Should I use real cake flowers, sugar flowers, or are there other options?
Well there are a lot of options from years ago. You can elect to use real flowers but keep in mind that fresh flowers unless they are from an organic source can be TOXIC or POISONOUS. There are a few flowers that if you get them from an organic source can be ingested. They are roses, orchids, pansies, and hibiscus. Some of the other flowers such as peony, babies breath, stargazer lily, calla lily are poisonous.
Keep in mind the growers use chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and microscopic insects in there growing process.
There are edible alternatives as sugar or gumpaste, wafer paper, buttercream, and silk flowers as an alternative.
Sugar Paste or Gumpaste Flowers-These flowers are dried until they are like concrete. They will not melt, however if they are dropped they will break easily. They come in a variety of types and colors. They do take some time to put together and dry. The gumpaste we use is www.satinice.com . Satin ice gumpaste is a pliable product and dries firm. You will need to search for a cake vendor who makes them.
Wafer Paper Flowers-The actual paper is made from potato starch and is very thin. It really does not have much of a flavor but the possibilities are endless for the flowers you can create. You can dust them with edible petal dust, airbrush them with edible airbrush color, our favorite coloring is www.americolor.com . The only downside is they do not like Florida's humidity or outdoor environments.
Buttercream Flowers-These are old school piping techniques. Buttercream flowers are made with buttercream icing, piping bag and a flower nail. We use tips and accessories from www.wilton.com . They are completely edible but the designs are limited. However, they work wonderful on a small surface such as a cupcake. These flowers can be colored and edible beads can be used as well. These flowers are not good to use if your cake is outdoors as well.
Silk Flowers- Silk Flowers are an option but it is hard to find a realistic looking option. Most times it is easy to see these flowers are not real. When using on a buttercream cake, the oils from the cake can get on the petals therefore leaving them stained. When cut the wires inside are exposed. The flowers are made with non-edible items such as plastic and paint.
When choosing your cake designer please make sure you are making the sensible safe choice. If they cannot make the flowers you can always search out a designer that can. In addition if your cake designer makes your cake and flowers it is one less thing to get lost in translation. We can bring the cake and the flowers and set the entire cake up.
We hope this information helps!
Laurie-Owner A Piece of Cake & Desserts
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