I am new to making flowers and want to make a special cake for my grandma's 80th birthday.  I am making a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  I originally tried to make buttercream roses but they crumbled when I tried to hold them to attach them to the side of the cake...then I tried to use buttercream as "glue" but to hold the rose long enough for the buttercream to set, the rose began to melt.  So, after investigating, I'm going to try to make the roses out of candy clay.

I am looking for advice on what would be the best stuff to use to "glue" the roses to the side of the cake (trying to make several roses climbing like on a vine).  Also, should I attach before base buttercream crusts or does it matter?

If I am using candy clay for the roses, should I stick with that for the leaves and vines or is it okay to mix and match -- ie. candy clay roses and leaves with buttercream vines?

And I'm sure I just haven't gotten to it yet, but if I use a wire to make the candy clay roses on, what do I do with the wire that's sticking out of the bottom of the rose?  (I know, dumb question)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

You can use melted chocolate to hold the roses on. It dries fairly fast.  I don't recommend you put your roses on wires because you can't stick the wires directly into the cake ( they would have to go in tiny straws and too many would compromise the stability of the cake. Start placing your roses at the bottom of the cake and work upward, with the lower ones supporting the ones above..

http://cakecentral.com/t/632290/for-those-who-stick-wires-in-cakes

I think you could mix and match buttercream and candy clay.

AHolding buttercream in your hand is a no-no if you have hot hands like me. It will start to melt. You can use buttercream or royal icing to make the roses stick. You can make the leaves and vines however you want. It is perfectly fine to mix and match, it just depends on what look you are going for. I would probably just pipe them on. As for the wires, stick it in the cake. It will help the rose stay in place.

I would say attach the roses with lots of buttercream, but then refrigerate the cake to set them in place so they don't fall down.  Candy clay is heavy so hopefully you can find a way to stack them up on each other.

AI was wondering the same thing. I want to make a cake look like a giant mug, and I have some candy clay for the handle. But how do you keep the cc/mmf decorations( flowers, dots, etc) from sliding down the side of the cake if you have a bc base?

AToothpicks if they are heavy pieces and blobs if buttercream or royal icing if they are light.

No wires should be stuck into the cake.

AWhy? It is done all the time. They have a coating on them.

This was posted by Cakepro on another thread:

Just wanted to give a heads up to those people (and you know who you are) that stick wires directly into cakes:

There is a floral wire recall that comes in a school project kit because the wire contains excessive amounts of lead and should not be handled by children. I have used this same craft kit for one of my son's school projects and it's regular floral wire that is in them.

This is the SAME floral wire that we all buy at crafts stores.

DO NOT PUT WIRES DIRECTLY IN CAKES!

Some people advocate dipping wire in candy melts or chocolate. I do not. If the wire flexes, the chocolate breaks off. Can you be sure that no lead leached into the chocolate that remains in the cake?

Some others advocate wrapping the wire in floral tape and then sticking it in the cake. Do not do this either! Floral tape contains latex, and many, many people have an allergy to latex, which if ingested, can cause anaphylactic shock. Do not stick tape into cake - gross!

Please use posey picks, flower spikes (even Wilton makes these), or straws. There are straws with different diameters: very narrow ones that are typically used as bar straws or coffee stir-straws, your regular everyday drinking straw that you can buy at any grocery store, and bubble tea straws, which are large in diameter and can accommodate many wires. Place your straw in the cake, trim so it is just inside the icing, pipe some royal icing in the straw, then insert your wires. The royal icing gives you some working time so you can arrange the wires and then it dries, so your wires stay in place.

If anyone else has food-safe alternatives for anchoring wires in cakes, please share the info. Key word: food-safe.

Happy and SAFE caking to all!

---I use straws or coffee stirrers to put the wires inside and them but them into the cakes.

AThank you guys for helping out a total novice. It just sounded like gravity would work against me. I thought toothpicks, but I was t sure if the cake would hold it. I love this site!

Another option is that you could try to find a candy rose mold and use poured chocolate to make the flowers then attach with icing, They would not be too heavy if you use a stiff buttercream to attach.

Wires are okay only if they are food safe, such as stainless steel (not made in China)/dental braces wire.