Okay, I'm making this cake for my family's Fourth of July party. It's a two tiered, buttercream frosted cake with red and blue sugar sheet stripes on the bottom tier and red and blue fondant stars on the top tier. The problem is that I want to stick sparklers in it and light them before the cake is cut. How should I do this and where should I put them so that it looks nice, doesn't burn down the house/cake, and doesn't get ashes on the cake?

Any help is appreciated.

Certainly in the UK we have "ice fountains" which are intended for putting in cakes and for use indoors, just stick them in the top of the cake, light and they sparkle and spark away and when they burn out you take out the remaining tube and can cut the cake as normal. They dont produce ash (certainly nothing enough I have ever noticed) or damage the cake, if the sparks were to land on it (they are just too small I think, I guess if they were to land on tissue paper or something very flamable it might cause a problem)

Try a party supplies shop I would suggest, although we can get them in supermarkets.

I have been to many birthday dinners at a restaurant that would provide a free piece of cheesecake to the birthday person. It came to the table with a couple of sparklers lit and the staff to sing "happy birthday".

The sparklers were set at about a 45" angle. I don't remember seeing too many ashes. So maybe if you put them in near the edge, any ashes would fall on the board. You can check for ashes and wite them off before cutting the cake.

Thank you! Setting them at that angle worked very well. Since we were outside, the wind blew a few little burnt pieces of wood onto the cake, but they were easy to brush off the fondant. So the cake was a success!