DIY Petal Dust-Maybe!
Are you confused by the title of this post? Either it is Petal Dust or it isn’t, right? Well, this is where it gets a little confusing for me. It’s almost like petal dust, but it’s not quite the real thing. Let me start from the beginning.
Not to long ago I was decorating my How to Make Cloud Cookies that Actually Rain and I realized that I was out of petal dust. I was really sad because I wanted soft little circles of pink to help add a little color to the faces of my cloud cookies. I didn’t feel like running to the store so I grabbed my airbrush gun and added the cheeks to the clouds. They turned out the way I wanted and I was happy.
The only problem was I could not get the idea of making my own petal dust out of my head. The more time that passed the more I was determined to do it, or almost do it. Let me show you what worked and what didn’t.
Supplies for DIY Petal Dust:
Powdered Sugar
Food Gel (color of your choice)
Coffee Grinder
Small Jar for Storage
The first way I tried to make my own petal dust was to chop up some DIY Sprinkles in my coffee grinder. It seemed to be working well until I tried to use it. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. It blew off my cookies like dust! I then tried to add a little water to it and it was not a pretty sight! So I came up with a Plan B.
Plan B worked pretty well and it was very simple to make. All you need is a little powdered sugar (10 x’s Confectioners Sugar) and a few drops of food gel color. There isn’t an exact recipe because you can make it any shade or amount you want.
I started with a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar and added some red food gel color and mixed it in the coffee grinder. Once I checked the color, it wasn’t quite the shade I wanted so I added a little more food gel and mixed it again. When I removed the coffee grinder lid I saw the perfect shade of pink. The petal dust color I had been hoping to make. Now for the big question, would it work.
I grabbed my iced cookie and a dry paint brush and began to paint it on the cloud cookie. Sigh. Nothing happened. It fell off like someone was blowing a tumbleweed across the desert. It didn’t stick to anything. 
As I looked at the DIY Petal Dust I wondered what would happened if I added a little water and then tried to paint it on. Hold your breath and give it a try!
It worked! I added a little too much water and I didn’t want it to eat away at the royal icing so I used a piece of paper towel to blot it a little. 
No no, this isn’t the petal dust you can get in the store. So the “Maybe” part of the title is correct or at least a little correct. It isn’t petal dust but it paints like petal dust. If you want dry petal dust, you are out of luck with this one. If you want to paint petal dust and your cabinet is bear, you’re in luck!
I know that you can use food gel to paint cheeks on cookies and you can use an airbrush system. Sometimes I don’t feel like setting up the airbrush gun just to add a little color to a few cheeks, or I can’t seem to get the right shade of pink from food gel colors. It is nice to know that I will have this DIY Petal Dust just in case I need it.
I know it isn’t perfect and you might never decide to try it, but if you are ever in a pinch, it might help you out. I keep telling myself that everything we do isn’t always exactly what we want, but this has saved the day for me once or twice. One day I might decide to keep looking for the perfect DIY Petal Dust and I hope I will find it, but in the mean time, I am happy with this and hopefully you will be also. You know. If you get in a pinch.
More DIY Recipes:
DIY Sprinkles
DIY Sparkle Dust
Bear hugs,
Great minds think alike! I bought different colours of colored sugar the kind you sprinkle on cookies/cakes and then buzzed them individually in my magic bullet until they were fine like powdered sugar. Not exactly the same brightness as wilton color dusts but close! The colored sugar is SO much cheaper than the $5-$6 each wilton vials of color dusts at our local bulk barn.
That is so smart Sherry! I love all of these DIY Tips! Thanks for sharing with us!
That worked pretty well. I wonder what would happen if you sprinkled some of your homemade petal dust over the spot you painted. Would it stick to the wet spot?
This is why I love blogging! I am going to try that Beth! Thanks!! 😉
I’d love to hear how it works. I’ve used colored powdered sugar to coat things like doughnuts, but have never used it like you did. I’d prefer using it over petal dust.
I would honestly like to know what is in petal dust…or maybe not! LOL As soon as I try it I will let you know.
