Dragees substitutes

The everyday sprinkle aisle answer and by far the cheapest. They are the same idea at about a quarter of the size, matte or lightly shiny, and soft enough to bite without thinking about it. Because they are so much smaller, a scatter of nonpareils reads as texture and colour across a surface, where dragees read as individual deliberate beads, so use them where the pattern matters less than the sparkle.

Best for

cupcake tops, cookie edges, scattered confetti effects, anything a child will eat

The coloured ones bleed dye into wet icing within an hour or two, so add them once the icing has crusted, or accept soft haloes of colour.

The same product as a dragee minus the metal finish, so the size, the shape and the hard crunch are all identical. They come in white, ivory, pastels and pearlised finishes, and the pearlised ones get remarkably close to the look of a silver dragee under cake light. This is the straight swap if you can find them.

Best for

wedding cakes, piped border accents, holiday cookies, anywhere you want distinct beads

Look for them labelled as sugar pearls, sugar beads or edible pearls. Unlike metallic dragees these are unambiguously food, so nothing needs picking off before serving.

The best answer for the metallic effect with no ambiguity about eating them. Tip white sugar pearls into a small bowl or bag, add a pinch of edible silver or gold lustre dust, and shake until coated. The finish is a soft satin sheen rather than the mirror-bright shine of a true silver dragee, which honestly looks better on most cakes anyway.

Best for

wedding and anniversary cakes, New Year and holiday cakes, metallic colour schemes

Do this dry and before you place them, since brushing dust onto pearls already stuck to icing leaves smears. Use dust labelled edible rather than non-toxic, which means decoration only.

Noticeably larger and chunkier, and they bring flavour where a dragee brings none, which changes the character of the decoration from restrained to playful. Sixlets are the closest of the group because they come in metallic finishes and are properly round. The chocolate ones soften and can bloom or smear in a warm room.

Best for

birthday and children's cakes, cake pops, bold colourful patterns

These are much heavier than dragees, so they slide down the side of a cake unless the icing is firm or you press them in. Add them close to serving.

Chunks of compressed sugar, opaque white, irregular rather than round, and famously resistant to melting in the oven, which makes it the only option on this list you can bake with. It gives a crunchy, snowy, rustic look instead of a polished bead. Genuinely different visually, but excellent where you want white crunch rather than jewellery.

Best for

Belgian waffles and liege dough, sweet buns and scones, anything baked with the decoration on

This is the one substitute here that survives the oven. Dragees and sugar pearls both soften and can crack or discolour if baked.

Free, in any colour you like, and placed exactly where you want them, which no bought decoration can match. Piped with a small round tip they dry hard with a domed top, so the shape is close to a half-bead. What they lack is shine: royal icing dries matte, so they look like icing dots rather than pearls unless you brush them with lustre dust once dry.

Best for

precise patterns and borders, colour-matched decoration, cookie decorating

Let them dry several hours before moving the cake or they will smudge into commas. A drop of corn syrup in the icing gives a slight sheen.