Hello everyone,

I am very new at cake decorating, using fondant, gumpaste, etc. I am currently working on a white cake with red gumpaste roses for a bridal shower. I usually steam my cakes to give them that shiny look, but am worried that the red will run onto the white. Is this a valid concern? Should I steam the red roses, then the cake and THEN add the flowers? Also, will using royal icing hold roses onto a fondant cake? I've never done any of this and the cake has to travel 3 hours so I'm a bit concerned!! Thanks in advance for your advice!

L

Yes, you can use royal icing to put roses on fondant. Another thing that works well is melted chocolate (you could use white chocolate). Don't your roses have stems? If they're wire stems, of course, you wouldn't want to stick them directly into the cake, but you could put them into straws first and then stick them in (plus a little RI or chocolate to hold them in place). You can steam the roses and the cake together just as long as you don't use too much steam. It's the excess that will make the colors run. The trouble with steaming the flowers before putting them on the cake is that everywhere you touch them after steaming you'll leave prints or smudges. Steaming needs to be the final step. Good luck with your cake and the transportation. If you can stack at the venue or use something really sturdy to stack like SPS, you could do wonders for your nerves!