Hello everyone,

I had a request to do a wedding cake and the bride wants me to put real cranberries around the bottom of the cakes as decoration/bottom boarder. Has anyone worked with cranberries and cakes? Do you know if they will bleed into the frosting or anything? Thanks for your help

I would make a clear cooked sugar syrup as for hard candy, skewer each berry on a toothpick and dip them one by one. Time consuming but they would be shiny and pretty and the candy coating would seal in the juice. People could eat them with their piece of cake if they like, I personally can't stand cranberries but for those who do eat them this would be an extra little treat. If you live in a humid area they wouldn't hold up for long, they would get sticky, but I would make them the day before and after they were set I would put them in a waxed paper lined Tupperware container, or something with a sealable lid.

has the bride ever actually EATEN a fresh cranberry? they are tart beyond belief.

My question would be if they are in season...I haven't seen cranberries this time of the year. Unless, of course, this is for later in the year....

uncooked -- CRUNCH!

cooked and unsweetened -- popped open and put Atomic Head Sour candies to shame.

not even sure ShirleyW's suggestion would make them sweet enough -- definitely pretty but I doubt palatable.

I think that she just wants them as decoration not planning on people eating them. That is a good question that I will have to ask her. Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of getting the frozen ones and let them thaw out. This cake is for October 6th, but I wanted to get suggestions now before hand. I like the candy idea on the cranberries. What kind of a sugar coating do you use?

I think the bride is right that they would look pretty, but the taste would be nasty. She might not expect people to eat them, but if they are the border on the cake, they will try it & YUCK!

One way around it might be to have whomever is serving the cake leave the cranberries off the serving plates. Then she could still have the look without the taste concern. I love the idea of coating them in candy - I think that would look great as long as the moisture from the cranberries don't affect the sugar (I would do a trial run on that).

Bec

I am speaking of just making a clear sugar syrup cooked to the hard crack stage and dipping the cranberries, I don't think there would be a moisture problem if you can find the bagged cranberries. I doubt frozen would work, I think they would soften as they thawed. I would use Isomalt but just a sugar/water syrup would work, I just can't find a recipe right now. Try looking under the sugar molded beer bottles and ice. There should be a recipe there for the sugar. I am not saying eating this will be somethng I would do, I am just saying some guests will want to try them. As I mentioned in my first post, I can't stand cranberries, so I wouldn't eat them, but some people will. Other than that, if she wants red fruit around the base I would use Glaze Cherries.

Ah, here is the thread on the beer bottle/ice sugar recipe.
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-254901-.html