On my cake entry for the sugar art show next weekend I am molding a tree out of modeling chocolate....... can I use dowel rods and wire inside the tree to help the structure and molding? I was planning on using a dowel rod for the trunk and using wire for the branches......... is this legal?? Thanks for all of your help for this is my very first competition and I don't know all of the rules (and couldn't find them on the sugar art website).

Tracie

Anybody...... please???

http://www.ices.org/ did you try this site, i cant help you but i know the rules are here for the NC one

Here's a link with a link to the regulations- they're in a file form here:
http://www.oklahomasugarartists.com/Event%20Details.htm

I still can't find any information on adding wires....... does this mean they are allowed?

I think that if the part of the cake you're planning to use wires in is intended to be eaten, then wires aren't acceptable. If the trees are pieces on top of the cake, I think that's O.K. Dowels are something that are used in actual cakes all the time, so I should think that those would be O.K. in any case. You might want to email the coordinator person (email and name on the OSSAS website) to double check. It would be a shame if your work was disqualified due to a misunderstanding of the rules and regs!

Here are two cakes from last year's OSSAS. You can see that the tree on the garden cake has wires, but my guess is that the other probably has dowels.

Any sorta wires is frowned upon. It is only a issue if it is inserted into a cake.

Does anyone have any other ideas then? Is it possible to mold a tree without any support system inside it?

You will be fine if you do not insert it into the cake.

8Tracie8,
When and where is the show you're talking about? I'd love to be able to go to one but I never know ahead of time about dates etc.

Also, what do I have to do to receive this sort of info?

Thanks!
Carol

i gotta ask so if you are making a tree with a dowel as the "support" covered in modeling chocolate, you can't put the dowel in the cake?

You can use wire on the design but not if it goes into the cake. I would make a plaque for the tree. But please make sure that the wires are not in the cake. I love the OSAS. I have participated in the past but the past
few years I have had hand surgery. Next year I want to participate. I will be going to see the designs. Always a great crowd pleaser.

I'm confused too LOL!! The wire on my tree will be nowhere near the cake.... I'm just trying to find out if the dowel sticking out of the bottom of my tree can go into the top tier of my cake. If not, then I need to figure another way of getting the tree to sit on top of the cake.

I can't imagine not being able to put it into the cake how else would it stay up even on a real cake?

Ok, so I just received an email from the coordinator of the OSSAS and she said that what I'm planning on doing is fine. I'm sorry for confusing everyone with my 100 questions it's just this is my first competition and I'm very nervous. Thanks again for everyone's help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it!!

Dowels are considered structural support. I should have been more clear in my earlier post. Wires can be used in gumpaste flowers and such. It is frowned upon if you insert the wire in the cake. Kim morrison once stuck a wire bird in a cake and was deducted points for it.

Dowels and separator plates are legal.