I have been asked to do cakes with palm trees and my trees don't stay upright? I am using fondant. and I cant seem to find a good looking way to apply leaves. Can anyone steer me in the right direction to learn a great method to make these darn trees?? Please and Thank You!
I have seen the trunk of the palm trees done with rolo chocolate candies prob stacked on a dowel I am guessing, with fondant leaves. Here is the cake...good luck.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2336267/surfs-up
I have taken the large wilton plastic dowels (that have the hollow center), wrapped them in brown floral tape, and attached the palm tree leaves inside the hollow end with white chocolate (in a crunch I have also used green foam from the craft store).
I've always had to use gumpaste for the leaves, so they don't sag. But I've wrapped the plastic Wilton dowels in brown fondant, made some bark lines and attached the leaves with Royal icing inside the dowel and then added some brown fondant balls (coconuts) on top to cover the mess I make attaching the leaves.
I am still working out in my mind how I am going to do the coconut palm for my next cake. Since I want the graceful curve of the trunk, I am intending to use a heavy wire, supplementing the base with graduating lengths of those big fuzzy pipe cleaners. Wrap the whole thing in brown floral tape and then apply brown gumpaste "scales" from the top down to simulate the scars left from previous fronds. (I'm hoping it won't look too much like a date palm, though.) I'm going to make the fronds out of gumpaste on wire which I will fasten to the trunk before I wrap and cover.
In my head it will work, I will just see how much hair I have left on my head, hoping I don't pull it all out during the process! 
I have wakened at nights thinking about this and am anxious to get started. We'll see what happens.
Jan
Thank You for the quick responses and great advise!!!!!! Thank You!!!!!!
The easiest way I've found to make really attractive palm trees is to use the giant Tootsie Roll as the trunk. It already resembles a palm tree trunk. I generally cut it into 2 parts (one a little bigger than the other to have different sized trees). Then I skewer each piece with a wooden skewer and let it set in a slightly leaned position. The skewer makes it easy to insert into the cake.
For the leaves, I've made them from both fondant and green candy melts. I found the latter to work best. I melt the green candy melts, put them in a plastic bag, snip the corner and pipe the palm fronds onto wax paper. Before they set, I drape the wax paper over some foil I've used to create a curvy wave. Once the candy leaves are hardened, I peel them off the wax paper and attach them to the tree trunk tootsie roll using more melted candy.
You can see examples on my luau cake.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2258280/luau-cake
Good luck!
Well, I finished the palm tree. It came out as I had envisioned, but for one thing. I had wanted a more graceful curve to the trunk, but with the weight of the top, I felt I had to straighten it somewhat. I made the wired fronds out of light green gumpaste/fondant and cut them out with a fantasy leaf cutter. I shredded the leaves with a scalpel and dried them in an apple tray with cotton to help hold their shape. When dry I dusted them with petal dust, set with steam. I wired them together as I would a flower, the smallest top fronds first, then taped it to the trunk. The trunk was two lengths of aluminum wire twisted with foil over and wrapped in floral tape. I didn't use the pipe cleaners as I found the foil was sufficient. I made the frond scars with circles of gumpaste with the tops cut off. I made the supporting wire long enough to hopefully penetrate the cake board to secure it. Yes, I will be using a bubble tea straw to protect the cake from the wire, even though it is tape wrapped.
I took pics of it now in case it doesn't make it to the cake! 
.
I really like to make flowers, but I am starting to like trees, too. lol
I've heard so many have trouble uploading pics here, so it is in my photos.
I hope this helps anyone else who wants to make a palm tree.
Jan
Well, I finished the palm tree. It came out as I had envisioned, but for one thing. I had wanted a more graceful curve to the trunk, but with the weight of the top, I felt I had to straighten it somewhat. I made the wired fronds out of light green gumpaste/fondant and cut them out with a fantasy leaf cutter. I shredded the leaves with a scalpel and dried them in an apple tray with cotton to help hold their shape. When dry I dusted them with petal dust, set with steam. I wired them together as I would a flower, the smallest top fronds first, then taped it to the trunk. The trunk was two lengths of aluminum wire twisted with foil over and wrapped in floral tape. I didn't use the pipe cleaners as I found the foil was sufficient. I made the frond scars with circles of gumpaste with the tops cut off. I made the supporting wire long enough to hopefully penetrate the cake board to secure it. Yes, I will be using a bubble tea straw to protect the cake from the wire, even though it is tape wrapped.
I took pics of it now in case it doesn't make it to the cake!
.I really like to make flowers, but I am starting to like trees, too. lol
I saw your palm tree earlier and added it to my favs. It is fantastic!
I've heard so many have trouble uploading pics here, so it is in my photos.
I hope this helps anyone else who wants to make a palm tree.
Jan
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