Thank you for the awesome idea! I wonder how they make that voodoo concoction. lol I think this would be fabulous to use at a moment’s notice.
I don’t know Michele! I heard in a forum once that people used sidewalk chalk to make it at home. I am not about to eat chalk! 😮
I don’t know what companies use to make it but I am not going to give up to find something edible that will stick to our cookies when it is dry. Fingers crossed!
I read somewhere about using non-toxic artist chalk?? Have you tried it? Do you think that’s safe? I did try the powdered sugar to great disappointment but never added water. Love creating my own “everything” 🙂
Hi Adriana,
I saw that in a forum once, but I am not going to try it. I know people say when things are labeled as “non-toxic” it means they can be consumed but that just isn’t for me.
I don’t use ingredients that aren’t approved by the FDA because a while back everyone said Disco Dust was safe. It was only a short time later that we found out it isn’t safe for consumption.
I think making petal dust with chalk is a personal choice. If you want to try chalk then go for it. Let us know how it turns out.
How cool is your diy petal dust? I love the whole idea of making things in my own kitchen that I used to think were only available “store-bought”. Yesterday I made my first ever batch of caramel popcorn! Woohoo!
Not only is your recipe so easy..but we can make just the color we need and it’s less expensive than those tiny little containers we are used to. Love it! 🙂
I just wish it would work as a dry application to the cookie. I am not going to give up! LOL
Did you say caramel popcorn! That is one of my favorite things!
Did you try it already with cornstarch?
I tought of this because it sticks to fondant.
regards, anouschka from the netherlands
The Netherlands! Welcome!!
I have not tired it yet anouschka. Thanks for the suggestion and I will try it out and let you know the results. 😉
Hello, I love this tutorial because I live in a rural area and getting these kinds of things is a pain.
Question: why did you paint it on with water and not alcohol?
Hi Elizabeth,
I like water because it is free! LOL I only use vodka in my airbrush gun to clean it. Water has always worked for me on projects like this and I believe if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! LOL
Bear hugs!
I was just thinking of trying colored sugar in the coffee grinder and was researching it when I happened upon your blog. What about using it dry on not quite dry icing? Wonder if it would stick better? Did you find any other possibilities? I have to order and those tiny vials are so expensive.
You know Cheeyl, I am not sure how that would work. I wanted to use it like a blush on cheeks or to shade some different areas but if you try it on ‘not so dry icing’ let me know how you like it. 😉
Hi Lisa, I always mix cornstarch with wodka and gel colour, let it dry and use a mortar and pestle to make it a powder again. It works very well on my fondant flowers ☺ Probably not like professional petal dust but as I never tried one, I can’t compare it.
Greetings from Germany, Alexandra
Thanks so much Alexandra! I’ll have to try this! 😉
I do the exact same thing except I just use water instead of vodka. It works great!
Lisa,
I can’t tell you how happy I am that I got your email this morning!!! I brainstormed ALL day yesterday on how I could make my own and trust me, my kitchen showed it!!! I needed some cute, little, rosy cheeks so I painted them on and it worked, BUT I REALLY wanted the petal dust!!! So this email is so packed full of EVERYTHING I’ve been thinking about! Are you in my head? It’s not a pretty place in there right now and there’s no telling what you’ll see…..you might need a break from me LOL
THE SPRINKLES!!!! (I’m a little lazy after 3 hours of sleep so that’s why I’m not on THAT post, but I hope you don’t mind). I was pondering what to do with my little left over icings and this is IT! Yippy!!! I’m the person who will shove my pinky finger as far into my tip as it’ll go, just to get that last drop of icing out! It’s not my favorite thing to make, so I wanna use it all! I’d rather spend my time decorating then making icing. I’m trying to invent something that’ll make our icings for us, while we sit back and enjoy our coffee and a good book….nothing so far, but who knows!!!
Again, thanks for making me sooooo happy this morning! I’m off to finish up icing for 15 sets of cookies. Oh, and I’m thinking they need petal dust AND sprinkles! Happy Friday & have a blessed weekend!!! ?❤
Hey! I don’t have a coffee grinder, can I use icing sugar instead of confectioners sugar and just mix it with a paint brush?