I'm making a Hawaiian themed cake for a 9 year old's birthday party next weekend. I know what I want to do, but can't make a palm tree out of fondant that looks right. My last attempt looked good except the leaves just hung down. Any suggestions? Do I need to make a frame first? Because I can't just think of any way to get it to look good and get the leaves to attach to the trunk. I'm really quite new to all of this. TIA.

I would make the palm fronds first, on wires, let them dry for a day or so, then insert the wires into the soft fondant trunk (dip the wires in water or make a little "glue" by melting a little fondant in a tiny bit of water) and then let that dry.

Thank you SO much! How heavy of wire would you suggest? Like I said, I'm new and this is my first request for a cake and I want it to be perfect. My family and the girl's family are getting kind of tired of all my practice cakes. LOL.

I would probably form the tree from RKT and cover it in fondant. You would get more strength that way.

I did a safari baby shower cake. I had palm trees on it made from large pretzel rods. They were frustrating to do at first, but by the time I did the 4th one, I felt like I knew what I was doing.

I used the Wilton leaf fondant cutter to cut out the palm leaves. I let them dry on a paper towel cardboard cut in half. (Flower formers work, too.) Once they were dry/hard, I made some green royal icing, and put a big blob on parchment paper(about the diameter of a silver dollar-be sure to mound it up a bit). I began sticking my leaves in the royal icing, sticking cotton balls inbetween layers to help give shape and fullness. Once they were dry, I put a blob of royal icing on the end of my pretzel rod, and attached the palm leaves piece. To "hide" the place where the two were attached, I used the leaf tip, and made royal icing leaves underneath the fondant leaves. This helped to give the palm leaves more support, too. I also put some inbetween leaves and on the very tip-top to hide the center of the palm leaves. I think it helped it look a little more realistic.

Here is a link to the pic of my cake: Hope this helps you some... Good luck!

http:www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1214526.html

Sorry don't mean to sound dense, but RKT?

Thanks for both suggestions!

RKT = Rice Krispie Treats

here's some palm trees.

I'm doing a cake that requires palm trees and I am using large pretzel sticks and a wilton leaf cutter. I than attach the leaves (mix of fondant and gumpaste) to the top of the pretzel. I brush a little water so they "glue" together. I than shape them how I want and use cotton balls to hold the shape. So far so good!!! Hopefully that may help??

I was not too smart when I tried to do trees for my son's birthday cake (jungle/safari). I did the trunks and let them dry. Then I did leaves and let them dry. The only way to stick them together, was glucose. It did OK, but was not great. This was my first fondant figure experience, and I learned a lot. I am glad to find this thread. Glucose really is good glue.