When you place fresh flowers on a cake, do you place them directly on the icing? or is there some sort of barrier between you use?
thanks!

I've never done it personally, but at a class I took, the instructor covered the tips w/floral tape and then just place them on the cake. She didn't cover the petals or anything like that.

Each instructor would likely give different tips, but most floral tapes are not food safe. ccr03 -- if you know of the tape brand your instructor was using, I'd love to know!

One suggestion: tape as suggested, or arrange in oasis, and then cut small disks out of food-safe plastic as barriers. I love to recycle waterbottles and crisco lids just for this purpose. Of course, wash and sterilize.

Non-toxic flowers are fine, but nearly all florist-grade flowers have been treated with various chemicals and many floral fertilizers are not food-safe. This is also a really helpful CC article on non-toxic flowers. http://www.cakecentral.com/article18-List-of-Non-Toxic-Flowers-for-Garnishing-your-Cake.html

hmm, didn't know that about the tape..... I'll have to check with her and see if I missed a step or if maybe she didn't know either!

Thank you, Ccr03 -- there are many techniques.

Some people use the small pics too -- no contact with the cake, and the flowers stay fresh. I think the pics are better for when you want just one or two, especially on the sides. When you remove them though, be careful not to spill the few drops of water. (I sort of prefer oasis for this reason).