52 Replies

Can you show us your flowers?

Hi! I still consider myself a novice in cakes, but I do have some people skills that I can share if that might help. I have been overwhelmed by difficult things like this in the past & I know how stressful it can be when you feel like your hands are tied. First of all, Don’t be so hard on yourself!! You have been given a difficult task, by the bride specifying no leaves or filler flowers. I’ve sometimes felt almost like I was set up to fail when unrealistic expectations have been laid down.
The first thing I would do is talk to the bride ASAP. She’s going to have a lot on her mind so the sooner the better. Just be honest with her. Tell her that you want to meet with her or send her pics of the beautiful flowers you’ve made (and I’m sure they are:) but then tell her that they could be so much more with something to go with them to compliment them. Let her know that you want her to have the best wedding cake she can have but that you’re afraid the “no filler/no leaves” rule won’t allow the cake to be its best. Just try be careful not to criticize her decision, or make her lose confidence in your ability. Tell her you’re excited at the challenge and want to get her input on coming up with an alternative. Try to make her feel like you two are a team (because you are!) and that you need to come up with a solution together. After you’ve made the flowers you need, make a few leaves or filler flowers so that you can show her the difference in the two looks. Explain that gum paste flowers are rigid and the problems that can present. If she is still dead set against leaves/filler flowers ask her about small flower buds, ribbon, tulle, etc. In the end, the decision will be hers and you can only do so much. Who knows, she may be happy with the end result without the leaves/fillers!

When this situation comes up during a consult with a bride/customer I ask them why they have made that decision to restrict my cake creativity, but I put it in a nice way of course. Something like “So you don’t like filler flowers at all or just not the ones you’ve seen so far?” then go from there. “Was it the color of the ones you saw, the quality?” etc and try to get to the root of the problem. Sometimes they have seen a cake that they really didn’t like, sometimes they have trouble envisioning the end product. I’m at the point in my cake career that I’m not afraid to turn people down if I’m not comfortable with something or I’m not totally confident that I can give them what they want or create a product that I am happy with.
Wow, I’ve written a novel! Sorry this is so long! Good luck in your endeavors.

Wow, Laura I could hug you right now! I have not done many wedding cakes and this is just the most perfect advice I could have heard right now. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blurb and right such beautiful advice. I will definitely take it on board and will do exactly what you have said. Breathing big sigh of relief. ❤️❤️❤️

Dina, here are my flowers. I need to make heaps more roses and buds and I haven’t dusted the roses, so they will be a deeper colour. The cake dummies are also shown to give you an idea of the base.

I am not sure if the link works?

Hi Lorene, I have just been reading this thread and what fantastic advise from Laura!! I think she said everything perfectly and can I just say I think your flowers look gorgeous!!! I am not just saying that to make you feel better, they are truly very very pretty!!! I think they are going to look beautiful with fillers or without. Please don’t be worrying anymore, the colours and flowers are beautiful!! :-) x

I agree with Elli. Those flowers are wonderful. I keep looking at them to see what you are not happy about but quite frankly I don’t see anything wrong with them.

Lorene, Laura’s advice is fantastic and I have to say exactly what Elli and Goreti said, I love your flowers (what you have done so far) and not just saying, I truly like them, the colors are fantastic and I like the hue that is rather soft. I would keep them though in a dark place so that the color does not fade. You have done an aamzing job so far <3 <3

The flowers are gorgeous! And I so understand your feelings .Only a true artist would be so worried for his creation ! You are good, you will succeed and everyone will like it .Success in work!

I am so grateful for all your encouragement. Thank you everyone. I have done what Laura said and I contacted the bride. She was more than happy for me to add leaves or fillers and to change things around! I have now changed the whole design of the cake and after finishing the rose buds today and reading your comments, I was in a much more positive frame of mind to tackle how to put the flowers together. I had a play around with all the flowers to see what I could possibly do with them and surprised myself! I actually liked what I saw, I am now excited and can go to sleep without thinking all night about what to do. I thought twice about being such a sook on cakesdecor, but I am so thankful for the advice and encouragement. I wish I could hug you all. I will include a picture of my unwired design. Flowers are still to be dusted and have calyx’s etc but to give you an idea.

