebook page!
I've received lots of inquiries about what can be used in place of alcohol for this method, so I decided to try out some different liquids to see what works best. I was surprised by the results! For products used in this and other tutorials, visit my recommended products page. Shown here are Beanilla vanilla extract (35% alcohol), Mount Williams imitation vanilla (water, vanillin, artificial flavors, caramel color), Bacardi 151 (75.5% alcohol), lemon juice and water.
I almost always use Wilton gold pearl dust for this method. Wilton is one of the only companies I know of that make FDA approved pearl dusts and color dusts. Most of the others that are available on the market are labeled non toxic, but also non edible, so they’re just meant for use on decorations that won’t be consumed, such as gum paste flowers. NY Cake just came out with a line of FDA approved dusts, which I haven’t had a chance to try yet.
I piped some royal icing disks for this experiment using the royal icing transfer method. A video tutorial on this method is available in my tutorial shop. You'll also find my cookie and royal icing recipe there.
When painting with gold, I like to start with a brown base because it helps the gold stand out and it is also more forgiving if you miss a spot. The brown gel paste that I use is too pink on its own when used to make light and medium shades, so I almost always add a little bit of green in order to neutralize it.
The reason that alcohol is used to paint on royal icing is because it evaporates very quickly, so there is little time for the liquid to dissolve the icing. In order to get the best results, you need to start with a smooth, shiny royal icing surface. Read this post for more information about that.
I was not surprised that the Bacardi 151 and the vanilla extract produced the shiniest gold finish. You can use any alcohol based flavored extract in place of vanilla. Vanilla extract has about the same alcohol content as vodka, which, as I said earlier, I find to be a little too watery. So, if you're okay with using alcohol, I recommend the Bacardi 151 for a shiny gold.
What surprised me the most was the result of the water versus the lemon juice. I had always assumed that lemon juice would be the better choice (not that I have any reason to believe that other than I read it in a forum once). The gold mixed with the water actually turned out to be shinier than the gold with the lemon juice. As you can see, however, both the water and the lemon juice have dissolved the icing slightly, leaving the surface porous and somewhat dull compared to the alcohol. The lemon juice took much longer to dry than the water.
Here's the result of the imitation vanilla flavor. It dried a little faster than the lemon juice, so the surface didn't end up as dull.
The Winner:
Water! After all of the disks had some time to dry, the one painted with water remained the shiniest out of the alcohol-free options. While the lemon juice and imitation vanilla are water-based, the water on its own dried the fastest, leaving very little time for it to soak into the surface of the icing.
If you are going to be painting with an alcohol-free liquid, be sure to use light, quick strokes with your brush. You want to make sure that the liquid has as little time as possible to dissolve the icing. I wouldn't recommend using this method for painting tiny details or for delicate royal icing transfers, as it will make your icing porous and fragile. Starting with royal icing that has dried smooth and shiny (again, tips on that here) will help to prevent any problems.
I'd only recommend using water when painting with gold in cases where it is absolutely necessary. As you can see in these results, alcohol gives the shiniest finish with the least risk of dulling the icing.
Another option is to apply the dust with a dry brush. This method is great for covering large areas. However, you have to be careful because it will get all over everything! Also, it smudges and rubs off very easily.
Here are some different angles so you can see how the light reflects off of each one. Individual results may vary!
Click on the images for more on these designs that are painted with gold pearl dust:
Share your gilded creations with me on my facebook page!
Hi I use clear vanilla added to my luster dust for my accents but I always have an issue when I go to bag them in single poly bags . I leave them set for about 8 to 12 hours to dry out all the royal icing and luster dust but it still smears in the bag. Any suggestions .
Dust with a little cornstarch 🙂
Been trying to mix this orange pearl dust with vodka but it just stays grainy. If I use it on a cookie with hard dried RI, it turns matte and still grainy. And it feels grainy too! What am I doing wrong?
