I have been so excited to test out making rice paper sails and adding them onto a cake. They look so pretty and a little abstract. In this weeks video tutorial I’m showing you how I made these transparent rice paper sails and different ways you can colour them to match the theme of your cake.
You can watch how I made them below ⇩
What rice paper to use for the sails
When making these sails it’s important to get the right kind of rice paper. In the UK if you search for rice paper, especially on cake decorating websites you get rectangular sheets of white rice paper, which is also known as wafer paper. There are so many ways you can use wafer paper, but for these sails you need Vietnamese rice paper. Vietnamese rice paper is usually used in the making of Summer Rolls or spring rolls and unlike UK rice paper can be dipped in water to make it go really soft. A little like wet fabric. If you were to use wafer paper if this gets too wet it becomes quite sticky and can start to dissolve.
The discs of rice paper in this pack were 8.5 inches in diameter, but you can cut them down or cut them into shapes depending on the look you want.
Adding colour to your sails
When making your rice paper sails these can be left clear or coloured to match the theme of your cake. Maybe you want to make them look like water, or even colour them red to resemble fire. I love how many uses there are for these, just let your imagination run wild!
To colour them I used water based colour gel colours. In the tutorial you will see that the colour can either be added to the water before you submerge your rice paper or you can add the colour directly onto your disc once its been softened. Both give such amazing effects and just remember the more diluted the colour the lighter the sail will be, you can build up the colour by adding more food gel.
Drying your rice paper sails
When you are happy with how your sail is looking its time to leave them to dry. As they dry out they become hard and hold their shape. In order to dry them you can leave them for 24 hours at room temperature. If you want to speed up the drying process you can also place them in the oven. Now we don’t want to bake them, just warm them up. I placed mine in an oven set to 65 degrees Celsius for around 1 – 2 hours, until they were completely firm. I had this on a normal oven setting without a fan.
I could then remove them from the parchment paper I had shaped them over and attach them to my cake.
I love how these look on the cake and I’m not sure what I like best, the back or the front. The sails just look so magical wrapped around the cake. I really hope you enjoy the tutorial and will find it useful if you want to make your own rice paper sails to add onto your cakes.
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Tools I Used
I have put a list below showing all the tools that I used throughout this video or if you would like to see all my favourite cake decorating tools just click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/cakesbylynz
Vietnamese Rice Paper: https://amzn.to/3wXhwsw
Colour Splash raspberry food gel: https://amzn.to/3vUkzkZ
Colour Splash violet food gel: https://amzn.to/3vUkzkZ
Colour Splash light pink food gel: https://amzn.to/3vUkzkZ
PME candy melts: https://amzn.to/2QcvTpF
Fun Cakes deco melts: https://amzn.to/3gjj9be
Choctastique Spray Ice: https://tidd.ly/3f9rwIS
Silicone Mats: https://amzn.to/3ciTfVX
Sugarflair Shimmer Spray: https://amzn.to/3fLwnAB
~ Please note that some of links above may be affiliate links. If you click the link and purchase any item through that link, I will receive a small commission from the website but this does NOT add any additional costs to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog x ~
Plus why not save this tutorial for later and pin it to Pinterest
10 Responses
how did you attach your sails to the cake? I see you have them on toothpicks; could you insert the pick into the cake? Or do you just press into it?
Hi April, You can add cocktail sticks as I do in the tutorial, but if you watch to the end of the video tutorial you will see I attach the sails to my fondant covered cake using candy melts. I then use a can of spray ice which sets the candy melts instantly and holds the sails in place. I hope this helps.
Hello! I have two questions, can you put the rice paper sails on butter cream cake? And once you put the sails on the cake, can you put the cake in the fridge? It is hot and humid where I live and I need to keep the cake in the fridge until I serve the cake.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Caroline
Can you put these sails on buttercream and also how do the sails hold up in the fridge?
Hi Caroline, The sails are a little heavy, so if you are attaching them to buttercream I would attach a cocktail stick into the sail as I did in the tutorial so you can push this into your cake, to help it stay in place. In regards to putting your cake in the fridge, the rice paper sails have always been ok for me in the fridge.
how does the rice paper sail hold up to warmer temperatures
Hi Alison, I’ve found that once they are dry and have hardened they hold their shape really well and I haven’t personally found that warmer temperatures changes the shape.
Hi Lynsey, thank you so much for another wonderful video. I love all your tutorials and have learned so much from you.
I hope this doesn’t sound like a stupid question but can you eat the rice paper sails? I mean, obviously rice paper is edible but would you actually serve rice paper decorations to eat with the cake or are they really intended to be decorative only and removed before the cake is served?
Hi Kate, You are so welcome. I’m so happy to hear you love the tutorials. In regards to the rice paper sails it’s definitely not a stupid question. Technically they are edible but as they are left to dry they actually go quite hard, so I would probably just have them as decorative decorations and remove them before serving. xx
Excellent can’t wait to see more