sometimes I see they are swirly, sometimes they are straight and is it fondant pieces you put on top? How do they stay on?
Thanks!

You use floral wire (it comes in pre-cut pieces at Michael's) and you just stick it into the fondant/gumpaste piece and let it dry. Use coffee stir straws when putting the wire in the cake so it doesn't fall over and tear the cake - you just stick the straw into the cake and the wire into the straw. HTH

Thank you! I believe if I tried I never would have tried the coffee stirrers and it would have made a mess.

i was wondering too....
let me make sure i understand the coffee straw. You put it in the cake so it does not show, correct? and that helps stabalize the wire??

Well that's how I do it I also cover the hole with a little extra bc because the straw is wider than the wire. With fondant, I put the stirrer in before I cover and leave it sticking out just a little so it makes an indention and I can tell where it is to put the wire in (it gets pushed down into the cake when I smooth). There may be other, better methods...I'm still a newbie, but that's my method anyway.

Thanks a lot!!! I didn't know about the coffe straws and I've made cakes with wire and it tears the cake. With your help hopefully this will never happen again. Another question: What size of wire? Because sometimes the fondant decoration is heavy and bends the wire down, how can I prevent this?

You can get different gauges of wire. The thicker the gauge, the stronger the wire and it will be able to hold up heavier pieces.

I've torn cakes before with lollipop sticks! For those, use straws! The lower the number guage of wire, the thicker wire. They sell a few precut sizes in the craft stores.