Day 16: Using flowers

Believe it or not, one of my first ever real cakes I made (like, for someone else!) was a wedding cake!  I can't figure out who was crazier, the girl who asked me knowing I had never done that before or ME for saying yes! 

I still cringe when I see that cake because I see every little thing wrong with it.  (Side note: the couple who this was for is no longer married...hmm...)

But I do like the flowers on the cake.  Flowers are just pretty for any occasion, but can especially bring a charm and elegance to a cake.  The problem is that you don't want to just stick flowers directly into a cake.  It's not sanitary or healthy.

To get around that, I use flower spikes.  I bought mine from my local Michael's, so I'm sure any craft store that carries cake decorating supplies would have them.  If not, you can order them online.

 

photo source

They are tiny straws closed off on one end that you stick into the cake.

(please ignore the blue star...I've been reusing the same cake for most of my posts on this series, but this one has had all it can take.  I'll be doing some baking this weekend!)

Next, you add a little bit of water into the spike to keep the flower fresh.  I use a dropper to put the water in once I've got the spike in.  Don't try to put the water in first, then the spike...a wet cake is no good.

Then you simply fill in with the flowers!

(You can't even see that blue star anymore, can you?!)

Granted this may take a little trial and error to get it to look the way you want.  One tip, though, is to cut the stems of your flowers shorter than you need them because you don't want them to stick up too tall to where the flower spike is showing.  And if your flower spike is taller than the cake (as is the case below) simply insert your spike at a slight angle so it will come to the same level as the icing.

What's great about using flowers is that you don't have to stress about doing an intricate design on the cake because the flowers will be the star of the show.  Kind of like the lazy girl's way of cake decorating!!