AHi everyone:) I was asked by a friend to do this cake for her wedding. My question is would I be better off using a dummy cake as there are so many roses on it and there would be way too many holes in the cake...? Also would I be better off using gumpaste roses or fresh ones...? I have never used dummy cakes before so any help would be greatly appreciated... [ATTACHMENT=1386]image.jpg (147k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]

I like to use gum paste for roses. You can make them on a toothpick base instead of wire. The bottom layer can be supported by the base cake, and the upper layer of roses can rest on, and be supported by the roses underneath. They can be secured to the cake with melted white chocolate, and for that matter, a little dab of melted chocolate  can help hold all the roses together. For the upper layer of roses, I would cut the toothpicks flush and use the melted chocolate, counting on the bottom ones for support. This arrangement would limit the number of holes you'd make. Gumpaste is a nasty thing to eat, but a caution re the toothpicks wouldn't hurt.

When I use melted chocolate, I find it easier to dry and cool it with a gentle blast, (that sounds like an oxymoron!), of air from a can of "canned air" like what is used for cleaning keyboards.

I hope this helps you. That is a beautiful cake.

Jan

Most people choose to stick the roses into a dummy cake, not a real one (and those look like silk or foam roses).

I have done a few cakes like that.

Another way to do it, when I have used fresh flowers, is to simply have a gap and insert the flowers into the gap (between the Wilton hollow dowels).

Those are either real or silk roses, based on how close they're wedged together, Gumpaste would break if you tried to nestle them up against each other like that.

The easiest thing to do would be to use silk flowers and insert them into a piece of florist foam that you then use as a tier separator.

AIt looks like real roses. To me, the second tier is simply elevated to leave enough space to insert the roses when you assemble the cake at the venue.

AThank you ladies for all your help... :) I also read somewhere today that if you are using real cake instead of a dummy cake you can dip the stems in white chocolate and then push them into the cake...not too sure if this would work out but thought it was interesting just the same. The cake that I am doing has to feed 150 people for dessert size portions so can anyone tell me what sizes they would use for this...didn't want to go any higher than 4 tiers... Donna