I'm sure that is a stupid question, but I'm still really new. I'm doing two kids birthday cakes in the next two weeks and I love when cakes have the birthday number put on top. I'm pretty sure it's gumpaste, but how are you sticking them on so they stay upright?

Are you inserting some floral wire or lollipop sticks into the bottom of the number before it dries? That was my main thought, but I'm not sure if it works. How thick should the numbers be?

Also, I have only worked with fondant so far, and not gumpaste - how fast does gumpaste dry? Much faster than fondant, right?

Thanks for your help!

There is nothing like a stupid question, yes you use gumpaste to make the fondant dry harder and faster,i don't know how fast but a couple of days should do.You need to stick a lolipop stick into the number before it dries,the stick has to be as far as you can get it or at least the middle of the number for more stability.I don't know how thick the number should be but it shouldn't be thin though.

I've only done numbers on top once, but I just used fondant rolled about 1/4 inch thick, and toothpicks. If the number is really big, I would probably cut a wooden skewer in half and use that for the extra support. Don't know about gumpaste...I haven't used it yet.

I used a fondant /gp mix, made a rope 1/4 - 1/2" thick with a skewer in the centers for stability and to stick in the cake. When I palced the numbers on the cake, I "glued" the bottom to my fondant covering as well. I like a lolli stick or skewer better for larger numbers.

On the "1" for my son's birthday, I didn't use anything, and I made it kind of thin... I ended up sticking a stirring straw in the cake and propping the number up that way. I never thought about this beforehand, but I'm glad it worked, LOL!

I just did a sweet 16 cake and this time I inserted stirring straws right into the 50/50 numbers when I made them. I also made them out of rolled ropes of 50/50 instead of cutting them out of flat - they're much thicker so there' something to hold the straws. Much easier this way.