Ok - I am also a florist So here is the debate for all of you cake decorators.

We are having a debate here over how fresh flowers should be put on the cake.

I have 2 florists telling me they stick the whole flower stem right into the cake with nothing covering the stem or anything.

and if they want to have the flowers arranged they just start poking flowers right into the cake one at a time.

NOW - my thing is YUCK bare flower stems into something you are going to eat

AND you take the risk of cutting into a stem and having green junk all in your food, and when you are pulling out all these flowers you have a ton of holes

not to mention the more holes you poke into the cake it messes with the stability of the cake - cake does crumble and fall apart.


SO - the way we do the flowers is like a little corsage, we tape the stems and them wrap in cellophane.

We also leave it to the cake decorator to place the flowers on the cake since she has talked to the bride about how the cake should look.

We also do not want to place flowers on someone elses work . Especially if the cake it tippy - the less people touching the cake the better.


SO the question is --- how you feel about bare flower stems just being poked into the cake you just made for your bride

or would you rather have the stems wrapped and covered ?


please let me know - i would love to hear your response.

Not for me!! Have water holders for live flowers--place stem in holder and place in cake! HTH!

I don't like stems touching the cake so prefer them wrapped and/or use flower picks to stick them into the cake.

My suggestion is flower holders or bent straws. If on top then wax paper underneath.

If they are an edable flower and I know that their have been no pestisides on the flowers, I just poke them in...

If either of the two above are issues, then I wrap them....

Hey countrypetal, I'm a florist too! would really like to talk business with you. I'm just starting to add cakes and cookies to my business.......soooo slow in summer months!!!!
email me! [email protected]
As for placing fresh flowers, I always at least tape them and some times cut off stems and wire them first ( in fondant)

Even if they are edible flowers without pesticides, I still don't want bare stems stuck into any cake that will be eaten. That's just yucky IMO! I much prefer to have wrapped stems or flower picks.... some kind of barrier anyway.....
I wish more florists (like you) would leave the flower placement to the cake decorator, I've heard too many horror stories about florists who think they know best and ruin the decorator's beautiful work.

I would not be happy at all about bare stems being poked into one of my cakes.

I wouldn't go out to the garden, pick a flower and stir my iced tea with the stem, why would I want it in my cake?

Definitely those little plastic flower tubes or waxed/parchment paper if a flower bouquet is going on top of the cake.

Pesticides or not, the water in which the flowers sit may not be 100% germ free, you shouldn't put bare stems into the cake, I use water picks. The last cake I did had lika a small corsage so I inserted it in a plastic dowel rod cut to size. Your idea of the cello sounds good. I'd have to try it.

I used to be a floral designer, and now do cakes, mostly for fun. If I were to add fresh flowers to a cake, I'd use those small igloo dots to arrange them in, or if it was less flowers they wanted, I'd do a corasge type arrangement. I'd also make sure that the flowers were organic with no pestisides on the. You know how your hands feel after cutting and preping a shipment of flowers, like there is something on your skin. I wouldn't want that on a cake I'm eating!

THANK YOU EVERYONE

this is a good topic to discuss so everyone has a heads up on the next wedding you do.

Well - I have been a florist for a few years now and I have always just made the flowers that go on the side of a cake like a little corsage.

I arrange and tape the flower together with corsage tape

and then I take cellophane and securely cover the tape.

Basically it is a corsage without the bow.

as far as toppers - i purchase the plastic toppers by wilton that hold fresh flowers, or I take a regular white plastic topper that comes in 2 pieces and I turn it upside down so it looks like a cup and saucer and I put the flowers in that.

But I NEVER have flowers poked into the cake and have the stems in direct contact. There are some ferns i refuse to use knowing they shed fine little green hairs .

and I NEVER decorate someone elses work. The cake person calls me , tells me what they want and I add it to the flower bill the bride is paying and then they are delivered to the reception and sat on the cake table for the cake person to do with what they wish.

And ALL of you can request this - the florist does not automatically have the given right to put the flowers on. Just request you do the flowers when you meet with your bride and find out what florist they are using.

I wish this thread had been started before I did the Dieker wedding cake, - the florist put the flowers on the top of the cake -just poked them into the cake !!! When I came in and asked - she told me that this was the APPROVED method by florist to put flowers on the cake - she said they no longer required any kind of barrier between the flowers and the cake - I thought yeah right . At least she only put flowers on the top tier which wasn't served. She was going to other flowers on the cake - but thought the cake looked fine without them - thank goodness!

I have one florist in town I like to work with and if it is her I have no problem letting her arrange on the cake.... we set up a time we can both be there... she has me place a LARGE blob of frosting on the cake and she puts the flowers into that frosting so no flowers go into the cake and that frosting is removed when the cake is served.

If I can't be there I leave the frosting in a disposable bag. and she does it

my dealings with other florists has not always been so great I have arrived expecting an arrangement that gets set on top of the cake and what I find is a bunch of flowers in a bucket and not all can go on a cake.

Or I find nothing

The only wedding cake I've done, the florist was the aunt of the groom. She refused to let me do the flowers. I brought flower picks...which she scoffed at, but used two of them (and no more). Then she said, well these are all organic and the whole time I'm thinking, "would you lick that stem"? AND the top tier was only a 4 inch, so by the time she was done, it was nearly in pieces. It did stay together, but I also saw what was left of it when it was cut! SO SAD!!! And she put WAY too many flowers on the cake (which the bride was concerned that she might do). SIGH...thanks for being a sensitive florist!!!!

