Flower Picks Vs Straws For Wired Sugar Flowers
Decorating By Raindrops Updated 16 May 2014 , 10:42am by Raindrops
AHi everyone, I need your advice please. I am creating a 4 tiered wedding cake (my first one ever!) with cascading flowers from the top to the bottom. I have read on several posts not to insert wired sugar flowers directly into cakes but to use a straw or a flower pick. Several comments I read did mention that the weight of the sugar flowers in the flower picks may rip the fondant, hence why I am leaning more on the side of using straws. I intend to create the wired sugar flowers, insert into a straw then individually insert into the cakes to create the arrangement (do you think this is a good idea?). Also what size is the straw to use please? I am leaning into the cocktail sipping straw, is this a reasonable size or should I aim for something with a bigger diameter? Does anyone have a picture of type of straw they use or a process of creating the cascading flowers using the flower picks or straw? Many thanks for your help and PS- cake central rocks!!!
AI need to do the same thing so ill watch this with interest!
That's really interesting. I tend to make 3D sculpted cakes but am looking to doing some delicate flowers on cakes (just to improve skill level really). I always thought you use flower picks as not supposed to put anything metal in cakes due to Food Safety aspects...never considered the weight would rip the fondant -so many thanks for the 'heads up'! I will also be watching this thread with interest 
I would use coffee stirs, that way the straws won't take up too much of the cake when you insert them in.
A@MBalaska- the flower picks are made of plastic, but I assumed that the weight of the flowers in the flower pick was what was causing the fondant to tear?!
@ Costumeczar- dumb question, but when you say coffee stir I am slightly confused, as the ones I have seen tend not to be a tube, so there is no place to insert the wires from the sugar flowers into.
@ J Winslow- thank you for that tip, I thought the cocktail straws would be ideal as well because of their size as they wouldnt take too much space. Will definitely anchor with royal icing as recommended, you can never be too careful. might use the flower picks to arrange a posy for the top tier...
thank you all for all your responses, means a lot.
A
Original message sent by Raindrops
@MBalaska- the flower picks are made of plastic, but I assumed that the weight of the flowers in the flower pick was what was causing the fondant to tear?!
@ Costumeczar- dumb question, but when you say coffee stir I am slightly confused, as the ones I have seen tend not to be a tube, so there is no place to insert the wires from the sugar flowers into.
@ J Winslow- thank you for that tip, I thought the cocktail straws would be ideal as well because of their size as they wouldnt take too much space. Will definitely anchor with royal icing as recommended, you can never be too careful. might use the flower picks to arrange a posy for the top tier...
thank you all for all your responses, means a lot.
Cocktail straws and coffee stirs are probably the same thing, just different widths. The ones that I found for coffee are kind of flat but they have a tube inside that's wide enough to insert a wire into, so it's tight. They basically cover the wire and leave no extra room there. You can find them in different sizes, I'm sure. I also have some white ones that are plain straws, just a little larger than the ones for coffee.
As costumeczar posted - "so they are tight" is important. You don't want the straws to stay in the cake when the flowers are removed if possible. You may need to use a little royal icing/chocolate to make sure the straw is tight on the flower if it's loose.
Jeanne
A
Original message sent by JWinslow
As costumeczar posted - "so they are tight" is important. You don't want the straws to stay in the cake when the flowers are removed if possible. You may need to use a little royal icing/chocolate to make sure the straw is tight on the flower if it's loose.
Jeanne
Original message sent by costumeczar
Cocktail straws and coffee stirs are probably the same thing, just different widths. The ones that I found for coffee are kind of flat but they have a tube inside that's wide enough to insert a wire into, so it's tight. They basically cover the wire and leave no extra room there. You can find them in different sizes, I'm sure. I also have some white ones that are plain straws, just a little larger than the ones for coffee.
I have managed to locate some sipping straws that are 4.3mm across and 5.5inches long! hopefully that should do the trick. I will try and secure with royal icing (I guess the next challenge will be stuffing the straw with enough royal icing to secure the flowers). Thanks for your advise.
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Hi everyone, I need your advice please. I am creating a 4 tiered wedding cake (my first one ever!) with cascading flowers from the top to the bottom. I have read on several posts not to insert wired sugar flowers directly into cakes but to use a straw or a flower pick. Several comments I read did mention that the weight of the sugar flowers in the flower picks may rip the fondant, hence why I am leaning more on the side of using straws. I intend to create the wired sugar flowers, insert into a straw then individually insert into the cakes to create the arrangement (do you think this is a good idea?).