Hi Debra! It could be the brand of pearl dust. Which one are you using?
Do the cookies taste at all like vodka or alcohol after-taste when you use the Bacardi?
Thanks! Love your videos, btw!
The whole reason to use alcohol in the first place is that it evaporates. It's gone. Bye bye. No alcohol left to taste.
They have discontinued Barcardi 151! Can I use Bacardi superior? Thanks!
You can use any alcohol that's 150 proof or higher. I currently use Everclear and it works great!
If using everclear or 151 does the flavor of that alcohol stay on the cookies?
Hi Tina! The alcohol evaporates quickly and doesn't leave any taste on the cookie 🙂
You do such beautiful work! I have a problem with my gold smudging and getting on my fingers when I touch it. I used the crystal colors with lemon extract and painted it on. This was after a couple days too! Am I doing something wrong or does it just take really long to dry?
Hi I have been reading a few of your posts on coloring royal icing gold. In one post you say your favorite gold dust is crystal gold dust, then I read another post in which you say you almost always use wiltons gold dust. I am painting gold accents on a cookie teapot. Could you recommend which one I should use. I can go to michaels and buy wiltons. But the other I will need to order from amazon. Also which colour should I get in the gold if I go with the crystal dust. I would like a nice shade of gold. Something you would find on fine china. Thank you
Hi Brenda! I used Wilton gold pearl dust when I first started decorating cookies, but I've since switched to Crystal Colors gold. You can see an example of how Crystal Colors gold looks here: https://www.sweetambs.com/tutorial/henna-inspired-cookies-collab-man-cake/
Thank you, this was very helpful. I'm definitely going to give this a shot.
I'm glad to hear that, Parthvi!
and when you say shot, do you mean a shot of Vodka? Jk, it's Friday ?
Hi, thanks for all your explanation, it's perfect.
Can i use this gold luster dust mixed like you explain ( with vainilla extract, Water, vodka, etc.) in fondant? ☺️☺️☺️☺️
Thank you! I'm glad it's helpful. Yes, you can use these same techniques on fondant 🙂
Hi Amber I would like to know can I use the same on my chocolate-covered cookies
Hi Stacey! These mixtures of gold dust and liquid wouldn't work on chocolate - it would just bead up instead of sticking to the surface. You can apply dry dust to chocolate, but I'm not sure what liquid you would use for painting. Perhaps melted cocoa butter? I would check with Kara of Kara's Couture Cakes about that: https://www.karascouturecakes.com
Hi Can I use it with water on Fondant? I want to make gold stars for my little one on her cake and was wondering if I could mix the pearl dust with water and apply it on Fondant! Thanks in advance!
Hi Amber,
Thank you for this comparison. I have been using vodka and I'm not loving the results as I'm finding it to eat away at my icing a bit. I want to try to Bacardi 151 but just want to make sure I get the right one. Is it brown in color or clear? Does this matter if I'm painting a silver pearl dust? Thank you so much for always answering my questions!! xoxox
Hi Nicole! Bacardi 151 is slightly darker than vodka. I never had any trouble with it tinting my white or silver pearl dust. I actually recently started using Everclear grain alcohol (it just became available for purchase in my state) and I've had great results with it. If you find that your icing is still dissolving as you paint, it could be that your icing is too porous. You can find information about that in this post. Scroll down a bit to find the section on royal icing troubleshooting tips: https://www.sweetambs.com/tutorial/royal-icing-consistencies/
Help! Recently painting luster dust (using Vodka) is causing the icing to look porous. I tried a thin then thick application with the same results.
Hi Carolyn! There are a couple of things that could be causing this problem. The vodka you are using might be too weak, which would mean that it's not evaporating quickly and it's dissolving the icing. I find that regular vodka is not strong enough, so I use 150 proof or higher. Devil's Springs vodka, Everclear grain alcohol and Bacardi 151 are the ones I use.
