How do I make a handle for a handbag cake??...... I want it to be upright!!!
Any other ideas for a suitable cake for a 10 year old girl would be appreciated..

You can make the handle with gumpaste/fondant mix or just fondant - about 5 days before - lay it flat to dry so it will sit up right on the cake
You can also make some make up, etc for decorations around the purse out of fondant!

I have a handbag in my photos - I bent some paper covered florists wires into a handle shape and then threaded rolled balls of modelling paste onto it - stood it up in a foam florists block to dry, then fixed it to the cake using posy piks

hth

You can make rice krispie treats as well and mold them into handles -
Cover the handles in melted chocolate or icing - then cover in fondant ez pz

At the bakery I worked at, we always used the stems to silk flowers, which are flexible, and rolled fondant around it. I think solid fondant or gumpaste would be too heavy to stand alone.

You'll just have to stick candy sticks or dowels in the handles as they dry - then stick them in the cake - dowels and all for extra support

And if you're like me and don't think far enough ahead...I just cut a strip about an inch wide off the top of a cool whip container(that gives you the curve), lay a matching strip of fondant over that and voila!!