So I did a bad thing.

I just learned how to make gumpaste roses and spent the week making a bunch for a dummy cake. Problem is, my teacher showed us how to make them without wires, setting them in egg crates to dry... so once they dried and I could lift them, it was too late to wire them. My desired look is a domed flower spray at the top of the cake, and I'd like to make it on a flat piece of gumpaste (or covered board) that I could just set on top of the finished dummy cake. But what's the best way for me to go about attaching them all? The cake has to be done Thursday night, so pretty much anything I do has to be done by Tuesday night so it can dry\\set.

My latest thought was to make stems with 3-5 wire bits sticking out that can cup the flower, then putting on the base of each to cover it and gluing it with royal icing, but I'm scared that the roses will fall off the bases when I go to put them on the cake. Any thoughts? I'm a little at my wit's end right now, since I've got a ton left to do on this cake, as well as needing to make a heap more display items for a show next week. I hope someone can help me with some good advice!

Are they too dry to insert tooth picks? Sometimes the bottom/center is still slightly soft ish as that is where the large base of the flower is.

Hi Laura,

How about getting a small ball of icing (small fist size), stick it onto your plaque (leaving an edge) with a dab of royal icing, shape it into a dome shape. Now arrange your roses how you'd like them (pushing them in ever so gently to make a small mark), then remove each rose one at a time and with a ball tool make little indentations where the roses will sit. With a little royal icing acting as glue on the base of each rose, add each rose one at a time to your soft dome shaped icing until it is completely covered. You'll need to very gently squeeze them on to and maybe even use foam supports to hold them in place until the royal dries. If you have obvious gaps in between your roses, add loose leaves or wired ribbons into the gaps. When it's all finished set it aside to dry completely.

HTH! I don't know whether I explained this well enough. I've used this technique before when I learned to make Xmas roses and we put them onto a plaque just as you've described - it can be done! Perhaps someone else has another suggestion? I think making stems will be very fiddly and making yourself more work.

Cheers!

you could still try adding a wire, by heating the wire up, it may melt the gumpaste enough to be able to slide the wire in, then once its cooled it should hold it in place

I like you wire idea, but rathe than royal icing I think you can try one or two different things.

Is there a calyx on the roses yet? If not you can make the calyx around the wire, lay the extra wire bits on top of each calyx and glue that to the roses using the same glue you used on the roses when you made them. That way the wires are hidden. If there is a calyx, then you can add a thicker stem part to the bottom of the calyx and stick the wire or toothpick in there and glue that to the calyx.

If you don't have green or plan on making a calyx, then you can do what you said with the wire but take some gum past the same color as the roses and cover the wires and use the same glue you used for the roses. You can cut lit pieces that will cover the prongs and blend into the rose. If it is against the cake, it shouldn't be noticeable.

Was this a Wilton class. I'm taking that class and we are using spaghetti. I used percatelli that has a small hole in it and is thicker. Still I'm wondering if it is going to hold up being pushed into a cake.

Thanks everyone so much for your suggestions! The roses were well past too hard to put in a wire. I tried a couple of different things that didn't work too well, and so as a last-ditch I found a thin screw and used it to "drill" a hole in the bottom of one. It worked! So I repeated it with all 13 and put toothpicks in them. So far they're holding up great. Still haven't put calyxes on them, and I'm debating if I need to (they won't show). I'll show you guys a photo when the cake is done! Thanks again!