Gum Paste Flower Oopsy! How To Attach Now?!
Decorating By LuvMozzie Updated 6 Apr 2012 , 3:13am by costumeczar
Hi everyone!! I'm hoping I can enlist some help! I'm making a cake for Easter and I am trying a bunch of techniques I have never done (family is forgiving enough!) including fondant and gum paste roses (BTW - I just got into cake decorating! LOL)... I'm following Wilton's method of using a raw spaghetti noodle for the roses. The problem is that I apparently don't know my own grip and when I was working on some of the roses, the noodle broke at the base of the rose. So now, I have no way to stick the rose (which otherwise, looks very nice!) to the cake. Anyone have any tips for me? Gum paste adhesive? Buttercream? I will be attaching it to a fondant-covered cake. I don't want to not use the roses...
Also - what kinds of things do you guys use to stick your sticks in to dry? I used a green craft foam, but it would stick to the noodle, and then as I was sliding up the petals, it took little green craft foam pieces with. I'm already going to advise people not to even try to taste the flowers, but I want to make sure it is safe for the cake!!
If you can get the piece out of the rose where it broke off, you could use a toothpick in it's place. I would try dipping it in vanilla or water to get it a little damp to help it adhere to the rose before sticking it in. That's how I make my roses, with toothpicks, and then insert that into the cake.
As for drying, I have a large11x15x2 rectangle of the white foam (I loathe that green foam..lol) that I have pre-poked small and large holes for each toothpick or cake pop stick. That way, sticks are stuck in the same spot each time I need it and I don't have 5 million holes all over it. I got it at Walmart and left the plastic on and just poked the holes through it, so it cuts down on the styro possibly shedding.
HTH!!
Welcome to making cakes and gumpaste/ fondant flowers. I love making roses! Just some suggestions. I usually make my roses on wooden skewers. Spaghetti noodles break so easily. You may also use straw like pasta, this may cut down in breaking. As for gluing the roses to your cake, piping gel is great. Also piping a circle of Buttercream frosting or royal icing on the back of roses then sticking it to the sides or top of cake should hold it. Last, you could use a round tip 10 or 12 and pipe a spike on the back of the flower with royal icing let dry over night or at least 12 hrs will do the same as the raw spaghetti that broke. Ok, I downloaded too much info, but I hope this helps. Best Wishes.
I use plastic coffee stirrers, they won't poke someone in the gums if they accidentally eat one. And you can cut them if you need them to be shorter when you stick them into the cake.
I use plastic coffee stirrers, they won't poke someone in the gums if they accidentally eat one. And you can cut them if you need them to be shorter when you stick them into the cake.
I like the idea of coffee stirrers but how do you dry the flowers so they keep their shape?
I use plastic coffee stirrers, they won't poke someone in the gums if they accidentally eat one. And you can cut them if you need them to be shorter when you stick them into the cake.
I like the idea of coffee stirrers but how do you dry the flowers so they keep their shape?
I dry them on a wire rack and wrap tinfoil around them to keep the petals where they need to be until they dry enough to hold their shape. Once you stick the coffee stirrer into the flower you can remove it and reinsert it if you need to in most cases.
I dry them on a wire rack and wrap tinfoil around them to keep the petals where they need to be until they dry enough to hold their shape. Once you stick the coffee stirrer into the flower you can remove it and reinsert it if you need to in most cases.
Please forgive me for not being clear, what I meant was how do you get the stirrers to hang on the wire rack in order to dry the flowers?
I don't hang them if I use the coffee stirrers. If I'm making a flower that needs to be inserted into the cake like that I usually make them upright, so I'd use a cupped piece of tinfoil wrapped around the petals to hold them up while they dry upright. Some flowers I do make using wire, but for the most part I try to stay away form those unless you have to wire the petals. and if it's a big flower that needs to be stuck into the cake, I try to avoid the wire.
This is a photo of a flower that I have drying now. See the stirrer sticking out of the bottom, and the tinfoil is just supporting the petals while the bottom part finishes drying. I had it in a large piece of tinfoil that was cupped like a bowl to start, then when it dried enough I took that out so that the underside can dry too.
Thank you! I should have posted a photo of the flower center that the stirrer is stuck into. It's basically a little ball of gumpaste and the stirrer is in that, Then the ball is stuck on the petals. If I was making something that didn't have a large center, like orchids, they wouldn't be done that way, they'd be on wires.
I like using coffee stirrers as well. I used to have students in my classes use the stirrers for the roses, but I found that many of them had issues with the base coming off and that they stick better to the toothpicks (or lollipop sticks). If you do use the stirrers, just be careful not to enlarge the hole in the base when inserting the stirrer (just seemed to be a very common problem when students are first trying it).
Thank you so much, everyone!! Great ideas that I can try next time (knowledge is power!!). Last night, while I was working on the calyxes for the roses, my hubby came over to look at the broken ones (because I was having issues)... With a whole lotta gum paste adhesive, we put toothpicks in all of them - even the ones that had the raw spaghetti!! I'm feeling a lot more confident about them!!
Thank you so much, everyone!! Great ideas that I can try next time (knowledge is power!!). Last night, while I was working on the calyxes for the roses, my hubby came over to look at the broken ones (because I was having issues)... With a whole lotta gum paste adhesive, we put toothpicks in all of them - even the ones that had the raw spaghetti!! I'm feeling a lot more confident about them!!
I hate to mention this now since it sounds like you took a lot of time with the gum adhesive, but melted chocolate works really well for glue. If I have a fondant covered cake I use melted white chocolate to stick flowers to thie sides all the time, not wires, toothpicks or stirrers needed. It's only the buttercream ones that need all of the supports. Chocolate sticks like cement, so if the hole in the flower is too big just put some melted chocolate in the hole and put the toothpick or whatever in there.
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