Wired rose cascade help!

Hi Christine. I’ve never made a cake with a continual cascade of flowers, but I have made one with a lot of flowers. I wired them together into arrangements about 8 to 12 inches long. They were pretty heavy, but when inserted them into their straws, they were as solid as could be. I did have the cake finished in a strong ganache (4 to 1 ratio). If you want to see my cake, it is the 50th Anniversary cake on my page. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reassurance Sandra, I am going to coat all the cakes in a strong ganache.

Wow, what a beautiful tall cake and the flavours sounded delish xx

Thank you, Christine! I think you will be just fine and I can’s wait to see your cake. I was really surprised at how firm and sturdy the flowers were because I had the same concerns as you. I am a believer in a good ganache!

Me too, it stops those nasty buttercream bulges! :-)

Amen to that!

Thanks for sharing Sandra! I will post the cake as soon as I have some good piccies. Any other tips from anyone else about this kind of cake, would be greatfully appreciated! :-) The big day is 12th August

It is more nerve wracking to transport a cake fully stacked and decorated, buy possible. The key is to be sure it is level and well supported. I also always use a central dowel through the whole cake and anchored into the cake base (I use plywood). Just as an extra measure, especially if it is hot, I like to use a portable cooler box. Here is the video by Yener’s Way that shows you how.

https://www.yenersway.com/tutorials/free-online-cake-decorating-tutorials/how-to-make-an-instant-portable-fridge-for-cake-deliveries/

Of late, I have been transporting my cakes as individual tiers and stacking at the venue and applying the flowers once the cake has been stacked. Five yourself plenty of time and it is much less stressful. If you choose to go that route, no central dowel is needed, but the cakes still need to be level and doweled properly.

The best of luck to you!

Thanks so much Sandra for all your help, I’ve just recently watched yeners video, great to keep the cake cool. I think it will still be hot and humid here in the UK for the next 2 weeks so I’m going to use the ice packs! I don’t know why, I’m just so much more nervous doing a wedding cake! It’s only once in a blue moon I’ll be asked to make one, doesn’t seem to matter as much for birthdays! Ha ha!
Ive decided to stack the cakes at home fully dowelled all the way through, cos I’ve never made such a large flower cascade before and I want to make sure the flowers look right. I’d be too nervous applying them at the venue! Xx

What you may want to do, Christine, is to stack your cake, insert the straws for holding the flowers, place your flowers on he cake to decide the best position, then carefully remove them for transportation. Jiggling can cause the fragile edges of the petals to bounce together and chip. I carry my flowers, already wired into bouquets, in an open box filled with plastic grocery bags, crumpled up, for padding. I like the plastic bags because they do not stick to the gum paste or leave lint. Using needle nosed pliers make applying the flowers to the cake a lot easier and it is safer for the flowers.