Hi group!

I have been tasked with a cake that I am having a hard time planning out.    The cake is going to be a small cake, 6-8"/ one tier.    But my friend has requested a three dimensional humming bird in flight drawing "nectar" from a hibiscus flower.     My issue is two fold.   One, what is the best way to achieve a gravity defying figure on a cake?  And two, how do I do this in a way so that the cake can TRAVEL a few hours in a car with my friend to their destination?  My fear is that the bird will be too heavy and during the drive will succumb to it's own weight or the motion of the car drive.    Sigh.   

I was thinking of doing this in either of two ways, one suspending the bird on a cake wire....but I don't know if I can control it moving or smacking against the cake box while driving?  Or two, sculpting the bird and running a wire through the beak and continuing the wire through the head and body to support the weight...the wire then being stuck into the middle of a flower/in cake ? What gauge wire would be thick enough to support a small fondant figure and still be slim enough for a beak and pliable enough to create the angle that the bird would need to appear like it is drinking from a flower below?

any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Make the bird out of RKT that way it will not be too heavy and the idea of  the wire thru the beak is the right way.   

Awesome!   Thank you SO much for the help!  Greatly appreciated :)

Here is my finished cake!   Thank you for your help!  I ended up making the bird from fondant/gumpaste and secured him on an 18 gauge wire.  The RKT were too intimidating to me to sculpt with as I have never done it (next time I have free play time I will nail that!)

the flowers were my first endeavor with gumpaste.....man are gumpaste flowers fussy!  Hard, but I am totally now hooked on flower making :)

friend was over the moon for this cake :)

Doh!   The stinking picture didn't copy over from my gallery.......how do I do that?   Smh

http://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/3343128/hummingbird-and-hibiscus-cake

You did a wonderful job on the cake! You took on the challenge of many "firsts" and it came out so well. 

I also love that you put a nice description with the picture. Materials, size of cake, and some of your method.  I find that very helpful when I look at pictures.  People used to do it all the time - but lately...not often.

Thanks for posting.

Thank you :) I appreciate the comment!

The cake looks great and the flowed too! 

Thank you!  I am quite pleased with it