I'm making a 3-tiered stacked buttercream wedding cake next weekend and transporting it stacked to the venue (1 hour + drive). It will have gumpaste hydrangeas on the top tier and sporadically placed bunches on the other tiers. My question is, can I put the flowers on the cake at home before transporting it or should I wait until at the venue? Would they survive the drive ok? I'm nervous about the long drive!

I don't reccomend attaching gumpaste flowers before transport. I have done this and the flowers that were on the cake before transport broke I was lucky I had extras with me.

I personally would put them on at the venue. I take no chances. Work too hard to mess up at the end. Especially the long drive.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but whenever gumpaste flowers sit against buttercream for a period of time, the flowers tend to get soft. I guess they are absorbing the liquid from the buttercream. Therefore, I always decorate my cakes with my sugar flowers on site. I too am afraid that transporting them for the bumpy ride and getting soft makes for a disaster!! I also bring paper towels or a towel to lay of the cake table or display table so when I lay out my tools and royal icing tubes and flowers out to start decorating I don't make a huge mess on the table or tablecloth. Allow yourself plenty of time to do your final work and don't rush. Good luck and have fun.

I haven't done them on buttercream so I don't know about drooping. But I've transported with and without the flowers on. I guess it depends on how fragile they are and the type of arrangement they are.

Thank you so much for all of the responses! I will wait to put them on the cake at the venue. I don't want to risk anything going wrong...especially after all of the work that went into those hydrangeas!! I can't believe how long it took me to make those things!

I recently made a 3 tier that had to have cascading roses, I put them on at the venue and would recommend the same to you - best not to take any chances, Especially if it is for a wedding.

I used gumpaste this past weekend on a cake and it was the last thing I put on the cake. I roll mine out very thin and then make them thinner when ruffling so they tend to be a little fragile. Let us know how it goes!

I will let everyone know how it goes! I'm very nervous about this one! I have to drive this cake for 2 hours!