anyone take a guess as to how the stars stay up??? ANd what about the curly cues?? If they are just gumpaste, will they stand up alone??

The curly cues are just gumpaste stuck into the cake. The stars though are attached by wire. Although I heard a while back that wires in cake is bad because of the lead or something. But I don't know if that was just due to a bad batch of wire or if that's the case for all wire. I've heard of others wrapping the part of the wire that sticks into the cake with floral wire, but then you gotta worry about the latex. If someone with a latex allergy eats it, they'll be in trouble.

I've read that you can dip the wires in chocolate, let them cool/harden a bit and then stick them in. Cute cake!

The wires make the stars stay up. Dip the end of your wire in chocolate and insert it in coffee stirrers--that way the wire doesn't touch the cake.

The curly cues can be made of gumpaste, fondant/gumpaste mixture or fondant with tylose. I suggest you put a dowel on the end or maybe a toothpick (or whatever type of support) that way the curly cues will not soak up from the moisture of the cake.

I've made the curly cues out of plain marshmallow fondant before I knew that wasn't supposed to work, and it worked fine. Just curl them around a dowel or a chopstick. You can stick a toothpick into the end to make it easier to stick in the cake, just be sure you warn people that there's toothpicks there.

For the stars, gumpaste works the best but fondant works too. You can heat the end of the wire in a candle flame or with a lighter and then stick it in the star to glue it on firmly, or you can dip the wire in gum glue and then stick it in the star. But it's true that you shouldn't stick wires straight into the cake, so use straws or hollow plastic lollipop sticks trimmed to the right height and stuck into the cake, and stick the wires in those.

I am making a cake with fondant balls on wire. How do I get the balls to stay put, as they are a little heavy on the wire, and what size wire should I use? Thanks for the help.

I am making a cake with fondant balls on wire. How do I get the balls to stay put, as they are a little heavy on the wire, and what size wire should I use? Thanks for the help.