I made a cake this weekend with a high heel shoe on it but it fell over when it was en-route to be delivered - what do you use to secure it to the cake? I was thinking of straws or toothpicks...I don't want this to happen again - it made a mess! Appreciate any ideas or tips!

your high heeled shoe was made out of what? gumpaste? i usually always travel long distances with my cakes (only one cake mishap-thank goodness) but i always do the last assembly on site. i traveled with two high heeled shoes packed in a plastic container, no lid and cushioned with lots of crunched up papertowels-gumpaste shoe. i do use a mixture of gumpaste and fondant for most figures, if the figures have to stand up-gumpaste for sure with plenty of drying time and toothpicks in the legs for stability, and i afix them to the cake board with a little melted chocolate-works great, dries fast and hard -IMO much better than royal icing!!

I always wait and put things like that on after the cake is delivered. Of course I would make sure that the item works before delivering so you know it actually does stand up. I always take a bag of icing, spatulas, and other decor to make repairs if need be. Make sure you're using a long enough pick in your shoe or whatever so it goes way into the cake and add stability.

I have a fear of putting toothpicks in cake (I envision people stabbing their mouths or swallowing them...a little irrational I know) so I use spaghetti instead. I also don't transport with fondant figures on the cake if they are even slightly unstable. I put them on later.

I used a mixture of gumpaste and fondant with just gumpaste for the heel of the shoe - I definitely should have transported them separately - I wasn't going very far so I guess I thought they would be ok ( I was sleep deprived this was my first cake that I have been paid for and I was SO nervous!)

I just finished a stilleto cake myself and the customer picked it up and was taking it to the party. I just adhered the shoe to the cake with RI because I forgot to leave the skewer (in the heel) long enough to go in the cake. It was already assembled when she picked it up and I checked it before she left and it seemed very stable. Still...I was worried. She messaged me and said it was fine. Whew! I'll definitely use more stabilizers, i.e. skewer through the heel into the cake, next time. Congrats on your order!
[/img]

AI just made a shoe cake yesterday... Attached with toothpicks and a little chocolate underneath. I have two lengths of toothpicks.... I use a short one in the heel until it dries (coated with Crisco). Once dry and I am ready to place it on the cake I remove the short toothpick and insert the longer one or a skewer to secure the heel into the cake. I used 3 more gently pushed into the front of the shoe underneath the toe strap and painted the exposed tips w/black FC to conceal them. (Not worried about adults and toothpicks... Most are smart enough to recognize that there is one in a piece of cake unless they are inhaling chunks,lol. I'm a bit more cautious with kids cakes and may use longer skewers or spaghetti to secure things.) This one was picked up by my client and driven to her party 40 minutes away with the shoe attached... No tipping over. :)