I haven't currently put fresh flowers on a cake. I'm not talking just a few here and there, but a huge spillover all down three tiers. Do I just start poking them INTO my cake. Make clusters with wire, and poke just the wires? Is there no concern needed about poking roses into our food? Any guidance would be appreciated!

I haven't worked much with flowers on cakes, but when I do have a cake that uses flowers for the topper (like I have tomorrow) I always cut a piece of waxed paper or saran wrap about 1/2 inch in from the edge of the top tier to use as a barrier between the two. It just grosses me out to think of a bunch of flowers setting or sticking directly into a cake, plus I never know what the florist will use to keep the topper of flowers together, so it's just easier to know that I have something between the flowers and the cake..

As far as the flow down the side, I have never done that, but I would think wires or wrapped stems would work best. They also have the hollow plastic tubes you can use to insert the stems into and then insert into the cake. Also, of course, make sure that the flowers you are using aren't toxic.

I would suggest placing straws down the side of the cake and then placing the flowers in that. Stems in cakes just freaks me out, I def dont want any flower juice in my piece of cake.
In SA and also the UK wires are not allowed in cakes at all, aparently some metal can cause a chemical reaction with the cake, so I dont have any advise on that.
And i totally agree with Monica, please make sure the flowers are not toxic!

oh thanks very much! I've got a much better idea of where to start!

I never poke cakes into the cake. I cut the stem off as close to the head as possible, then put a blop of bc on the back of the head and glue it into place onto the cake. When I go to cut the cake, I remove the flowers and the blop of icing-glue and we have a clean cake to cut.

The OP mentions wanting to put fresh flowers in a cascade down several tiers of cake. It is best to put down a large/wide/long/deep layer of icing to lay the flowers on. This is then scraped away and NOT served to anyone. IndyDebi's idea is good too.

Yes, I do need a cascade of flowers so the wide river seems the best route. I noticed indydebi has a cake in her gallery where she sticks roses to ganache which is partly what I need to. I couldn't tell how she did it. I'll ask. The bride wants bc icing with ganche drizzled just over the edges. Would you think to ice, add ganache, then adding a layer of bc in a "river" shape for the flowers would be the best? I'm thinking it should pull away from the bc well enough, what about the ganache, does anyone already know? Something I'm having to take into consideration with my options is that the bride wants roses and strawberries, a heavy flower and fruit.

indydebi said for a ganache covered cake you must wrap the stem of the flowers in plastic wrap and push them into the cake