Please Help! Mixing Fresh And Gumpaste Flowers?
Decorating By HollyPJ Updated 27 Aug 2007 , 1:34am by HollyPJ
Hi!
I'm making a wedding cake for my husband's niece (lovely girl!). She told me from the beginning that she wanted fresh flowers on her cake. I've never done a fresh flower wedding cake, so this is new territory for me. Since all the wedding cakes I've done have been freebies, the brides have chosen to go with gumpaste since price wasn't a consideration. But this bride wants fresh. That's fine, but I learned last week that one of the flowers she'd chosen, calla lilies, are poisonous and shouldn't be put on the cake. I emailed her back and gave her two options:
1) Leave the fresh callas off and use the other flowers only--pale yellow roses and stems of red berries (can't remember at the moment what they're called, but I did check once to make sure they're on the "safe" list). I told her I thought that would still look really good.
2)I could make the flowers in gumpaste instead. I sent her some pictures to show what they would look like.
Well, she e-mailed me back and said she really does want fresh flowers. She asked if it would look bad to mix gumpaste callas with the real flowers.
My instinct is that it would look odd.
Do any of you have an opinion? Have you ever done a cake with both fresh and gumpaste flowers? I don't recall ever seeing such a thing.
She will be fine if I advise her against this--she's not a difficult person, but I thought I should get a few other opinions before I write her back and give her my answer.
By the way, the cake will be 3-tier white square. The top and bottom tiers will have an edible pearl design similar to this cake:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=547
The middle tier will have a scroll design with pearl accents.
The bottoms of the tiers will have a deep red satin ribon around them.
The cake will be fondant-covered.
To be honest, if I were doing to cake based on what I thought would look best, I would make all the flowers and the ribbon out of gumpaste. However, that isn't an option. I'm not about to tell her at this stage that she can't have what she wants! 
However, in the future I think I'll do what I've done with a few other family brides. I get a basic idea of the colors and cake elements they like, then design the cake myself (I am doing it for free). I've never had a disappointed bride!
Anyway, sorry this is so long.
Thanks for reading and for any opinions you may have!
fresh flowers aren't always cheaper - even if they are "safe" flowers you should use flowers that are food safe (no preservatives, etc).
Thank you. I did know this.
I know some fresh flowers can be very expensive, but I think the reason a lot of brides use them is they are generally cheaper than the equivalent amount of gumpaste flowers (since you're paying for the cake decorator's labor--of course the gumpaste itself isn't that expensive).
I'm not saying that I don't like fresh flowers on cakes ever--I think they can look very nice.
Does anyone have any opinions about the mixing fresh and gumpaste flowers?
Anyone?
Thanks!
Just my opinion...I think you should stick with one or the other. I think the design would look more unified. There is the issue of size. I don't know about you but my cutters for gum paste calla lilies produce a small replica - about half the size of real callas. I think it would be tricky to mix.
I would use all fresh or all gumpaste, but I don't think I would mix them. I think if you cut the stems of the Callas fairly short and wrapped them with plastic wrap so they won't show, then nest them in alongside the other flowers they should be alright. Personally I wouldn't use them, but if she is set on it that is the only thing I can think of to keep the sap or liquid in the stems from oozing onto the icing. You might even be able to find some very realistic latex or silk Callas to mix in with the fresh flowers.
Thanks for your input, ladies. That's what I thought also. In fact I just e-mailed her and told her I thought it wouldn't look good and that I'd just use the other flowers unless I can find a safe way to put the callas on the cake. I like your ideas, Shirley. I'll just leave enough time for experimentation when I do the setup.
She's a sweet girl. I don't think she'll be heartbroken or throw a fit if she can't have the
calla lilies. I did, after all, give her the option of having all gumpaste flowers. It seems having fresh flowers is more important than having callas.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%