How To Make Edible Glitter

A paste consistency

Edible glitter is sometimes edible and sometimes not...To be safe, you can make your own out of gums and edible luster dusts.

I read an article by Lindy Smith about how to make your own glitter using gum arabic, but I didn't have any of that. I decided to try some of the fairly useless Wilton GumTex that I have sitting around, and it worked just fine.

Spread out on the mat

I used 1 tsp of gumtex, and added 1 tsp of water to begin with, but that was way too thick, so I added more. Because it was still so thick I eventually just stopped measuring it and started adding water directly from the tap, stirring it until it was about the thickness of tempera paint.

I then added some greenish edible luster dust and some blue color for good measure. Since I was just experimenting I didn't have a specific color in mind. What I ended up with was kind of a Wicked Witch Of The West green.

At this point it was kind of a paste consistency, a little thicker than paint. I spread it all out on a silicone mat and put it into the oven at 275 degrees F until it dried out and started pulling away from the mat.

Peeling away from the mat

Just to warn you, as it dries out it smells like butt, as my kids would so eloquently say.

The center is still slightly damp

Make sure that it's totally dried out all the way through. If you run into pieces that are still a little damp it can make the glitter clump up as you're shredding it. In the photo at the right, the darker area in the center of the piece is still a little damp.



When it dries out you can pick big pieces of the sheet up and turn them over to make sure that any thicker spots dry out. Just leave it in the oven until it's totally dry.

Store in a sealed container

Once it does dry out you can pick it up and just break it into little pieces with your fingers, letting it drop back onto the silicone mat. Shred it into teeny pieces and store it in an airtight jar.

One warning is that it also pretty much tastes like butt if you eat it by itself (which I did to test it), but since you'll be putting it onto icing it shouldn't be much of a problem. The icing will disguise the gum flavor, or lack thereof.

Kara Buntin owns A Cake To Remember LLC, custom wedding cakes in Richmond VA