You are so welcome!! I think we’ve all been in a sticky spot and gotten exasperated! It’s obvious you are SO capable of doing amazing work, (just looking at the cakes you posted) and I hate to see you frustrated. You just needed a little coaxing and I’m glad your “cakey family” could help! I’m so glad it worked out for you! And your flowers are just gorgeous!! Best wishes!
L

Don’t forget to show us the cake when done :D
Hugs xxx

Ok, I will Dina. Xxoo

Waiting for your masterpiece!

The flowers look fantastic .. Can’t wait to c the final cake

the flowers are gorgeous, good luck with your final piece!

Hi Lorene,
I agree wholeheartedly with the others, the flowers are very pretty. I have taken a bit of time getting used to large flowers because my natural style is to make them small and delicate, but they will look wonderful when you get it all together.
You have received wonderful advice and support and I’m sure you will be proud of this cake when it is ready.

All the best!!

The flowers are gorgeous!!! The roses appear red in the pic and the peonies mauve, perhaps you can dust them with dark purple and purple? It may just be the lighting. Regardless, they are super pretty!!!

Ok, it is now the eve of the wedding. The 3 tiers are all covered, very happy with the smoothness of my fondant. I have wired all my flowers together without breaking anything and now for the moment of truth. I stand before my cake trembling with anticipation as I try to figure out how I will get the flowers to stay on the cake without 1. Digging into my perfect fondant and 2. Falling out or collapsing the edges of tge cake with the weight of the flowers. Can you tell I have never done this before? Hmmmmm I think maybe today is not the day to decide to take a class! So after pushing the stem into the cake and digging numerous petals into my beautiful fondant, my flowers started to pull down on the cake and rip into the edge! Here is a picture!

It’s ok! I allowed myself about a minute and a half to have a real good cry. Pulled myself together. Pulled my wired flowers apart, divided them into three parts (a lot less weight) patched up all the mess as well as I could and started again! Worst wedding cake moment award goes to ….ME! I am however pleased to tell you that after all that nightmare, I have manged to pull off the exact look that I was after and now I am crying tears of total satisfaction. I haven’t had time to photograph yet, but as soon as I do, I will be posting it on cd. Thank you all for following me on this journey of biting off more than I can chew and supporting me so wonderfully along the way. Love to all my cakey friends, xxoo Lorene

When I first saw the picture I said O My God poor you — but when I read the msg I had a sigh of relief — cake disaster is something that nobody wants — I experienced one just today — I took the cake out of oven to cool down and my little one digged into it — im happy for you can’t wait to see the result!!

Oh Sim, sorry to hear about your cake disaster! I hope you managed to sort something out. I must admit though, I had a bit of a giggle when I imagined your little one helping themself to your cake. My 14 year old son still comes and eats things I am making, not being very discerning about whether it is something I am going to use or not. Maybe that is more of a reflection on my skills – lol!

I giggled too instead of getting angry — what can u expect from a 4 year old BTW it was her birthday cake so not a big problem — I’m happy that you could fix yours’ now I’m really curious to see your masterpiece!!

Simmz I had to giggle at the thought of your little girl eating the cake as well! My twins used to swear that different colored icings taste different and they insisted on trying EVERY one! LOL! Kids make cake life SO interesting!!
Looking forward to seeing your beautiful cake Lorene!

:)

Hi Lorene. The cake is beautiful. You can be so proud of what you achieved. Xxxx

Just saw the picture of your cake — perfectly done — it doesn’t look like that u had hard time with this — the result is stunning worth all the effort!!

Thank you Sue and Sim. You wouldn’t believe the nightmare I had getting it to the reception! I had the bottom tier on the stand in the boot of my car and thought it was secure. It fell off while I was driving.😫 Thankfully nothing split and there were no dents I couldn’t rub out, but I am so glad that is over. In the end, I was really happy with how it looked. Of course I always see things that I would have liked to do better, but good to close the door on that one. 😊

The flowers are great! They change dramatically once they are dusted, so I really think they will be gorgeous.

