Ok I have read many contradicting things about wire in cakes. Some people say no and some say its fine. I am so confused and I have a few questions.

I heard Stainless Steele wires are food safe and can be placed directly in cakes?

Where do you get food safe wires?

What about gumpaste flowers with wire, are they not edible? I have heard of using floral tape and other things to cover wire but you can't do that with a flower petal right?

I do not put wires directly into cake. I wrap the ends in floral tape. It's quick and easy. The tape also gives the cake something to grab so the wire dosent flop all over the place.

I stick straws in the cake where I will be putting wires, so the wires won't touch any of the cake that will be eaten.

Wow. What gauge do you use? I use 18 - 22.

For single wire placement, I use coffee straws, it's just enough to hold the wire and not have it wiggle around in the cake.

I assume you are talking about the wires at the top of the cake that have the pretty decorations at the ends and have curls and cute things like that?

I haven't done those yet, but I am intrested to see if anyone else can help. I have just done flowers with the floral wires and those work fine with the straws for me but I don't know about the decorative wires for the top. I hope someone can help.

I have read that floral tape contains latex and some people have an allergy to latex.

This has been controversal.

But I never ever use wires wrapped or unwrapped placed directly in cakes as that is a forgein object. Just think about this for a half a moment. Perhaps a child pulls the head of a flower leaving the wire and the wire is served in a piece of cake - Walla - instant lawsuit. And what is with straws? I'd hate to dig the straws out out of a cake before serving as it also ruins the look of the design in my mind.....

Wilton has flower picks and they look very professional and are enclosed I use them for bouquets or I strictly follow Toba Garret's advice using a clump of fondant that can be removed from the cake entirely.

If you are placing flowers here and there then I make them with without wires and "glue" them onto fondant covered cake with melted white chocolate.

I hope I convert a few cake baker/decorators with my process...........

I use melted chocolate to attach things to fondant too, it dries hard and holds well. http://bit.ly/cXFmJQ For buttercream where you're going to have to insert something into the cake, you could build them on wooden skewers instead of wires. Better than that, though, is to put them on toothpicks, then pull the toothpick out before you put the flower on the cake, and just use icing to stick the flower to the cake. If they're sitting on the "ledge" of the tier you won't need to insert anything into the cake at all. That way you can avoid having any type of inedible item on the cake, and there's no chance of someone eating anything by accident.

Lots of great ideas. Thanks

Like tiptop57 says, this is very controversial. Everyone has their own way of doing things, but someone better tell Buddy on Cake Boss because you see him sticking "wired flowers" straight into cakes all the time...no straws, no floral tape...nothing! Who's right and who's wrong???

This is the only method i use for poking wires into a cake for decoration.
http://www.sugarcraft-supplies.co.uk/images/wilton_flowerpick.jpg

ETA - link is blocked -
Go to your cake decoraing place and ask for a flower pick.

Wonderful - just fill with a bit of soft fondant - insert wires where you wish them to stand -
Allow them to set in the fondant - then place in cake...
Voula - wires are all tucked away in a pick and very clean and easy for the customer to remove - with out making a hash of the cake.

picture of latest cake i made using the method...
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1800464

Doing a black and white one similar in 2 weeks time...using this method.


you can purchase them from most cake decorating places.

Bluehue

I e mailed the people at Duff's products and asked about their cake wires and they said they are food safe..they sell them at craft stores...I personally didnt care for them.I used them in my last cakes the cheerleader cake if you want to look....I find them too heavy...if I were to use other wires I would dip the end going into the cake in melted chocolate before inserting them....hth

It's not just an issue of things being food safe, though. Lots of people who would never put a wire into a cake will stick pesticide and fertilzer-covered flowers all over a cake. For me, I get concerned that (someone else mentioned this before, too) someone will end up with part of the wire or wooden skewer or whatever it is that you used to put the flower into the cake in the piece of cake they're served.

Someone told me a story of a baker who got sued because someone cut the cake with an electric knife and cut right through the wires the flowers were on, then served them all up. Who knows if it's a true story or not, but it makes the point that unless you're standing there taking all the flowers off yourself, you need to be careful about what you insert into a cake.