You can use buttercream, royal Icing or fondant. I have lots of flowers in that topper, but keep in mind that leaves can fill a lot of space and you can use some small filler flowers.
Edna

I usually make a lump of fondant into a small mound - for an 8" round it would be about 3 inches in diameter. I first place it on my work surface, and arrange the flowers on that first. You probably need to cut your stems quite short - about 1 - 2 inches. When you are happy with the arrangment, disassemble it, use RI to glue the mound to your cake and then place your flowers into the mound again on the cake. Sometimes I use RI to glue them into the fondant if I am worried about movement

HTH

I like to use heart cutters. I bought a 5 petal cutter once and used it once. I like the heart cutter better, and everyone has one of those.

Evoir, do you have to put a support under your mound of fonant? I sooooooo don't want my flowers sinking into the cake!!!

You dont have to put support under the fondant. The ball is not as big as you would
imagine.
Edna

I want to thank all of you for your input & help. The cake was delivered this evening for the benefit. The lady I know said bids were down this year (economy may be to blame) but it still brought over $100.

Your tutorial saved me Edna. I don't know that you guys can see the dusting b/c I started w/ colored gumpaste, but you could see the detail in person.

See you didn't need cutters after all. Your flowers and the cake itself turned out gorgeous!

Isn't Edna the best????


Edited for typo.

Edna is great! But I tell ya, I was so sick & tired of making petals by the time I finished. I think I made 15 roses (some bigger than others) and then about 8 mums, plus the leaves & ball things (I have no idea what to call them lol). One end of my table was covered in cutters, dusts/chalk, cooling racks, etc. Glad to have my table back. I know I would charge a booty load if someone wanted them for a cake. If they don't want to pay they can get silk! Does the 5 petal cutter speed things up at all? Man I'm exhausted & going to bed, I can't even think straight.

lol..Im so sorry about the petals. Eventually I will do a whole thing that includes the 5 petal cutter. Is just that for youtube it was easier to do do that everybody could find a round cutter.. The five petal does speed things up.
Im so proud of those!..The look so perfect!...OMG!

Edna

I'm not complaining Edna, I soooo appreciate your tutorial & I definitely didn't have the cutters so had to do what I could. It's nice to know the 5 petal speeds things up. It was definitely great practice & i know I can do it again if I have to. I also used the same technique for the rose in my shoebox cake. My dd LOVED that "purple" rose.

Ha, ha, my brain is so tired I'm not really comprehending what I'm saying. I did 2 cakes & 14 decorated cookies for this benefit. It was great practice, but next year it'll be 1 cake!

I did 6 wedding in the leas 2 days..wanna do an exchange?..lol
Edna

Your cake looks beautiful! Great work on the flowers too

BTW: Pat Ashby has a fabulous book on making all kinds of flowers with 5-petal cutters.