Instructions

1. Make small indentations in the cake with a small fondant ball tool or the tip of a paintbrush to mark the location for each pearl. The indentations also help hold the pearls in place.

2. Place your choice of edible glue in a wide shallow bowl or plate. For example, you can add water to a small ball of gumpaste a few drops at a time, blending the water to thin the gumpaste from dough to edible glue. Other edible glue options include tylose glue and thick royal icing. With tylose powder, add water a few drops at a time until you achieve a glue-like consistency. Royal icing is made by mixing water with powdered sugar and meringue powder to a stiff consistency.

3. Pick up the first pearl with a pair of bent-tip tweezers, squeezing the tweezers firmly enough to hold the pearl but lightly enough to avoid crushing it. Grasp the upper two-thirds of the pearl, leaving the bottom third untouched.

4. Dip the pearl into the edible glue. You don't need to completely cover the bottom third of the pearl; a small drop of glue is sufficient.

5. Press the pearl gently against the cake inside the indentation. Small pearls should stick right away, but larger pearls might need to be held in position for about a minute until the glue sets, especially if applied to the sides of a cake. Release the tweezers. Repeat this process with the remaining pearls.