I need to make my first cascade of sugar flowers. I will be making callas, sunflowers, carnations, baby's breath, and chrysantemum. The flowers aren't the problem... but I've never done a cascade before.
The tiers are: 6", 8", 12"
How do you figure out how many flowers you need to "fill" the spaces, and are there instructions on how to put this together/attached to cake? I have no idea how to do this...
Thank you.
I haven't done it before either but I put sugarflowers around the base of each tier. I would roughly measure the size of each flower and then judge by this how many I'd need. You can either put the wires in coffee stirers or picks, or use royal icing to attach them. Given the large number of flowers, my unexperienced opinion would be RI. Good luck. Hopefully someone else can help you with more experience with this.
Just wanted to post about loving the Bubba Ho-Tep quote! 
dsilbern~ yes, that movie gets funnier everytime I watch it. You should try watching it with the commentary turned on. He does the commentary as if he's "Elvis"... hilarious!
I'll keep trying. Thanks, the cake is due Saturday. The flowers are looking great, but I don't want them sliding of the cake... 
thank you Edna,
the cake is: 6, 8, 12 round tiers.
mini callas, mini sunflowrs, carnations, chrysanthemums, leaves, baby's breath (maybe).
Are the flowers attached together before applied OR are they applied individually to the cake? I've been looking for tutorials on attatching gumpaste flowers to cakes and I can't find any.
thank you.
I was looking for the same info a few months ago. These were the most helpful things I came across. They're .rar files so you'd have to have a program to open them.
http://www.4shared.com/file/111868127/a2747d4d/sugar_inspiration.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/122505444/153f6a47/Cake_Craft_and_Decorating_October_2007.html
The callas and carnations can be made on skewers or toothpicks, so they can be placed directly into the cake. You can either make the GP flowers wired and attach to the cake as a wired arrangement, or attach things individually using melted chocolate/candy melts. How you do it is up to you. 
Stack those cake pans upside-down to help you visualize how much of everything you will need...and then make 25% more to account for breakage.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1496730
The above link is a cake I made with BC roses cascading down a 4 tier cake. Place the larger flowers on the bottom then build the cascade on top of those. The larger flowers on the bottom will support and hold the flowers. I dont' wire or insert my BC roses ... I glue them in place by just putting a blop of BC icing on the back. Most of the time, the green icing (leaves) is what holds them in place.
If making BC flowers, allow them to air dry .... AIR DRY, not freezing. Air drying removes the moisture, making them more lightweight and less likely to fall off. Using my icing recipe, I can make the flowers in the morning and by the afternoon someone can pick them up and toss them to me to put on the cake. The drier the flowers are, the easier they are to place, to handle, and to stay in place.
The above cake was made for a bridal show. Fully assembled at the shop, traveled over 30 minutes to the show and 30 minutes back to the shop. Not one flower dropped off.
Well, it depends on how heavy they are. If you are putting gumpaste flowers on buttercream, then attaching them with buttercream seems like a safe choice as long as you aren't trying to defy gravity with them (i.e., trying to attach a large, heavy flower to a vertical side). How are you going to make the baby's breath?
Like I said, if they are not heavy, you can attach GP flowers to buttercream with buttercream.
Wires and toothpicks in sugar flowers aren't exactly a choking hazard...I've never seen anyone try to cram an entire GP flower complete with 3" of toothpick sticking out of it into their mouth.
How are you making the baby's breath if they are not wired?
You know what?
I think you should actually do a trial run.
Make plain ol' 6" and 8" round cakes iced in buttercream and stack 'em. Make a few daisies, callas, whatever...and then stick them on the cake with buttercream. Leave 'em to sit for awhile. Take pictures. Put it in the car and drive around with it. See what happens. Then, when you get home, you can take your flowers off, wipe the buttercream off of them and reserve them, and then you will have a) experience; b) confidence; and c) a new picture for your portfolio.
This cake is an important part of someone's celebration and a reflection on your skills as a cake decorator. Invest the time in doing a trial run. 
