Fresh Flowers On Your Cake? Read This First!
Decorating By Jackie Updated 4 Jun 2008 , 8:16pm by woodthi32
Fresh Flowers on your Cake? make sure they are safe!
Click here for a list of non-toxic flowers to garnish your cake.
Which flowers are the safest? The answer is twofold. First, no flower is safe to eat or use on or near food products unless it has been organically grown. This means no chemical herbicides or pesticides have been used on or around the plant. Rose fertilizers that contain systemic toxins are included in this category, as are any fertilizers of the weed-and-feed variety.
This also means that edible flowers that are brought home from nurseries and garden centers are not safe to eat or use on or near food products unless they have been grown organically or sustainably (without toxins).
Secondly, for some people, eating pollen can trigger allergies or even asthma. To be safe, remove the pollen-bearing parts of each edible flower (the pistils and stamens). The sepals or calyx also should be removed from all flowers except the viola-violet clan (pansies, Johnny-Jump-Ups, violets and violettas).
That said, quite a number of flowers common to vegetable beds and ornamental borders are both lovely to look at and tasty to boot. 
Post any questions or comments on using flowers on your cake here
Thanks for posting this, Jackie. Many people don't understand about flowers being toxic. I just wanted to add one more point:
If you are using flowers that you did not grow and are not sure how they were grown, make sure they have not been treated with chemicals. This includes non-toxic flowers. Many florists and nurseries treat the flowers so that they last longer once cut. These flowers can not be used on a cake.
I am doing a large (8 tiered) wedding cake next week. Not only will this be the largest cake I've done, but my main concern is that the bride wants fresh roses (150 in all!). I'll be taking the proper precautions to ensure food safety, but my question is how long with the roses stay fresh once they are on/around the cake? The reception room will be air conditioned, which I know will help, but since this is the first time I've used fresh flowers, I have no idea how long they will stay fresh. Help!
All posts welcome or email me at JParker145@aol.com
Thank you! Personally, fresh flowers on a cake is my all time favorite look--but safety first! Good to know!
My wedding is in July, and I would like to have Calla Lilies on my wedding cake. They wern't on the list of edible flowers, so I have to ask. Are Calla Lilies safe to put on my cake?
Sorry, calla lilies are toxic and not safe to come in contact with anything edible. You can always make some gumpaste ones, though!
thank you so much! You saved me from poisoning my wedding guests 
A small crystal dish with floral foam can be useD as a cake topper.....insert the calla lillies or WHATEVER in a little arrangement IN the dish (your florist can create this for you) and use this as you would any cake topper on the doweled cake. Problem solved! Also, vases of your flowers on the cake table can bring in the look also~ BUT GUMPASTE IS BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks for sharing this information. This is a better article than what I've posted on my sites about fresh flower safety simply because you've placed flower photos. Maybe I'll add a link from my site and direct my visitors to Cake Central.
I have a fairly extensive list of toxic and non toxic flowers, but you still have to worry about chemicals, so they usually recommend going organic, but those can be expensive and hard to find.
Ok, here is my question...
I have heard that as long as the stems are wrapped and/or inserted into flower spikes and the petals are not touchng any part of the cake (just not touching or have parchment paper under the petals), that it is safe to use most flowers. Is this true?
Tina
excellent resource! thank you for posting!
How about Black Eyed Susan's??? Are they toxic??? My daughter's name is Susan and she loves bringing these home and she'll make the mistake of leaving them lying around where the kittens can get ahold of them I just want to make sure they aren't toxic and if they are I can tell her not to pick them just to look at them lol.
How about Black Eyed Susan's??? Are they toxic??? My daughter's name is Susan and she loves bringing these home and she'll make the mistake of leaving them lying around where the kittens can get ahold of them I just want to make sure they aren't toxic and if they are I can tell her not to pick them just to look at them lol.
Black-Eyed Susans are on the list of plants toxic to cats that I found on the Cat Fanciers' Association website (as well as several other sites):
http://www.cfainc.org/articles/plants.html
this is a tough one isnt it? lots of pros and cons.
i use fresh flowers, never had any problems. i dont poke the stems in the cakes, most of the time they are layed on there sides for arranging. a filler like babies breath will bring height to the flowers.
a person would have to actually eat the flower, stem, etc. to get sick. i dont believe people are eating the flowers on the cakes, im sure they arent even served with a slice.
i know of a lady here who wont use fresh so she sells more of her gumpaste arrangements.
the ones who wouldnt know any better are children, but the parents should be watching them and other adults.
this is a tough one isnt it? lots of pros and cons.
i use fresh flowers, never had any problems. i dont poke the stems in the cakes, most of the time they are layed on there sides for arranging. a filler like babies breath will bring height to the flowers.
a person would have to actually eat the flower, stem, etc. to get sick. i dont believe people are eating the flowers on the cakes, im sure they arent even served with a slice.
i know of a lady here who wont use fresh so she sells more of her gumpaste arrangements.
the ones who wouldnt know any better are children, but the parents should be watching them and other adults.
I had NO IDEA! So what about when the florist is placing the flowers? I did a wedding and have heard of other weddings where the florist put flowers to match the bouquets/arrangements on the cake after it was set up? Now I'm thinking of all the fresh flower cakes I've seen and thinking hmmmmm.....
At my friend's brother's cake, for some reason the cake bakery was delivered without any kind of topper. I would think that maybe they didn't want a topper, but they should have relayed this preference to the person who took their cake order--they delivered the cake with a a big arrow scratched into the top icing, to show which way should be the back. (I was nosy and looked to see why!)
The florist hadn't been asked to provide a floral topper, but when she saw that the cake looked really ugly without one, she scattered some rose petals on top of each of the tiers and around the base. It improved the appearance of the cake, but I did wonder about the food-safety issue.
With as nasty as the icing and cake tasted, though, I don't know how many people actually ate the cake. There were other desserts served at the tables.
Thanks for letting me know about the Black Eyed Susan's!!!! I have informed Susie she is not to bring them in the house anymore! And as extra procaution she isn't to bring ANY flowers in the house that are picked from someone's yard lol.
That is a really good rule. First, because you never know what kinds of pesticides have just been sprayed. Second, because the neighbors might not always want to have the flowers taken.
We have a large yucca plant in front of our house, which rarely flowers. When it does, though, the flowers are breathtaking. Twice, somebody has broken off and stolen the flower stalk. One time, they seriously damaged the plant itself. Grrrrr.
Yeah I don't like having missing flowers out of my own flower beds lol so I stress to her that other people don't like it at all! She learned the hard way though she had one of those bouncy balls you get in the gumball machine, she was bouncing it on the side walk and it bounced into some woman's flower bed and she went to get it and loves flowers so she made sure she didn't step on any or anything grabbed her ball and backed out slowly... the woman came out and started screaming at her profanities and all... needless to say the woman later her some of my profanities lmfao
But I tell her not to pick flowers from anywhere but here at home lol. We have a rose bush out front next to our front porch and Ivy has taken over it so he cleans it up and sprays this home made stuff on it to keep these bugs off it and I explained to her not to touch that because one the throns will hurt her bad and two the stuff daddy sprays on it will make you sick. It won't because it's just household stuff out of the kitchen but it keeps her away from my roses 
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