Decorate Cakes With Flowers
When you think of fresh flowers, you probably think about a gorgeous arrangement displayed in an elegant vase or perhaps even used in a hand held bouquet or corsage. Of course, many special occasions like birthdays, weddings and even anniversaries mean that a cake of some sort will be ordered. Cakes are not simply meant to satisfy your sweet tooth but they should also look as good as they taste. What better way to give your cake a touch of natural beauty than by decorating it with flowers? Now, while your florist might not have cakes for sale, they can provide you with a lovely selection of fresh flowers to choose from.
When deciding to use fresh flowers, you have two main options. You can make the cake yourself and arrange for the florist to send the flowers to your home. Having the florist make the flower delivery means that you will have extra time to spend on baking and assembling your cake. Another option would be to have a bakery make a cake for you. Then, you can choose to have the flowers delivered to your home or directly to the bakery. You can arrange the flowers on the cake yourself or you can ask your baker to do it all for you. If the design is fairly uncomplicated, then it wouldn’t hurt to do it yourself. If it’s not simple enough for you to do, then paying a pro would be a wise choice.
Now that the basics are out of the way, you are probably wondering which flowers you should choose. The colour scheme is totally up to you and it really depends on the type of event and the event’s colour scheme. Of course, if you are having a white themed event, you can’t decorate a white cake with white flowers. Unless, that is, you place them on some kind of green foliage to help them stand out. The next thing to remember is that organically grown flowers are usually best for using in food or for decorating food items. They are free of pesticides and dangerous chemicals so you won’t have to worry about that when you’re enjoying a slice of that cake.
Roses are one of the most popular choices in terms of fresh flowers for cake décor. You can use them to circle the base of the cake or you can make a trail from the centre to one side like a floral waterfall. Smaller cakes would look best with mini roses or even rose petals. Leave the fuller sized roses for larger cakes.
Apple and almond blossoms are also quite popular choices. They may be used on their own or combined with other flowers. Some types of poppies can transform an otherwise ordinary cake into a piece of culinary art with their amazing colours. Dahlias, carnations and some daisies are also fine options. The types of flowers you choose will really depend on the time of year and what is in season at the time. If you are looking for something a bit more exotic, you can use geraniums, fuchsia and different types of lilies.
The main thing to remember when it comes to fresh flowers is that they don’t last forever. Particularly without water. This means that they will need to be arranged on the cake on the morning of or the night before the event. The cake should then be kept at the right temperature (like in the fridge) until the time comes to present it and slice it up. Some people prefer having their cakes decorated with edible flowers. These can be made from sugar, gum paste or fondant. If you know how to make them yourself, you can do so in advance. Alternatively, your bakery should be more than equipped to take care of this type of decorating for you. Your bakery should also have a selection of ready made edible flowers for sale so you could still make your own cake and use professionally made decorative flowers to make it extra special.