Fresh flowers and how to properly prepare them for cake decor!

For what

Store-bought cakes have long been out of fashion due to their dubious composition and taste. It is often expensive to order from famous confectioners, or you want something homemade and dear. And then the housewives remember that baking the cake and making the cream is not too difficult a task.

Then the question of decorations arises. There are many options, everyone will find something to their liking. Decorating with fresh flowers is one of them. You can even organize your own master class on how to decorate baked goods with flowers, don’t you think?

Why is home cooking described? Because it is generally not recommended to order cakes with fresh flowers from pastry chefs. There is too much risk of poisoning.

Confectioners rarely use flowers, so the cake will look fresh and unique. In addition, some inflorescences are edible and tasty. And the smell... natural jasmine or rose flavor, isn't it a dream?

How to decorate a wedding cake with fresh flowers?

The tradition of cutting a wedding cake at wedding ceremonies originates from European countries. It was there that it was customary to treat guests to delicious sweets. Absolutely every nationality adheres to this custom.

Wedding cakes with flowers.

The main difference is in the sweetness itself. Some people prefer chak-chak; for others, the original sweet is the signature pie. But still more people and nationalities choose cake. It would seem that it is traditional for everyone. However, it is not. There are many varieties of cakes that differ in many ways.

This is a base, a cream, and even a decorative part. Particular attention has recently been paid to decorations. Every bride and groom dreams that their cake will not only be the most delicious, but also stylish.

One of the most popular types of sweet decorations for a wedding ceremony is the floral theme.

Flowers are one thing that will never go out of style. They symbolize love, sincerity, purity and bloom. Depending on what type of plant you choose, you can say a lot about the bride, groom and their relationship.

These can be voluminous and bright orchid buds that will speak of passion in a relationship. As an option, small dwarf roses are often used, symbolizing tenderness and mystery.

Due to the widespread popularity of the floral theme, different types are used in cake design.

From mastic

The very first people began to make flower plants from mastic. It is a material similar in tactile sensations to plasticine .

Mastic is good because it is edible, because it contains only a large amount of sugar. It is sold in stores or, alternatively, you can make it yourself. The mastic always turns out only white.

In order to get a different shade, you need to add a coloring tone to the material. Mastic can be easily sculpted, so truly masterpiece works of art can be created from it.

Please note that subsequently the mastic hardens quite quickly, this allows it to stand on the festive table for a long time.

The only condition will be the absence of heat, since the material can simply deform under direct sunlight.

There are also people who do not prefer mastic, considering it too sweet. We can’t help but agree that it often simply overpowers the taste of the wedding cake filling. Whether to choose it as the main type of design solution or not is up to you personally to decide.

Drawn with cream

Back in Soviet times, when there was not such a wide variety of designer decorations, it was customary to decorate absolutely all cakes with cream. This is a method that is still popular today. It is good because it is inexpensive and safe.

Wedding cake with fresh roses.

The cream contains only butter and condensed milk. Therefore, all flowers can be eaten very easily. Children especially love them. They often eat only the creamy flowering plants themselves, leaving the whole cake behind.

Flowers in this case can be either painted with cream or visually embossed. This will create the feeling of an elongated flower. It is important in this case to make the cream correctly. Then the flowers themselves will last a very long time and retain their shape.

On the one hand, it seems that this design method is only suitable for creative people . Although in reality it is available to everyone. After all, flowers are knocked out using special attachments.

This way, you won’t have to rack your brains for a long time about how to create such a flower. You can make it yourself if you use a pastry bag and the appropriate nozzles.

Using butter cream you can make a whole flower meadow. To do this, divide your resulting filler into several parts, making a suitable tone.

Subsequently, you may end up with sunflowers, chrysanthemums, peonies and roses. The simplest option would be bouquets of roses, as if falling on a confectionery product.

Alive

Wedding cake with fresh flowers: photo.
Fresh flowers have become especially popular lately. They have incredible charm. However, to use them in a cake, they need to be processed. Otherwise it will simply not be hygienic.

After all, the decoration may not be disinfected, which promises a large number of bacteria in floral decorations.

First of all, when using fresh flowers, you need to determine how poisonous it is . Look online or consult a florist. There are cases when the inflorescence itself emits foul-smelling substances. Therefore, to prevent you and all your guests from getting poisoned, use only safe plants.

Buy flowers no earlier than one night before using them. Cut off the bud, leaving 5 centimeters of the stem. Place the resulting flower in a bowl of cold water. It is better if you do this in a cool or dark room.

In the morning, wash the flower thoroughly, treat it, removing all unnecessary leaves and stems. Make an alcohol solution and spray the flower with it.

