Dusting

Lightly coating a dessert, pan or work surface with a fine powder, such as powdered sugar, cocoa or flour.

Dusting: A fine-mesh sieve dusting powdered sugar over a chocolate cake
  • Techniques and preparation methods

To dust a dessert evenly, tap the powder through a fine sieve held above it. Stencils or paper doilies make patterns. Powdered sugar slowly dissolves on moist desserts, so dust just before serving.

Dusting a greased pan with flour, or with cocoa for chocolate cakes, helps cakes release cleanly.

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Tools for this

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Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Dusting (Q151070), Wikidata