Organic, pesticide free, non toxic flowers are what I recommend to anyone who wants fresh flowers on their cake. I also use flower spikes to hold them...no stems into the cake. As far as the florist arranging the flowers, I have it written into my contract that NOBODY BUT ME puts anything on the cake!!! If they want flowers, toppers, etc, they must be there for me at the time of set up, their contract is void if someone else damages the cake. 

AYes, this is from 2007, but it is still a good question. I had a bride tell me today that she wanted real roses on the cake. It is just a few buds, and a few slightly opened flowers (supposedly, but we shall see...) and I told her I REALLY don't recommend it, but if she insists, I will cut the stem off, and stick it to an icing blob that needs to be removed and not served.

I will not stick stems in cakes, that is just nasty! And I have had a wannabe florist mess up the cake with her stupid flowers. It was in a two tier, with separations. The roses were supposed to be I. The separation, and I told her that, but she thought they would look much better all around the sides and on top.... Darn her....

I had a mexican stand-off not too long ago with a florist who insisted SHE was going to put the flowers on my cake. I asked to see her Food Safety Supervisors or Food Handlers certificate.

Result: a win for the cake decorator!

AI agree with SugarSweetCakeCo. I attended a Toba Garrett class and asked her about this. She said if you're going to use fresh flowers you have to make sure they are organic and non-poisonous. If she were to judge a cake competition and saw a poisonous flower, she would automatically disqualify that cake. She also said that you should never stick anything into a cake. So I would do like Annabakescakes said, stick it into a blob of icing or fondant.

What scares me more than sticking flowers directly into cake....is sticking "toxic" flowers directly into cake.    I have seen that often....and from local bakeries in my town.  Many bakeries and cake decorators do not know what is toxic and not.   Scarey.  

I would never consider just sticking a bare flower stem into a cake. 

AWould you put the flower pick in the cake with or without water? I would think without water. And when would you put the flowers on? I'm just debating this tonight for tomorrow's wedding cake. All the cakes I do have had sugar flowers. This one has real flowers... Now I'm trying to figure out what to do, lol. Good thread by the way

AI think my best bet is to wait until tomorrow to put them on the cake. I don't want the flowers to die.

What's the best way to put the flowers on the cake? I've heard of flower picks (without water??) and straws. Does anyone have some good tips?

Thank you! :)

AI did a fresh flower cake last year. The florist was late so I never got to put the flowers on the cake. Not sure what happen.

I agree with you. I prefer the stems being covered on in a spike

On decorating either you are decorate your room or cake flower is the best option.There are many florists in market which provide garden fresh flowers to give a warm welcome to the dears.You can select any from them for fresh flowers.

 

AHi

Yes I agree flowers stems should not be stuck into a cake. As you have stated a corsage style secured with a sterilized pin is great, you can also use a small dish with oasis for the top of the cake. The flowers stay fresh, no mess on the cake, they can be moved easily when cake is to be cut. If placing flowers on per stems, these can be cut and a tooth pik inserted at the base of the flowers then wraped these can then be placed into the cake carefully. The other alternative is to cut the stem very short wrap if possible, place on cake and secure with a sterilized pin, the hole in cake is minimal. There are a number of other ways to place flowers on a cake wihtout stiking a stem into it.

The person who actually makes the cake should place the flowers on the cake, but as I have found the bride also discusses this with the florist and at times the florist is the one doing this. In both cases you must check out the style of the cake and find out what icing is being used. This will enable you the work out how you will proceed with the arrangement required.

Hope this helps. If anyone has any other ideas I am all for learning more.

cheers jaqs5164

I have used a little disc with oasis (provided by the florist) on the top of the cake, with a small disc of wax paper around it to cover any petals that shouldn't touch.  I have also used floral picks poked into the cake as well as stems wrapped in plastic wrap and then inserted into straws before being poked into the cake.  HOWEVER, I do not recommend this when the bride wants a lot of flowers!  If the flowers are small and light, keep the stem and straw short.  Only poke way into the cake for very heavy flowers.

This is a pet peeve of mine.  No matter how many times you contact the florist (any florist) by phone or in writing, they never get it right.  Not being crabby - being honest.  For example, a wedding I did last week - I asked repeatedly for one large one medium and one small corsage for the cake.  Got one small and two medium and when  I pulled them out of their containers they were soaking wet.  It was obvious that the florist spritzed them in their cases, not realizing that water eats right through fondant.  I also got super huge calla lilies that were way too big for the cake and their outer edges were curling backwards.  The Ivy was dead, floppy and wilted.  I had to work for quite a while to make this mess look halfway decent and the florist gets the money for it, the time I spent on it  was free of charge.  Most of the flowers come off a boat from over seas and is grown in brackish waters where sanitary conditions aren't regulated like they are in the States.  When you cut the stems that bacteria filled water goes directly into the cake.  Too many stems inserted into water picks then into the cake cracks the finish.  Corsages are the way to go.  Straws have open ends so that's not good, wraps might have latex or ingredients guests would be allergic to,Saran may come away from the stems and be served to unsuspecting guests.  Sugar flowers get my vote.