18kt gold and semi-precious (which we think are still darn illustrious in their own right) gemstones and freshwater cultured pearls. All our 18kt is forged in our Cake studios by Meike herself. The custom 18kt alloy is also nickel and zinc free, so if you have metal allergies, this golds for you....We are pretty picky about the gems too, so they are predominantly inclusion free, and sparkle like nobodies business. (no empty calories in this cake.....)