I've heard conflicting stories of this - should I use flower spikes, or put down waxed paper? Or can I just rest them right on top of the cake?

At Cake Central if you go to the top of page where you see articles, click on articles and scroll down until you get to the article where is said non-toxic flowers. So if it were me, I would not put toxic flowers directly on the cake. As for the spikes, as long as the flowers are not going to be leaning or resting ontop of cake. I would not have the flowers having direct contact with the cake. Hydrangeas are suppose to be poisoneous flowers. This is just my opinion, but I would wait to see what other cake decorators have to say.

According to my Google search:

"Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) is an outdoor ornamental that is grown in the warmer parts of Canada. This plant has poisoned humans after they ingested the flower buds. Sensitive individuals can develop dermatitis after exposure to hydrangea. Older case reports of poisoning of horses and cattle appear in the literature, but no recent reports are available (Apted 1973, Bruynzeel 1986, Fuller and McClintock 1986)."

I don't know that anybody would ingest the buds, but I'd be reluctant to use them on a cake. Maybe you could substitute silk ones! Janice

You go janice (VJ) I love the knowledge you have on flowers....I wish I was like that.... all I know are which flowers I like and want in my yard some day!

I would not put hydrangeas on a cake as they considered a posionous plant and as VJ stated I would not take the risk. I would suggest you use silk or gumpaste hydrangeas.

Wow, thanks for the help! I might try my hand at gumpaste ones, but I have a feeling that would be VERY time consuming! Maybe I'll just use silk, but those never look as nice.... Oh well, I'll give it a shot!
Thanks again

Silk may not look quite as good as fresh, but they don't wilt, and you won't have to worry about them causing adverse effects...and some of them are as pretty as the real thing.

If you have Michaels or Hobby Lobby, they have some really beautiful silk flowers, just like so many other things the quality makes a big difference! I have an arrangement of hydrangeas here that from a distance you cannot tell if they are real or not.

I keep promising myself to try some sugarpaste flowers, even bought the mix to make, but just haven't sat down and tried it...I seem to spend a lot more time online reading than I do actually doing! Janice

I have a cake decorating book with fresh hydrangeas all over the cake! I guess they didn't do their homework. Also, if you don't want to make gumpaste ones, you can buy the already made at pretty good prices. I agree with veejaytx about the quality. if you're going to use silk... they need to be nice ones!

Yes, I know, I've seen fresh hydrangeas on cakes before - that's why I got so confused!
And Veejaytx, I am the same way - I daydream way more than actually practicing! But once I get in a "groove" of decorating it's so much fun. So I'm always happy when holidays come around that make me get to work!

Well, the article does say "buds", so maybe the full flower isn't such a problem, and you'd have to ingest quite a bit to be fatal. Animals are more susceptible too!

Also, those flowers on the cake in the book may be resting on some plastic wrap or waxed paper that we can't see in the pictures...or those may be dummy cakes that nobody is actually going to eat (I think that would be tacky if they are doing that and giving the impression it is safe to use them).

So, more than likely you could use them, carefully, and not have a problem...I'm just not sure I'd be willing to take a chance. If I were going to use them on a client's cake I'd definitely add a disclaimer to their contract so I wouldn't be held responsible! CYA (protect yourself) Janice

Right now I'm not really able to do as much actual decorating as I would like to do...I need knee replacement surgery, so I do lots of dreaming and planning and visiting here on CC.