For Those Who Stick Wires In Cakes - Page 8

Thanks for the info.

I just used wire/straw process in a cake I did and had a lot of issues with the wire being too heavy and actually tearing the side of my cake. How do you fix this issue?

Just another thing to put out there but are the plastic rods you are mentioning listed as food safe? If not they are probably as potentially hazardous as the metal wires. Keep in mind the baby bottle controversy that has been lingering for years where they have not taken plastic baby bottles off the shelves and replaced with a "new" type of plastic that is supposed to be ok. This idea may be replacing 1 potentially risky material for another.

Not to sound like a smart a$$ but if it's good enough for Ron, Colette, and Sylvia, it's good enough for me.

I buy all my wired flowers from wholesalesugarflowers.com, (too lazy to MAKE them, yuk)... with the assumption that, hey, these are sold for use IN CAKE. It's not like I made them myself with wire from Home Depot, which I am not advocating, of course.

I don't do a lot that requires wired flowers, but if I need them, I use them, usually wrapped, and they go in the cake just like the above decorators. If it were a LOT of wires, I'd use picks or straws if practical, but if that won't work, technical-wise, then I assemble the cake in the best way for it to stay together until served.

I have looked at Sylvia Weinstocks cakes really close up in her new book and sure enough, they are stuck right in the cake. Same for Ron because I believe he started his cake career under Sylvia Weinstock. Colette as well. It is Nicholas Lodge who is adamantly against sticking wire in cakes and he uses cell picks which he secures into the cake and secures the floral displays in the cell picks with fondant plugs. That is another way to do it but the British have other methods.

I am hoping some British flower makers discuss their methods here. That would be so helpful.

Wires in Cake:
(Multi-linked thread.)

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-265133-.html

HTH

Its great to see this brought to the attention of all cake fans. Here in the UK we are NEVER allowed to put wires directly into cakes and always have to use a flower (posy) pick. it does make good health and safety sense as who knows what happens to some of the wire once the ingredients of the cake get to work on it? We have to use posy picks as they are sealed at the bottom therefore nothing can ever get into the cake. You can secure your wires inside the posy pick with a little icing.. It actually looks much nicer if you are making a big wired starburst and is easier to hold onto for shaping the wires and getting them looking good. thanks for posting this

I am currently making my first cake that requires wire. I just got on here & checked for posts on whether or not I could insert the wire into the cake. Came across this post. Didn't read through all the replies, but someone mentioned putting the wire into a coffee stirrer. I just want to say THANK YOU. I don't have the time to redo what I've already done. I can just get some of the coffee stirrers or something similiar to stick the wire into. So grateful for this forum!

Hi Tricia,
You can use cocktail straws as well. But I am going to give posie picks a try as the cake maker from the UK described..I think you can buy those on the web.

Hi, just thought I would add a little to what has been replied to already about the wires in cakes and wired sugar flowers etc as i'm from the UK and I know how differently things are done from country to country. its interesting to see how everyone does stuff.

In reply to tobeydechristopher i'm very happy to discuss how we make sugar flowers and display them here in the UK if you're interested. I am a UK cake maker and have just finished my professional diploma in sugar flowers.

In reply to it being good for them its good enough for us I guess it just comes down to what you are happy with and also your legal regulations may be different. in this country certain items are not allowed to be placed directly into a cake which is why we just use posy picks. To me if i received a cake that had a wire pushed directly into the edible part of the cake I wouldn't be happy. Who knows what may break off when you pull that wire out to cut the cake? Could you see a small piece of metal wire that may break off the end amongst a heap of fruit or a dark chocolate cake. I know I couldn't so that gets served to a young child and they choke on it? with a posy pick or similar device everything is contained within that pick. Its removed along with the wires stored safely inside before cutting the cake so you know your cake is safe.

the other issue that we look at in the UK is this - if you buy something from anywhere be it plastic, metal, wood or otherwise do you know where that has been before you put it in your cake. that item may have changed hands many times in a factory, sat in a warehouse, been touched so many times then it just gets pushed inside a cake with no thought for how food safe it is. All posy picks are food safe and you can get really tiny ones if you just want to put a single stem in the side of a cake. Larger posy picks also have serrated ends so they grip onto the cake and stop the things happening like large bunches of flowers tearing the side of the icing off.

If you want your wires to stick straight up you can use a larger gauge wire the same as those used for making sugar flowers. The lower the number (i.e. 22) the thicker the wire is.

Hope this helps shed some light on why in the UK we use these things and if anyone wants to ask any questions please feel free i'd love to hear from you here in the UK

http://www.allaboutcake.co.uk/

I have wondered about this also...and I work in an ice cream factory that uses wires (that are heated) to cut slices of ice cream ( as in round ice cream sandwiches) would this type of wire be okay to use in cake?????

I haven't read all of these but wanted to say / add that I use coffee stirrers (sp) or for a lot of wires together a straw. If you need to hold the wire tight in the straw you can fill the straw with chocolate so they don't move around.

Debbie

Thanks for posting this information. I am making a cake for my daughter's birthday tomorrow and have made a ton of gum paste flowers (the instructions told me to place flowers on wire) and i was worried about how to insert the wires into the cake. I will try out the coffee stirrer technique.

I have been trying to find out how to attach a handle to a cake for my friend's daughter's birthday. She saw this cake by cc member cbonenbe and asked if I could do something similar. I have never used wire in cakes, and never made a handle like this so I am really in need of advice...can the wire go through the mmf balls, and if so, can they still be eaten? Not even sure what gauge wire to use, but it seems I could put straws in the purse and stick the wire from the handles into it? Thanks for any advice, I wouldn't want to make anyone ill from the wire being in the cake! Link to the cake: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1668884.html

nikkie, Why don't you send a PM to cbonenbe to see how it was done? I think you could get the handle to work using skewers or lollipop sticks or staws to hold it in the cake, and just sticking all the pieces together (leaving plenty of drying time so it is sturdy) without and wire. But have never tried it myself; maybe someone else knows different.

I have used long, skinny plastic lollipop sticks (the kind they use for "lollipop bouquets"). My son really liked the lollipops, so I would cut off the end and let him have the candy and then use the sticks for my cakes. They bend and sway and are semi-transparent (and hollow in the middle--I have also used them to insert fine wired roses into a cake. Have seen them at Michael's and at Asian food stores.

Wish I could find a source for the sticks without buying the candies!