How to Make Edible Glitter the Easy Way

Look, I know that there are some glitter snobs out there, but I’m here to tell you How to Make Edible Glitter the Easy Way–because the other?

Too hard for anyone who ain’t-got-time-for-that-sh*t.

How to Make Edible Glitter the Easy Way

Ok. So, here’s the low-down.

I have two little kids, a dog, a house, a husband, and a life.

I don’t have time to mess around with gelatin or agar and make edible glitter in some kind of aristocratic boujie kind of way.

I need my dang Edible Glitter quite promptly, actually, for a cake or whatever I’m making–THAT DAY.

Not tomorrow, not next week.

I need it now.

And, I’m going to be straight-up honest with you: It doesn’t have to be that hard.

The secret to easy edible glitter? A really good metallic food coloring and sugar.

Yep. That’s it.

And, yeah, I tried to make edible glitter the hard way, because I thought “why not?!”

Well, I’ll tell you why not–it’s freaking hard and just straight-up BS that doesn’t work out.

But this? Easy edible glitter?

Look, I just added my magic metallic food coloring to sugar.

Stirred it up with a fork, because forks work, right?

And it made this paste, but I didn’t sweat it, because it couldn’t be any worse than making glitter-snob edible food glitter, right?!

And then I had this pretty glittery sugar.

But, I kind of didn’t want it to be wet, right?

Because it would be easier to work with if it was dry.

Spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with oven-safe parchment paper, not wax paper, and dry it in a preheated conventional oven at 170°F (about 77°C) for about 30 minutes. Follow the parchment manufacturer’s directions.

Very simple.

Which I like, if you can’t already tell.

And, because the gold worked so well–just had to be busted-up with a rolling pin when it was done in the oven–I made a little edible glitter from every color I had in my metallic food coloring set.

Score!

And now, with my edible food glitter in hand, I can decorate pretty much anything with sparkly shininess.

Like rainbow unicorn cake…or galaxy macarons…the possibilities are endless. LOL!

And all it took was a little sugar and some metallic food coloring.

Nothing fancy, nothing weird.

So, take that, glitter snobs!

You ready to make your own edible glitter, but you don’t have any metallic food coloring yet?

Don’t despair!

Just pin this to your favorite edible-glitter-should-be-on-everything board on Pinterest so you can find it later, and then get your metallic food coloring ordered!

Recipe

Easy Edible Glitter

A two-ingredient homemade edible glitter made with sugar and metallic food coloring.

Prep2 min

Cook30 min

Total32 min

Yield1 batch

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★★★★★ 5.0 from 1 vote

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon metallic food coloring

Instructions

1. Preheat a conventional oven to 170°F (about 77°C).
2. Combine the food coloring and sugar.
3. Line a baking sheet with oven-safe parchment paper, then spread the mixture on it. Do not use wax paper. Follow the parchment manufacturer’s directions.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Let the mixture cool completely.
6. Break up the dried mixture with a rolling pin until it reaches the glittery texture you want.
7. Use it to add sparkle to cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other treats.

Important: This recipe makes edible sugar glitter. Decorative glitter labeled only “non-toxic” is not automatically edible. Here’s how to tell the difference.

Recipe by Totally The Bomb · Originally published May 1, 2019