Be sure to buy the ribbon at the florist's store, which is necessary to wrap the flowers with it. Do this carefully so that the bud is as cohesive as possible.

Carefully wrap the upper stems and base of the flower in cling film. In this case, the flower will not come into contact with the cake.

If properly processed, the flower arrangement will delight guests and newlyweds for a long time. After all, it will retain freshness and aroma.

What flowers can be used

It’s not for nothing that confectioners avoid using live plants. Not all flowers are suitable not only for food, but even for contact with food. But let's start with edible plants, they are much more interesting for decoration. It's nice to eat a cake with a rosebud.

Edible inflorescences

• Rose, queen of flowers. In addition to the delicate aroma, it gives us a good taste. Petals and buds are edible.
• Orchid.
• Calendula. Has a medicinal effect, use with caution.
• Nasturtium.
• Cornflower.
• Dandelion.
• Chamomile.
• Violet.
• Clover.
• Chrysanthemum.
• Daisy.
• Acacia.
• Lavender.
• Lilac.
• Geranium.
• Jasmine.

This is an almost complete list of edible flowers. The most curious can study the list of medicinal plants, most of which are suitable for food and contain vitamins. For example, mint, rosemary, sage. This is the flavor the cake will have.

It is important to remember that in most cases only the petals are edible. The use of edible inflorescences is especially important at holidays where there will be children. It is impossible to keep track of every flower and the child will eat at least one.

Poisonous flowers

There are flowers that you should never eat. List of poisonous buds for which even contact with food is undesirable:

• Lily of the valley, medicinal heart plant. May cause cardiac arrest.
• Anemone.
• Tulip.
• Hyacinth.
• Calla.
• Lily.
• Narcissus.
• Snowdrop.
• Hydrangea.
• Carnation.

This is an almost complete list of poisonous flowers. But it is recommended to check each selected flower for toxicity in open sources.

Most flowers, if they are not included in one of these lists, can be used for decoration, but cannot be eaten. In general, it is better to avoid direct contact of the plant with the food by creating a border of cones or cling film.

The danger of non-poisonous flowers

You saw that there are a lot of non-poisonous flowers, they are all beautiful and look great on the cake. Why do confectioners avoid decorating with buds? Let's trace the path of a flower from seed to buyer.

With the caveat that most mass-market flowers are grown outside of Russia. Although not everything is beautiful in the Russian Federation. The seed is planted, and the grower wants a more beautiful plant in a shorter period of time. What solution?

Fertilizers, pesticides, acaricides. Since flowers are not eaten as food, they are checked only for the presence of parasites at the border and in front of the store. All chemical treatment remains on the plants. And then, if you are not careful, on your cake.

Now transportation. The plants must withstand a couple of days of travel and arrive at the store fresh and beautiful. Again, treatment with chemical solutions and gases comes into play, they are called biocides.

In some stores, this treatment is also carried out; the flowers are kept in a solution of chemicals to prolong freshness. Already scared? In fact, there is a solution.

Candied flowers

Sweet flowers are used very often to decorate cakes. They not only look beautiful on the surface of the product, but are also very tasty. You can prepare this decoration at home.

We recommend: Inscription on the cake | Video

Ingredients:

• 6 milliliters of water;
• 1 protein;
• cups of powdered sugar.

Cooking process:

1. Beat the whites with a whisk. Add some boiled water.
2. Use a wide soft brush. Gently coat each flower petal with it.
3. Pour the powder into a wide plate. Hold the flower over it and sprinkle powder on all sides.
4. Shake off excess and place on parchment to dry.
5. After 20–30 hours, the flower will be completely candied.
6. To speed up the drying process a little, you can preheat the oven to 65 degrees and place the flowers there for 20-30 minutes.
7. Such preparations are perfectly stored. Line them with wax paper and place them in a cardboard box. In this form, they may not spoil for 1–2 months.

Candied buds are very tender and fragile. You need to decorate baked goods with them at the very last moment. They can be slightly greased at the base with a sticky mass - condensed milk, glaze, cream, cream - and pressed to the surface of the dessert.

How to be

The first and obvious thing is to grow the flowers yourself. Then you will know for sure that they are not processed in any way and are edible. The second option, a little more dubious, is to buy flowers from “grandmothers”. Doubts lie in the lack of guarantees.

Maybe the flowerbed was watered with pesticides, maybe not. Familiar, trusted sellers will come to your aid. By the way, if the sale takes place near the road, then the safety of the flowers is also in doubt.