Your flowers are fabulous!!! Can’t wait to see everything put together!

I have posted my photo on Sunday, but some of you haven’t seen it, so here it is…

Thanks for sharing! It came out splendid!!

Thanks silina.

OMG! That turned out wonderful!! Your flowers are absolutely gorgeous! You did an amazing job!

Thank you Laura. I would really love to do a course on putting flower sprays together and how to stick them into the cake without messing up the fondant. I see so many amazing cakes and just can’t work out how they have put the flowers in, without having wires going in everywhere. Maybe I should ask in a new forum.

I think that would be a great class to take! I have trouble with putting the floral sprays on also. I took one of Nicolas Lodge’s classes when he was in Chicago and it was good but it’s been a couple years ago that I took it and I don’t do too many cakes with the gum paste flowers, maybe 4 or 5 a year. I’ll have to check my notes. I also have trouble coming up with cake designs. I’d LOVE to take a class on that. I’ve taken 2 Colette Peters’ classes and she is SO talented, but she has a background in design, having worked for Tiffany. When she tried to explain to me how she comes up with cake designs I’m sure I had a blank stare on my face! LOL! It was like trying to describe the color blue to a blind person!! :P

I did the Nicholas Lodge class on Craftsy showing how to make roses and peonies. I love how he explains things. He shows in one of his tutorials how to wire a central piece with a long return and a short return which is what I tried to get with my flowers. He had all his flowers coming into one central stem. He didn’t however, use peonies or big flowers, they were delicate roses with little filler flowers, so it was stupid of me to think that all that weight would hold. He doesn’t show how to put them into the cake though, which is dissapointing. I have asked him questions through the Craftsy course and he has been so gracious to answer me, so maybe I should ask him about this. We don’t get people like Nicholas Lodge or Colette Peters over here in WA. 😕 I have thought about going to Tafe and doing a cake decorating course, but doing 2 years of basics that I already know is kind of frustrating and a waste of time. I wonder if Part of my problem is the angle I put the flowers in. I did a cake this week (will post later) where I made two thistles. They were not heavy, but when I poked them into the cake, they wanted to break through the fondant too! 😬

We had a similar request: purple peonies/roses and not much else. Here’s our final work; maybe it will offer a little inspiration?

missed the Sunday posting sadly as was away all weekend :( but I have to say, you should be SO proud!!! this looks amazing!!! WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!

Your cake turned out stunning!!! :-) x

Thank you Calli and Elli… I certainly learnt a lot! Xxoo

Thanks Devlish and Devine (sorry I can’t find your name) your cake is pretty.

Someone had suggested using the little plastic “vases”/tubes with the rubbery plastic ends that florists use to put water in and put on the end of roses. I haven’t tried this though…have you? I had a cake with wires that kept wanting to poke through the cake on the back. I was so frustrated. I made the hearts on top light (I thought) but still had trouble.! I think maybe they were too tall?

I think your flowers are absolutely beautiful.
No way are they big and ugly, they look perfectly proportioned and flouncy just like they should be.
Can’t wait to see the finished result xx
Deep breaths, your going to be ok xxx

Laura, I used a flower pick on the end of the wire and then I pushed that into a bubble tea straw that I had inserted into the cake. I tried making hearts like you posted a picture of and had the same trouble with the weight too! Lol. Yours seem to be staying up though, they look cute.

Hi Karen, I have posted my picture last Sunday. It is on this forum too if you have trouble finding it. Thanks for your kind comments about my flowers. Once I got them wired together, I was happier with them, but , I still would have liked my purple peonies to have been finer.

And it’s absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done, it’s gorgeous xxxxxxxxxxx

I’m sorry I missed this thread when your drama was happening but just wanted to stop by and say ‘wow’! The finished cake is an absolute beauty!!!

I’m new on CakesDecor and I’ve only just seen this thread. The cake looks BEAUTIFUL!!! Well done!