It could also be that your royal icing is too porous. Make sure that you mix your icing no longer than 5 minutes on medium/low speed. You can read more about that here: https://www.sweetambs.com/tutorial/royal-icing-consistencies/
Can you paint this on a cookie with out any icing on it?? I'm looking to make this for a wedding and didn't want to use royal icing first and the paint with luster dustt
Thanks!
Hi Rachel! Yes, you can paint directly on cookies without any icing. I've done it a few times.
Thank you for all the different options! I was wondering if you could tell me what your mixing tray is called as I'd like to get one. Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing ,I am muslim I can not use alcohol so what you advice me how to use gold luster on any kind of decoratin.
Hi Naj! You can follow the same instructions from my blog post on how to paint with luster dust, but use any of these liquids listed above instead of alcohol. Here are the instructions for using gold luster dust: https://www.sweetambs.com/tutorial/gold-royal-icing/
Thank you so much for this post!! I found it invaluable!
Can you apply these methods with any lustre dust/petal dust, or is this strictly for gold and silver colours?
Hi Amber, I am so enjoying your cookie tutorials! Beautiful work! I have a question about the alcohol. Does it change the cookie flavor at all? Probably a dumb question but will the cookies be ok to serve to children...lol? More specifically I am asking about the fall cookies that are painted with "watercolor."
Thank you, Lisa! The alcohol evaporates very quickly, so you can't taste it once the "paint" is dry. It's best to explain the process to the parents and leave it up to them whether or not to serve the cookies to their children.
Désolée pour la traduction..
Bonjour,
Je voulais simplement avoir si c'était possible la recette de votre glace royal.
Je trouve formidable ce que vous faites. J'aimerais savoir en faire autant.
J'ai chercher un peu partout, mais je ne trouve pas la recette de glace royal, comme vous la faite vous en Amérique.
Je vous remercie d'avance.
Cordialement.
Hello,
My name's bandit. I Wish I had your royal icing recipe please. I'm french, and I knew bains enthusiast. I think what you do is supper great. I Would like to know do the same. I have a pastry blog. If you could look and tell me What you think, Would be It's great.
Thank you in advance. Remember m'y recipe please.
Thanks for the tops. Please what gel colours will I mix in a white fondant to get a gold colour. Thanks
Have you tried other alcohols other than the Bacardi 151? I dont want to spend the money to buy it for a small cookie project I have to accent with metallic gold color. I wanted to ask if Everclear alcohol would work? Its about 180 proof I think.
Yes, that will work!
Hello. Please could you give me your royal icing recipe? I did not find on the site. Thanks !!
Hello, good afternoon. Please could you give me your royal icing recipe? I did not find on the site. His work is wonderful. Thank you, Maria Luiza - Brazil
Can this be done on buttercreme icing and when you use the alchol base, does it make the icing taste?
Awesome Tutorial. Never used Wilton colors but will try to get that exact brown. What if I use Americolor ivory to get that brown?
Also going ahead and getting a bottle of the bacardi 151. Experimenting with some wedding cookies.
Thank you, Asmita! You could use ivory. The color just has to be somewhat close to gold so that it blends in. Have fun making the wedding cookies!
Thank you for all the great suggestions. I thought that the reason people use vodka, besides the drying time, is that it does not leave a "taste" behind. Does the rum? I also am going to look for grain alcohol.
You're welcome! I haven't noticed that the rum leaves a taste behind, but I only use it for tiny details. It's possible that if it was covering a large area that the taste would be detectable. I'm definitely going to give the grain alcohol a try!
Have you ever used gold dust with corn oil for painting?
I have not used corn oil. My only concern would be that the oil would be absorbed into the icing, but it would be interesting to see what happens! Have you tried it?
Thank you so much for posting these results, Amber! I've also been working on finding alternatives to alcohol because I agree...it's much too watery and ends up leaving my icing with "pits." Recently I tried mixing gold luster dust with gold food paint (found via Etsy at PartyAnimal On-line) and that seems to work the best for me (super shiny, no pits, dries quickly). Will try to find grain alcohol like Gail suggested and see if that works, too. Thank you again!
