Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi
If I were to place a rose topper directly on top of a sequined cake would the sequins dissolve? Any help would be great thanks. xx

I haven’t tried it but it is one of my idea cakes that I have for the future. I had it in a folder because I came across a tutorial where someone had a tutorial of making their own gold sequins cake in seven easy steps at

there are lots of sequin cakes on bing with flowers and roses- so it must not be too difficult
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/d3/00/3e/d3003ea3d3ea7009be7c5b7d57506c44.jpg
I hope it helped. Morgana

Hi bellescakes

What are your sequines and the rose made of? I’ve made sequines both from geletin and from gumpaste. Neither melted when stuck on the cake with water or edible glue but both only needed a small amount of moisture to make them sticky. I guess what I’m saying is don’t allow the sequines to become over wet, from which ever medium they are made of. If you are using a real rose it will contain natural moisture, just dry it well and place it on the cake at the very last minute. Not sure whether this answers your question, if you need more info post again. xx

Hi morgana 1
Not sure if you will get this message but thanks very much indeed for the links. I will take a look. I saw this idea in Wedding Cakes, A design Source issue 52 2014 and really loved it. Good luck with your future cake. xx

Hi madeitwithlove

Thanks very much for your help. The roses are made from flower paste and the sequins are from the Rainbow Dust company. I thought it would be easier to cover the whole cake with the sequins than to try and keep the top of the tier covered with something to prevent the sequins going on to the part where the cake topper will be stuck. But this wouldn’t be easy as the sequins are so tiny and just get everywhere if that makes sense. But as I said I just didn’t want the sequins to dissolve and make a potential mess. On balance which method do you feel would be best please?
I have some other related questions to the cake if you don’t mind. Yes it’s still my daughter’s wedding cake and D day is fast approaching as it’s the beginning of March! Aargh! I just hope it all works out. If the roses are put into the oasis style cake topper should they first be taped together prior to inserting into the posy pick/picks. I hope to put 5 roses into the oasis but not sure how many picks I should use. Or would the overall effect be better if I just inserted the roses in their picks straight into the top of the cake? Also I have never taped roses nor any flowers together, so some help with that please would be great As for the roses going at the bottom edges/sides of the rest of the tiers, I plan to use 3-5 possibly, should they all be taped together as one unit or put into individual picks? The ones for the bottom edge of the cake aren’t wired so I am going to stick them to the bottom side of the cake. Phew! questions questions! Thanks very much your help would be very much appreciated. xx

Hi bellescakes

I remember now, the saga of the roses! are you going to use the large roses, if you are do you think they would look too big wired together?
For wiring flowers take a look at Michelle Pattison’s arrangement for the rustic wedding cake:
http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/rustic-wedding-cake/lesson-18-finishing-touches
If you can see the way she has staggered all the elements before taping them together. I appreciate that you may not have foliage, however if you wire the roses in a similar fashion, trim off excess wire to remove any bulk, the roses can be inserted into one posy pick. This will make it a lot easier for side of the cake placement. If you want to place the wired flowers on the top of the cake, I think a little height on oasis or a ball of sugarpaste would look better than inserting the posy pick directly into the cake. If you use oasis, tape it securely in a small plastic container, use black or green heavy duty sticky florist tape which can be bought cheaply in florists or garden centres. Stick the container down on a small card, use royal icing or ganache as glue. The ideas below are similar.
For arrangement on the top of the cake take a look at the frangipan tutorial here:
http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/frangipani-flowers/lesson-4-top-tier
You could do exactly the same, place a ball of sugarpaste on a small card and insert individual wired roses directly into the ball. If the roses are heavy I would suggest you dowel the cake. With some ganache or royal icing, stick down the carded arrangement on top of the cake. You’ll have minimum moisture over the dowels so the sequines will not be affected.
Debbie Sheridan’s thistle cake tutorial also shows a top of the cake arrangement, which is more or less the same as the frangipan but without the card (I think!) It’s here:
http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/festive-thistle-cake/lesson-19-dressing-the-cake
I hope I’ve understood properly how you want your arrangement to be. Let me know if any of the above suggestions help. x
PS just thought here’s another great clear instructions on posy pick insertion:
http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/ruffle-rose-wedding-cake/lesson-5-placing-the-flowers

