For Those Who Stick Wires In Cakes
Decorating By Cakepro Updated 25 Jan 2019 , 5:11pm by SandraSmiley
Hi, newbie to the forum here and still new to advanced decorating techniques though my partner and I LOVE pushing the envelope for cakes (our favorite reply is "oh, WOW, how'd you DO that?!")...
It seems most folks here are looking for wires to poke out as support and extension of flowers and spray affects from a cake... however, the straw thing won't work for using wire as armature to sculpt and build up modeled characters... honestly, we used a plastic coated floral wire to model up a 13" figurine for a cake a couple months ago, sculpting modeling chocolate to it and piping on details with royal icing. We also sculpted a fondant tree (was about 10" tall) molding the fondant to the same armature wire... We've also done figurine work using thin dowels, but that eliminates any way of making realistic poses.
What kind of wire would be recommended for this kind of application?
I cover my wire with thick fondant & yes it does leave a nice big hole, but so far i've been able to incorporate a piece of fondant over that.....I'm wondering about the straws now, that's new info for me
Thanks!!!
saffire, I've contacted a company that offers stainless steel wires (for jewlery use) inquiring if these could be considered food safe, waiting on their reply. Within the next 2-3 days I expect some news, if you want to pm me, would gladly share this information with you
saffire, I've contacted a company that offers stainless steel wires (for jewlery use) inquiring if these could be considered food safe, waiting on their reply. Within the next 2-3 days I expect some news, if you want to pm me, would gladly share this information with you
pm sent! and thank you again!
Wow, did not have a clue about the wires and floral tape. I'm so grateful for the post and this website. I'm a novice and just got into decorating with gumpaste about 3 months now.
Hey has anyone posted anything about Duff Goldman's products, that line sells "cake wires"
http://www.duff.com/products/uniquely-duff/duff-decorative-cake-wires
Hi, newbie to the forum here and still new to advanced decorating techniques though my partner and I LOVE pushing the envelope for cakes (our favorite reply is "oh, WOW, how'd you DO that?!")...
It seems most folks here are looking for wires to poke out as support and extension of flowers and spray affects from a cake... however, the straw thing won't work for using wire as armature to sculpt and build up modeled characters... honestly, we used a plastic coated floral wire to model up a 13" figurine for a cake a couple months ago, sculpting modeling chocolate to it and piping on details with royal icing. We also sculpted a fondant tree (was about 10" tall) molding the fondant to the same armature wire... We've also done figurine work using thin dowels, but that eliminates any way of making realistic poses.
What kind of wire would be recommended for this kind of application?
I guess if you're using the wires for support inside decorations like figurines or trees then you're not sticking the wires into part of the cake that is intended to be eaten, which is the issue. The figurines/trees are not likely to be eaten and you can tell people they're decoration only anyway.
I just e mailed Duff to ask about safety issues with decorative wires
thanks
The reply I received was the wires are food safe!
Glad to hear that...I have some I bought and didn't know whether to use them after all the talk about wires.
But no explanation as to why they are food safe over other wires?
Thanks Madge for checking into it!
I made my first sugarpaste flowers the otherday. I ahd no florist wires so I just straightened out a paperclip. Paperclips are made of galvanised steel.
Assume thats slightly better???
what gauge of wire would you use for gumpaste stars shooting out of a cake? what is the brand of wire that you use?
Wow, thanks so very much for the info! I am a newbie to baking and just sent a cake out with a full bouquet of sugar paste sweet peas ALL on floral wire.....I had no idea! Will not do that again!
I find that I like to put a wooden stick into the straws. sometimes my wooden sticks are too big. I discovered that using the red straws used for Ices with the little "spoon" at the bottom end work well for this situation. Just snip off the spoon with a scissor first. Have a great cake day! Tarina-rina
Thanks for this post. Just the other day I wanted to know what I could use instead of wire to stick into cakes. I know not to use wire, and I have never heard of posy picks. Thanks for this thread.
Hi there. when I put stars or other items on my cake that I want to stick straight up I use uncooked spaghetti! Good thing about that is although it is not cooked if a child gets it they can eat it and it would be OK.. If you use wire that has been discussed. If you use a toothpick they may stick themselves! Also spaghetti is thinner and not as visible. Also if you stick it into your gum paste before it fries it is very easy to break to size and easy to stick into the cake. Have a great cake day!
Thank you for this information, I never knew that and love the tips on the straws and icing sugar - very clever
thank you for this info--I am a beginner cake decorator and have not wired flowers because I could not figure out how to put them on cake -I did not want to put wire into cake...I am going to try the straw method, sounds great.
Thank you again for posting this!
What about brands like Duff that are made and marketed SOLELY for the purpose of use in cake? There would be some serious liability issues if those were not made EXPLICITLY cake safe no?
Hi! I read some of the posts, but didn't have time for 12 pages worth, so I'm sorry if this idea has already been put out there, but GLOVES!!!
Yesterday I needed to use a wire in my cake because the customer wanted a gravity defying umbrella . Sooo, I cut a finger off of a plastic food-safe glove! I slipped the wire inside it, and voila! Perfect!
The straw idea is great, too, but i had to double-bend the wire to make it sturdy enough to hold the umbrella, so it was too wide for a straw.
A coffee stir straw would have been better. The finger from a glove remained in the cake after the client removed the wire. I can only hope that someone did not get that piece of cake only to discover a cut-off finger from a glove in it. If I discovered that in my piece of cake, I would not be happy!
If the wire is too loose inside the straw, simply pipe some royal icing or chocolate or candy melts in there to secure it....or try using the very narrow coffee stir straws.
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