Pink Champagne and Gold Leaf Layer Cake and Cupcakes

One of my enduring obsessions is decorating cakes with edible gold leaf. It's just so pretty and I'm drawn to the organic nature of its application. What I mean is, you can sort of tell gold leaf where to go but you can't really tell it what to do. The whisper thin sheets float and waver with the slightest motion, so when you apply it to cake it clings to the surface on the whim of whatever air currents are present (an exhale, a hand movement, your HVAC). I read somewhere that it's only about 0.1 micrometer or 4 millionths of an inch, thick (thin)!

To me, gold leaf's unplanned shapes and sparkles is what makes it special. I especially love the effect it creates on pink buttercream. It looks like something Marie Antoinette would have on her gilded dessert buffet. I found some gold angel wing Dresden trims that I'd been saving for something special and they seemed like a good fit for this bubbly-inspired cake.
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