I love the look of wedding cakes with the wild-looking curly wires coming out with fondant hearts, etc attached to the wires. What is that wire called? Is it available at a hardware store?

Hi
Over in Oz it's called florist wire, and no you cant get it at the hardware store as it is covered in the paper tape when you buy it. You have to get it either from cake suppliers or art/craft stores.

If you want to get wire from the hardware and cover it yourself... ask them if they have wire ranging from 20 to 30 gauge.... (that's if they use the same terminology in the US).

Sorry, probably not being much help...

Goodluck anyways!
Fi

It is floral wire here too. You can get it at Michaels, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby, etc. It is measured by gauge. I don't know if the sizes are done in standard and metric or if it is universal.

That's so interesting! Does the paper hold up OK to the grease of the buttercream? In the magazine pictures, it doesn't looked wrapped--just like thin metal wire. I thought florists wire had a green wrap. Thanks!

I just now finished a cake with wires and fondant balls on them. I have a cake on cc that has the thin metal wire that I believe you are speakng of.I used a 20 gauge bead wire. But Feef right any thing between 20-30 wotk perectly.I like the bead wire better because it comes in many different colores. If you go to JoAnn you can find them in the bead section.But the floral wires do hold up very well in a cake,Buttercream and all!! I hope that helps

I bought Silver and Gold florist wire at Michael's. It's in the floral section.

I used regular craft wire...not sure of the gauge. I just kept feeling it until I thought I had wire strong enough to hold my flowers. My only problem was the wire with the flowers became a little heavy and it started to rip my fondant. So I posted here and someone suggested using a coffee stirrer in the cake to support the wire. Have not tried this method yet but will be next weekend. The cake with the wire is in my pics. Hope this helps or maybe someone has a better idea on how to support the wire and type of wire.

so is it okay or is it NOT okay to put wire directly into cake??

You can put wire right in the cake as long as whatever you have on it isn't too heavy. I think the straw idea to give it more support for heavier items is a great idea - I'll have to try that.

I have been told in the past that you shouldn't put wires directly into cake because the metal can react with the ingredients in the cake - I don't know if it is true but I was told by a very experienced cake decorator so I would assume it is. If you use a flower/posy pick or straw and squish some fondant into it and then insert the pick/straw into the cake then put your wires into the fondant in the pick/straw. This method means there is no contact between wires and cake and the fondant helps hold the wires in place.

Thanks for all the great tips! I, too, was worried about the wire directly in the cake. I like the coffee stir idea. I used to work with a pastry chef that used drinking straws instead of wooden dowels as tier supports in the wedding cakes. I was always amazed that a straw could support the weight, but he said he'd never had one break in 20 years. It's all in the engineering!

You should never, ever, ever put wires directly into a cake.
For health reasons - yes it can go rusty and also safety reasons - someone could get a piece of wire in their slice of cake.

All wires should be secured into a posy pick which is a pointed plastic item - looks rather like a felt pen top but is pointed at one end. This can then safely be placed into the cake and the whole thing can be removed before cutting.

They come in different sizes and colours. Here is a picture.

again - you'll find different opinions on putitng wire directly into the cake or not. some people do, some people don't.

OK maybe I should have said - it is against Health and Safety Laws in the UK to put wires directly into a cake.

Where do you get these "posey picks"?

Try e-bay. Also, to hold your wires securely in place, put a little oasis fix into the pick and push your wires into this. Your florist might have oasis fix, if not you can find both items on Lindy Smith's website and you could always ask her if there are any suppliers of it nearer to you. I'll check the supplier details off the reel that I have and see if it tells me anything that would be of help to you and let you know.

You can also use plain drinking straws, which serve the same purpose. I have also seen cakes where the wire is inserted into a ball of fondant, this would obviously be dependent on how heavy the decorations are.
I agree, nothing that is non-food safe should be piercing the cake. This was a specification (bolded, underlined, and repeated several times in the application) in the competition I entered last winter of the Canadian Society of Sugar Artistry. It could pose a huge liability if a customer objected to it, if any of the wire broke off, or if the metal did react with any of the ingredients, especially fruit fillings ( not just losing the customer but being fined or worse by the health dept.) I've been wanting to get my hands on this book by Lindy Smith http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/CelebratewithaCake.jpg because she has some great cakes using this technique.

I'm not arguing that one way is better than the other, just saying there are different opinions on the subject. It's also likely against health and safety laws in whatever country you are in to run an unlicensed business, but there certainly are many on here who do.

I like that method, straws are so cheap--why not add the extra safety? So then the straw would go through to the bottom of the cake (like a dowel) or one end of the straw would be sealed shut somehow?

Yeah you would use it just as you would a dowel, the straw would be flush with the top of the cake.