Hi Christine! I'd be interested in trying that gold food paint. I'm going to look for it now! Thanks for stopping by!!
Thanks for the tip, I'll try that, perhaps I'll get the color I'm looking for as my edible gold paint is brownish and dull.
Thanks for this article! I love metalic finishs on cookies (especialy on yours!) but I hate the making-of!
I used vodka so perhaps that's the reason why I didn't like the result.
I've been using edible gold and silver ink from Städter, a german line of products I sell in my webshop, it's easy to use but I don't like the color of the gold paint, sadly.
I don't make too many cookies but I have become obsessed with it lately. I absolutely love your website and really wish you could take lessons in Tampa, Fl. You are simply brilliant!
Thank you! I hope I can travel to Florida one day soon to teach classes!
Thanks for the research Amber! I've often wondered about this too as most cookie sites I stalk use vodka. I'd rather not use expensive extracts when I can use alcohol since there seems to be a lot more of it in my house than extracts! I even have some 151 in my bar. This is definitely getting filed in my ever-growing "Cookie Tips" file!
Thanks a bunch!
I know what you mean. It doesn't take very long to go through a whole bottle of extract with this process! I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
Yo siempre que no tuve alcohol usaba agua, pero nunca imagine con esencia de vainilla! Sos genial Amber!
I'm glad to help! Thank you!
Have you ever tried grain alcohol?
I have not tried it, but having such a high alcohol content, I'm sure it would be great for this. Have you used it?
Yes, Amber, I use it exclusively! Dries quickly with a great sheen. And, no odor. I'm sure if I were using rum, I'd want to make a cocktail, a cocktail leads to fun hors d'oeuvres and before you know it, I'll be having a luau and not working. LOL!
Haha!! Thank you for the recommendation, Gail! I'll be trying that out!
We can't buy grain alcohol in the city, oddly enough. I buy mine across river in NJ.
Hi Amber! I always use alcohol 90 degrees, therefore I'm not satisfied, now I know! The gold is very shiny but it's full of little 'grains' maybe it dries to quickly...I'm going to try with Bacardi too, hoping to find the 151 edition here. Thanks for your experiments and always useful tutorials! 🙂
Thanks, Evelin! Let me know how it works out! As Gail mentioned, grain alcohol would work, too, if you can't find Bacardi 151. Anything that has a high alcohol content (75% or above) would be good for this method.
Yet another reason for RUM! Not just for Mai tais anymore ;)!
I'm crazy embarrassed to admit it, but I never thought of adding green to my brown. Thanks for the reminder! (I'm praying my design and art teachers don't ever read this)
Lol!!! No problem! 🙂
Thanks for sharing. Can you use the same for silver?
Yes! This applies to any color of luster dust.
I appreciate the clear documentation of your findings; I can't wait to try the Bacardi method. Your website has given me so many wonderful tips - thank you!!
Thanks, Elizabeth!
Thank you so much for doing this experiment. As a newbie Muslim home baker, I've been desperately trying to find a way to do techniques like this that don't involve alcohol. Its hard to find truly alcohol free products. I use pure vanilla bean paste in baking as I can't use vanilla extract since its choc full of alcohol! Thank you again. I can finally really go to town with all my gorgeous little pots of lustre dust !! I only dream of being able to replicate one of your masterpieces! My reaction is ALWAYS "wow!!"
Many thanks & much love
Thank you so much, Lisa! Have fun decorating!!
Who would've known! I like the mix with Bacardi 151. Thanks for sharing!!
😀 Glad you enjoyed the post!
Thank you so much for posting this!
You're welcome! Thanks for reading!
What a great observation! Thanks so much for sharing, I would have neve guessed to use Bacardi 151! Definitely giving this a go!
Thanks, Esther!