Advice Needed On Attaching Ostrich Feathers To Cake

Decorating By pamalbake Updated 31 Jul 2013 , 9:29pm by pamalbake

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pamalbake Posted 14 Jul 2013 , 5:42pm
post #1 of 10

I need to add Ostrich feather plumes to the top of my buttercream cake.  The end of the plumes only have about an inch at most at the tip without feathers.  I plan to hide the insertion, hopefully, with some white chocolate flowers and leaves.

My problem is #1- I know I need to keep anything touching and inserted into the cake, a food safe item, so  1st I need to figure out how to keep the feathers away from the cake.

#2- What to attach to the end of the plume to get some height to keep them away from the cake

#3- I'm thinking I should insert a straw into the cake and leave some above the cake , insert the feather  tip and whatever extension is on it into the straw.  Somehow I need to fill the straw so that the feathers don't move around.  I probably need 3 straws for 3 plumes. 

#4- If I wrap the ends in florist tape, I still need an extension and to hide the tape.  The plumes are teal, the cake  and flowers will be white.

I have teal and white satin ribbon also, but it didn't look good wrapping the end of the feather with that.

Any suggestion? I hope I made myself clear. Please see the picture below.

Thank you.

 

AppleMark

9 replies
carmie00 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
carmie00 Posted 14 Jul 2013 , 5:52pm
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I have done this before.  I used those little plastic flower spikes and filled them with melted chocolate the color of my fondant.  I then stuck the feathers in the liquid chocolate in the spike and positioned them how I wanted them before the chocolate set.  Then you just stick the spike in the cake.  Voila!

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pamalbake Posted 14 Jul 2013 , 6:27pm
post #3 of 10

Thank you thank you thank you- you are a lifesaver!

I am going to get them now.

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carmie00 Posted 14 Jul 2013 , 8:52pm
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You are more than welcome.  Incidentally, this what I also do for those other toppers like the metal wires with fondant balls on them or stars or whatever you want to stick out of a cake.  Just kink the end of the wire before you stick it in the chocolate and they won't spin on you. :-)

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pamalbake Posted 15 Jul 2013 , 1:02am
post #5 of 10

AHah! I wish I knew that 3 wks ago! I got so frustrated with those curved wires and fondant balls spinning on me and toppling over ( I tried swizzle straws), that I threw them all away and made a different design . Thank you again. Isn't this cake central forum fantastic ?

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pamalbake Posted 23 Jul 2013 , 2:51am
post #6 of 10

It worked! I hid the flower spikes with white chocolate flowers.  She loved it.  Here's a picture. Thank you so much!

.AppleMark

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carmie00 Posted 23 Jul 2013 , 10:09am
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Wow!  That came out AWESOME!  Great job :-)

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poppit123 Posted 31 Jul 2013 , 11:54am
post #8 of 10

Hi Pamalbake - that cake is awesome.

 

Could you please take a photo of the flower spikes you used and post a picture on here - I'm not sure what they are. 

 

I'm planning a 50th cake and hoping to use Ostrich feathers.

 

Thanks

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CakeGeekUk Posted 31 Jul 2013 , 2:34pm
post #9 of 10

Well done Pamalbake!  The feathers really add pizazz to the cake and they're really well arranged.  I had to arrange ostrich feathers on a wedding cake once before, and although I used the flower picks (flower spikes), I was worried that the 1-inch stem at the base of the feather wasn't long enough to keep the feather upright in the cake.  Using chocolate to hold the feather in the flower pick/spike is a good idea (holds it firmer than fondant/icing in the flower pick).  My sister, however (who had just taken a course in millinery and hat making) spotted another obvious solution - just trim the feathers at the end of the stem to create a longer stem to insert into your flower pick! So easy and doesn't distort the shape of the feather either.

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pamalbake Posted 31 Jul 2013 , 9:29pm
post #10 of 10

Thank you.  Yes, the flower spikes were a lifesaver- using the white chocolate and I did trim  a few feathers from the bottom- same concern. 

Since I did brush embroidery, I didn't want to do the regular chocolate roses, and wanted something lighter looking. And I didn't want to take the time to make new modeling chocolate.  This a wonderful technique at the link below, which is what I used. Ann Reardon's how to cook that -white chocolate flowers.  

I would suggest collecting some wrapping paper rolls or paper towel rolls.  I made quite a few petals, so I'd have back up for those that either didn't work well or broke.  I kept running out of thing to drape them over for shape- using even my 2 mixers to drape the parchment paper over.  Not quite curved enough.  Everyone loved them. In fact, I had a request to make a cake next week with these flowers.

As far as the Ostrich feathers- this was my 1st time.  If it is yours, I'd suggest getting feathers that were 12-14" long minimum.  I needed teal and order 5-8" 1st time and they were very small. Couldn't use them. These were great and I found the right ones at featherparadise.com. Have several leftover, but that's ok.

These were perfect and fluffy.

I don't have a closeup picture, as you requested.  My pics aren't great, because I assembled the cake in the pastry kitchen at the Ritz ( ! ) and didn't have a background for staging the cake. Here are top and back pics. 

Good luck. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhcmeWkHb6k&list=SP2D2F4E4B08214BC2

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