Knowing how to sugar flowers on a cake can be a daunting task. You’ve spent many hours creating your beautiful flowers and so understandably you want to show them off to their fullest on your cake too! As with making the flowers themselves, arranging them just takes a bit of practice but you will soon be on your way. I’ve put together a list of useful tips to help you get started and to hopefully answer any questions you might have, or help with any problems you may face along the way. So without further ado, here are my top tips on how to arrange sugar flowers on a cake.
Photo credit: Sanshine Photography
First of all, take a deep breath and take your time.
If possible, I prefer to add flowers to my cake on site at a venue to avoid extra stress during the drive. Contact the venue well in advance and discuss your arrival time to allow yourself at least a couple of hours to set up the cake. There is nothing worse than feeling rushed or flustered when placing your sugar flowers as that is what will cause you to make mistakes or accidentally break or chip your flowers.
Test out ideas
I always find that the hardest part is starting and placing that first flower. Have a good think about where you might like to position your flowers before starting. Hold your flowers up to the cake and see where you think they might look best. This is something that you can do at home prior to delivery if you like in order to give yourself a head start on the set up.
Have a good variety of different sizes and shapes to hand
You want to have small, medium and large flowers and a good selection of foliage. I generally like to have a few different types of foliage too to add varied texture.
Begin with your larger flowers
It is usually easiest to put your larger flowers in position to mark out your arrangement and then fill in around them with other shapes and sizes. Don’t forget that if you are struggling to get access around the sides of your large flowers, you can always carefully remove them and then place them back when you are ready. Just be sure that you are only sliding out the wire or posy pick and not compromising the structure of the cake as you do it.
Photo credit: Kate Nielen Photography
Don’t be afraid to leave some stems long to allow you to place flowers behind the large flowers to sit higher
Remember that not every flower has to sit flush against the cake. Varying the length of your stems will allow you create a natural arrangement to your flowers. Sit the taller stems behind to give a natural climbing effect. Remember, you can always remove your stems to trim them if necessary or push them further into the cake.
Think about weight distribution
Place heavier flowers on the cake on their own, perhaps just with the addition of some lightweight foliage. This will prevent too much weight in one area. You can group some of the small/medium sized flowers together into smaller arrangements to allow them to flow better.
Always insert flowers with the wires going down at a slight angle into the cake (or vertically in some cases). If you insert with the wire heading up into the cake, the flower is at risk of falling out. Lighter pieces of foliage and small fillers can be inserted at any angle but take care to ensure that they are secure.
When placing larger flowers on buttercream cakes I recommend keeping the wires long, using polydowels to encase the wire, and inserting your wires almost vertically all the way down to the cake board. This will help to distribute the weight or the flower and reduce the likelihood of the cake tearing.
Don’t worry if you make a mistake!
If you are not happy with the positioning, simply remove the flower and fill the hole with royal icing in the same colour as the cake (for sugar paste iced cakes) or buttercream (for buttercream iced cakes) – the same applies for ganache.
Transporting your cake
As mentioned, personally I prefer to arrange sugar flowers on site at the venue for larger arrangements to reduce any stress around delivery! This is particularly important for softer cakes such as buttercream iced cakes. If you decide to transport a buttercream cake straight from the fridge in a box, be aware that moisture and condensation could affect the sugar flowers in the enclosed space. If you are transporting your cake fully decorated, be sure to protect your flowers from breakage. You can do so by sliding bits of kitchen roll, foam or something soft in-between petals and leaves to protect them from knocking against each other. For flowers with individually wired petals, it can be useful to close the petals together slightly and then open them out into position once you arrive.
Seek inspiration online
For ideas on composition of arrangements, seek inspiration from other cake designer/florists. Looking at pictures will help to give you an idea on placement of flowers. For example, look at where the large, medium and small flowers have been positioned in the arrangement. Have some been given a longer length of stem? Do some seem grouped together in arrangements too? I have created a Pinterest board for this purpose to show different styles of cake arrangements. This is the best form of inspiration when you are staring at a blank canvas unsure where to start. You can view the inspiration board here.
Photo credit: Claudia Rose Carter
Practice!
As with everything when it comes to sugar flowers, practice makes perfect. It can be really useful testing out arrangements on a polystyrene dummy. Even if the dummy is not the same size as the finished cake, it will allow you to group a few flowers together and give you a head start on the design of your arrangement.
Photo credit: Kate Nielen Photography
Be cake safe
You must never insert an exposed wire directly into a cake. There are several methods that you can use to cover your wires.
Firstly, plastic posy picks: these are available in a range of sizes and I source mine cheaply from eBay. Currently this is my preferred method for inserting wires as they give me flexibility to trim my wires on site and simply insert them into the posy picks when I am ready. If I need to adjust something, they are easy to remove and reinsert. They can also simply be removed, sterilised and reused after every use.
For longer wires or heavier flowers, I use polydowels which come in a variety of diameters. These can be trimmed to the length you require and I use them for heavier flowers to help distribute the weight through the cake. You can insert from the top of the tier down to the base of the board for maximum stability.
There is also a product called Safety Seal. This is essentially a food safe wax which you melt and dip your wires into to cover them and make them food safe. I must admit that I bought this years ago but have never used it! Part of the reason was because I didn’t have a microwave at the time(!) but it is also not much good if you assemble and trim your wires on site as I do. If you are fully assembling your flowers (or at least fully prepping them without the need to adjust wire length) before delivery then this is definitely a useful product and I know many people that swear by it.
Watch me in action arranging sugar flowers on a cake here:
Link to Pinterest inspiration: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/thebotanicalcakestudio/flower-arrangement-ideas-for-cakes/
Links for Photographers:
Claudia Rose Carter – https://www.claudiarosecarter.co.uk/
Kate Nielen – https://katenielen.com/
Sanshine Photography – https://www.sanshinephotography.com/
Links to Products:
Posy Picks – https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273313129410?
Polydowels – https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322474558903?hash=item4b14fb45b7:g:OFwAAOSwzgRWyuJT
Recent Comments