Hi Madeitwithlove

Thanks for your reply and the info contained. I am going to go for the cake topper after all. I have a half sphere cake dummy which I will ice and put onto the iced silever card. Should I make this now or is is too early? The wedding is on the 7th March. Also should I leave arranging the roses until I get the cake to the venue to set up? The other thing is having wired several of my roess by putting the wire throught he mid point of the poly bud, as shown on one of the videos, and given the roses are quite large should I secure the base of the roses some sugar paste glue (made with the sugar paste and water I think)? It’s just that I noticed I hadn’t twisted the wire as firmly on a couple of the roses as well as I should have done and there is a bit of a wobble as the roses are quite large. I don’t wan’t them to break. I did tighten the wire up as mnuch as I could on these two roses once I’d noticed. Be great to have your comments. xx

Hi bellescakes

Personally I would decorate the half sphere now so the flowers have time to settle down. You may not have time to decorate it at the venue and you need to avoid stress on the day. Do this only if you are sure of how you want it to look. Do you have a dummy the size of your top tier on which you could gauge how the flowers would look? You need to be sure because repositioning large flowers can be a bit tricky
I’m not quite with you re: on the base of the roses needing sugarpaste glue. Have you made a calyx for each rose? If you haven’t, make the calyx and stick to the rose with the glue, that should stop the wobble. If it’s the wire wobbling inside the cone use a spot of royal icing or thin down some sugarpaste/flower paste same colour as the roses and use as glue. Place any vulnernable flowers to the centre of the sphere so they can be supported by the outer ones.
Place the decoration in a cardbox cake box, protect with tissue paper and store in a room where the temperature stays constant, so, no humidity or condensation.

To thin down sugarpaste/flowerpaste:

Take a small amount of paste, flatten it down on worktop. Add a few drops of warm water and start paddling the two together with a palette knife or spoon until it reaches a royal icing consistency. Scoop icing into a parchment paper cone and use as glue.

If I’ve misunderstood any of your question please let me know. I don’t want to give you misinformation, that would be dreadful! Hopefully other members will chip in with tips. xx

Hi again maditwithlove

Once again a huge thanks! I am going to ice the half sphere tomorrow. Should I allow the sugar paste to dry for a day or so prior to sticking the roses in? The top tier will be 5inch round and the silver card which will also be covered in sugar paste is 4inch round. I think it should be ok as the roses are quite big. I am also going to edge the iced silver card with a 3mm white ribbon. No I didn’t make a calyx for the roses but in light of what you said I will now; and what a great idea it is to put a vulnerable rose in the inside. Yes you did understand correctly about the wiring method I had used but as you say the calyx and glue should hopefully put it right.
Thanks very much again. I think I must be your best customer at the moment. Many thanks for all your patience and help. xx

It might be better to allow the sugarpaste to settle down for a few hours before sticking the wires in. I wouldn’t let it go completely hard just in case the wires don’t penetrate. What you could do is dust the iced sphere with some corn flower. This will help absorb some of the moisture from the sugarpaste and help it dry. You won’t need the icing to be too thick because the sphere will be concealed by the roses.
Please allow plenty of ventilation for the decorated sphere, don’t cover it up in the box when it is freshly made up.
Any moisture build up in the box could cause the flowers to become limp. This is all precautionary, I tend to be OCD but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. I really hope everything comes together for you. You have a very lucky daughter. Sadly I will never experience giving the gift of a wedding cake to a daughter, it must be a wonderful feeling. xx

Hi again

Thanks very much. I so appreciate all your help and advice it’s so kind of you. Yes I too prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Oh I’m sorry you won’t be mother of the bride but you have certainly given this mother of the bride an abundance of great help and thus pleasure in hopefully producing a beautiul wedding cake. My daughter will so appreciate the wedding cake and indeirectly all your help too! xx