Help - I have seen a million cakes with stand up number toppers attached to the top tier of the cakes and I am wondering what is the best way to do it.

Should I attached the numbers to sticks? If so, how do you "glue" the numbers to the sticks?

Any ideas or suggestions are WELCOME! Thanks in advance!

I use candy melts to attach the sticks. Then I take a small strip of fondant and cover that up!

YOu can also use royal icing, but it does need time to dry completely.

The numbers are pretty big, I am scared that royal icing or candy melts won't be strong enough... is there anything stronger that you know of? I have heard about fondant glue/adhesive - do you know what this is?

Thanks again =)

I use gum glue and put a strip of fondant over it. I make standup numbers all of the time and candy melts, gum glue and fondant, royal icing - it's all strong enough. Just make sure that one you attach the sticks that they have time to dry.

Chocolate!

Interesting...I am going to making some of these coming up soon, and I was under the impression that you can form the numbers around sticks (or push the sticks through the gumpaste) before it dried. I'm doing a 15, so I can see how the 5 or a 0 could be tricky... I guess I will need to experiment!

What you don't want to use is fondant. It dries so slowly that it might be ready next year. Best to use colored chocolate or even better, gumpaste. Then put some gum glue on a stick and put the fondant number into your oven over night with the oven OFF but the oven light ON. In the morning your letter or number will be dry enough to place on the cake. Gum glue is just fondant dissolved in water, making it a sticky substance you use in place of Elmers Glue - for edible items.

I've always stuck the sticks into my gumpaste numbers. You have no idea how well chocolate or candy melts can stick two things together and they harden in just a minute, whereas fondant glue, gum glue (CMC in water) and RI all take a while to dry - time enough for the sticks to slip around!

Would this method be best for making a "J" for a wedding cake topper as well? Haven't attempted that yet and need to get my butt in gear.

Yes, it would, pburgess68! Go for it!

I did my kids' names on a few different cakes and molded the letters from fondant/gumpaste around bamboo skewers leaving enough room for them to be inserted into the cake. It worked perfectly.

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/40342

So there you have it - bamboo skewers can hold up anything! By the way, that's one cool flamingo cake, KarenOR! I put it in my favorites.

I just did a number 1 for the sop of a cake and I did 2 pieces of gumpaste into a 1, one being slightly larger than the other, then painted the smaller one with candy melt and glued the two together. Made a cool look and dried very quickly. Good Luck!

I stick several toothpicks into the bottom of the numbers before they dry. In my photos you can see where I did a number 30 a number 18 and a 60 topper I have had no problems !!!