Also what size is the straw to use please? I am leaning into the cocktail sipping straw, is this a reasonable size or should I aim for something with a bigger diameter?
Does anyone have a picture of type of straw they use or a process of creating the cascading flowers using the flower picks or straw?
Many thanks for your help and PS- cake central rocks!!!
The cake I'm going to be doing sounds like this, its a "homage" to Peggy Porschen's Avalanche cake. Most of the flowers on my cake will be flush with the sides and top and only those that have to be clustered like hydrangeas and stephanotis will be in flower picks. I figure the less holes in this beast the better!
A
Original message sent by cakebaby2
The cake I'm going to be doing sounds like this, its a "homage" to Peggy Porschen's Avalanche cake. Most of the flowers on my cake will be flush with the sides and top and only those that have to be clustered like hydrangeas and stephanotis will be in flower picks. I figure the less holes in this beast the better!
And will you attach those with royal icing?
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Hi cupcakemaker, yes they will be attached with royal icing, the first batch of flowers were a bit heavy so I am keeping them for the bottom of the bottom of the "waterfall" around the base. I thought of wiring them into a circlet and arranging them around the drum. It might give the staff at the venue less problems when they take it away to cut it and them my daughter can have the circlet as a keepsake. The wedding is September of this year so I've been churning out flowers since the engagement was announced. I'm sure there will be lots of breakages during assembly (between tears and shaky hands ) so I'm trying to get ahead of the game
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I'm also going to make a cake topper from half a styrofoam ball by covering it in fondant that way covered wires can be pushed directly into it to make a full arrangent to overflow the top tier. It can then be easily removed. I've made these toppers for birthday cakes and they give the illusion of a full bouquet without anything actually being pushed into the cake.So much can go wrong as I've been reading in all these wonderful threads. So it may be a cop out but its a big project for me,
ASounds fab! I did a small arrangement the other day with a ball of fondant on top. I like the idea of styrofoam though! [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3178587/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
That's gorgeous and just the same idea really. The ball is good because they come in different sizes and you can arrange your wires around the rim to cascade down the sides of the cake as well as have your heavier flowers in the centre to stabilise it. Your cake and flowers are lovely, so much talent on here. every time I did a cake related search on Google I was directed here so I figured I may as well join !
AI love this site! So, if you hang flowers from the side of one to go down the cake do you use anything to stick them in with? Just worried the wires may pull out?
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I love this site! So, if you hang flowers from the side of one to go down the cake do you use anything to stick them in with? Just worried the wires may pull out?
If the flowers are light,say a small spray hydrangea or a little cluster of cherry blossom they should be fine and the styrofoam lets you push the wires firmly in, you could even hot glue it, no one is eating this baby?
If for example you were using a spray of roses on a stem and it was a little heavier you could attach the closest flower flush to the cake underneath with royal icing. Just make the arrangement balanced so the weight is evenly distributed.
I always attach a few of my unwired filler flowers firston top of each other slightly so you build up the dome shape. That way the wiring is kept to a minimum and a big statement peony or similar on top with R I.That would give support to anything you wire say small ivy leaves cascading down.
N.B I am a homebaker . I am a florist to trade and I hope I'm not overstepping myself here by posting advice to truly artistic people but i love all things floral, edible or not and I always do cakes for my girls this way. If I ever learn how to take pics and upload them I will.
AOf course you aren't! I'm grateful for your help. Not sure what you mean with the unwired ones so pics would be helpful! I use the mobile site and push the mountain icon to upload from my phone. Third icon along.
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Just had another idea, you can buy styrofoam wreath bases in 8" upwards size. it could be neat to decorate them and then just slip them over the tiers, they practically weigh nothing and if was delicate blossoms it might be good to have a few of them under your belt even just for displays on dummies at wedding fairs?
AI'll have a look. I know what unwired flowers are but wasn't following what you were saying.
I'm making a 3 tier wedding cake inspired by these!
AI want to add some wired flowers because they look so pretty. My friend (the bride) isn't very helpful and basically says 'whatever'!
A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3178671/width/200/height/400[/IMG] I love this one too!
Hi everyone, I thought that I should come back to provide feedback on how I got on. I decided to use straws and royal icing to attach the sugarflowers to the cake. It seemed to be more economical than flower posy and left smaller holes in the cake. Thank you all for your advice and comments, I found it to be extremely useful. Here is a picture of the wedding cake, there are several things I would do differently next time, but for my first wedding/stacked cakes, I think it looks okay. Oh, but the bride loved it, which made all the stress worth while.
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