I dont like to arrange flowers. I place them as I need them. Some wires are covered in paper, and are supposed to be ok. But you can cover them in chocolate if you want to. If you are using florist wires then is not safe. You do need to cover those.
I usually add the bigger flowers first and then add the smaller ones and then fillers and leaves.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1214573
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1473151
Edna
No, Edna, the Japanese paper-covered wire is not food safe and should not be stuck into cake. Covering them in chocolate is not a good idea, either, because if the wire flexes, you've just left lead-leached chocolate shards in the cake.
Wires go into straws or flower spikes...NOT the cake.
I never had any problems with the chocolate..I dont bend the wires on the flowers they are usually cut so there is no need to bend. But the straws work fine.
Some people in the business that work with this paper wires say is safe. Same as the cloth covered ones.
The whole thing seems to go back and forward from one professional to the next. God knows..lol
Edna
Well, it's always better to use common sense and to err on the side of caution...and not stick wires directly in cake, even if they are covered in cloth or paper. If it's not food-safe, it does not belong in the cake.
I certainly hope that one day somebody will sell food-safe wire.
The only food-safe wire I know of is stainless steel wire. I have formed it into a bobby-pin shape and used it to hold flower sprays in place. It is completely sterilized in boiling water, kept in it's own container, and handled with gloves and a hemostat during use.
Theresa
LOL, that sounds almost surgical. The point isn't to maintain sterility of items before inserting them into cake - the point is the actual composition of the WIRE itself. Just because the wire may be labeled and sold as stainless steel does not mean that it is not some kind of SS/lead alloy or something.
The only food-safe wire I know of is stainless steel wire. I have formed it into a bobby-pin shape and used it to hold flower sprays in place. It is completely sterilized in boiling water, kept in it's own container, and handled with gloves and a hemostat during use.
Theresa
I do have bought this and is been sold to me as food safe by a supplier.
Edna
Actually I was reading on this and is true
Stainless steel wires Type 204Cu, 304, 316, and 430-L are often especified as alloys for food contact.
The thing is finding them and the manufactures that is honest in what the
metal compound their using is fully and completely a stainless steel grade.
Edna
Actually I was reading on this and is true
Stainless steel wires Type 204Cu, 304, 316, and 430-L are often especified as alloys for food contact.
The thing is finding them and the manufactures that is honest in what the
metal compound their using is fully and completely a stainless steel grade.
Edna
So true! I am excited to find out who your employer buys food-safe wire from. Surely they wouldn't try to sell something not food-safe to a bakery!
However, the website that you copied/pasted "Stainless steel wires Type 204Cu, 304, 316, and 430-L are often specified as alloys for food contact" from (http://www.centralwire.com/markets/food.asp) also states, "Our wire is used in a wide variety of finished parts and assemblies for the purpose of mixing, transferring or conveying food products. Whether it involves an application to fast freeze various food products, or to proof, bake or deep-fry other products for consumer consumption, our food grade varieties of stainless steel can be used with confidence. Central Wire is the leading supplier of belt wire used in the food industry."
It doesn't seem to me that they are speaking of soft, bendable wire that is sold as floral wire or jewelry wire. Nonetheless, I have contacted them with a request for food-grade bendable SS wire that is suitable for use in cake jewelry. With the proliferation of cake jewelry in the past few years, SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE must be selling food-grade wire in the US. The cake jewelry that brides have purchased for me to use as wedding cake toppers (such as the Swarovski crystal-studded monograms) had no indication on the packaging that the wires must not be inserted directly into cake.
Sherri
No.. they are speaking about stainless steel material that is food safe, the same thing that the lady that sold the wire to my boss said. That it was stainless steel.
I cant say much, since I was not the ont who made the purchase, it was my boss.
Edna
Now I'm a little confused... what about the covered wire the cake decorating stores sell? I bought some white wire from Wilton... (when "wire" was first mentioned, I thought they just meant uncovered wire...) I also have floral tape, that I'm guessing isnt' food safe either?
The baby's breath has to be done on floral wire I believe is what my book says... ???
When sticking them into coffee straws, won't the wire still hit the cake as the bottom is open?
thank you for your patience with these questions...
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