The safest option is to buy from ECO farms. The manufacturer guarantees that the flowers have not been processed in any way. Such plants are completely safe. The seller must provide certificates guaranteeing the safe cultivation of plants.

It is definitely not recommended to buy plants from unverified sellers and mass markets. The flowers there are beautiful for bouquets, but dangerous for use with food.

The seller must provide documents guaranteeing the safe cultivation of flowers. The pastry chef must provide the same documents when ordering a cake.

Another danger is an allergy to pollen or a certain type of flower. A guest's allergy attack can ruin the entire holiday. It is recommended to warn guests about the presence of fresh flowers.

How to prepare

Now you have chosen the plants, the manufacturer, and are absolutely sure of their safety. What's next? Next, we write down in the calendar that flowers are bought a day before the actual decoration. And by the way, they look beautiful on the cake for about a day.

We buy flowers in the evening, cut off the stem so that about 10 cm remains from the bud. Place the resulting flowers in water and in the refrigerator overnight. It would be a good idea to rinse the flowers and wash away dust and dirt.

We start the morning by baking a cake. Can you handle it before lunch? If not, then start earlier. Cakes also don’t last long, at least without adding preservatives.

When the cake is ready, take out the flowers. Cleans away unsightly leaves, petals and remaining debris. Next, use a spray bottle to treat with an alcohol solution, approximately half diluted with vodka. We wait until the flowers dry and begin the actual preparation.

There are several ways to protect the cream of the cake from grassy flavors, substances in the plant and excess moisture: • Several layers of foil around the stem. • Several layers of cling film around the leg. • Buy special floristic flasks (test tubes). A little water is poured into them, which will also prolong the freshness of the buds.

Choose the option you like and start decorating. If the leg does not look solid or you want to play it safe, including providing additional protection for the food, then you can wrap it in floral tape or, at home, in regular tape. Floral tape strengthens the stem; in addition, when stretched, it becomes sticky and perfectly retains moisture.

Decorate with marmalade roses

Homemade cakes become even more beautiful if you decorate them correctly. For these purposes, a material that is plastic and easy to sculpt, such as marmalade, is suitable. It comes in different colors and holds its shape very well. And the roses from this sweet delicacy are an amazingly beautiful decoration for home baking. The process is quite simple. You will need:

• cling film;
• sugar;
• red and green marmalade;
• long toothpicks.

Let's start creating a decorative decoration for the birthday cake:

1. Mash about 100 grams of red marmalade in your hands.
2. Place each candy on a board sprinkled with sugar.
3. Roll out into a layer about 1.5 centimeters wide.
4. Do the same with the green candies.
5. Place a skewer at the beginning of the resulting “tongue” and roll it into a roll. The bud can be placed on the cake without a stick, simply by placing it on the cream or icing and pressing it to the surface.
6. Make leaves from rolled out green marmalade and attach them to the base of the bud.
7. Use your hands to open the rose a little. If you want to make a more magnificent bud, twist two rolled out candies onto a skewer.
8. Place the resulting flowers into the cake.
9. You can make other flowers in the same way - daisies, violets, asters.

We recommend: Video: drawing on a chocolate cake

How to decorate

There is only one general recommendation for creating decor - remember that you are sticking an inedible object into the cake. No matter how much we would like it, the guests will take out the flower on the plate and they will be left with a cake with a hole.

To minimize negative associations, florists recommend making a flower arrangement on one side of the product, preferably in a cluster. Ideally, use boutonnieres.

Otherwise, only your imagination can make the cake unique and beautiful. Multi-tiered cakes are decorated either with each tier or with a flower cap on top.

Other ways to decorate a cake at home

How else can you decorate a cake at home? For small celebrations, you can bake a cake that does not require decoration. For example, anthill, Napoleon. But, of course, it won’t work as a wedding cake. Fantasy must come into play! What ideas can I come up with:

Candies

Fruits and berries. Strawberry is a classic option.

Cream jewelry

Cream, chocolate and a little imagination. Decorating with chocolate figures is a classic among confectioners and a rich field for imagination.

There are many options for decorating cakes, and choosing non-standard ones means being remembered by guests and getting a truly unique creation. What other ideas come to mind? Maybe something non-standard that we haven’t seen on the Internet yet?

Cream flowers for cake decoration

Cream is a good plastic material, perfect for creating voluminous flowers when decorating homemade baked goods. If you make the “correct” cream, the flowers will keep their shape and will turn out tender and beautiful.

Flower cream recipes

Butter cream is the easiest to prepare: you will need a pack of condensed milk and butter. Beat everything one by one, then combine it together and mix again. If desired, you can add flavorings to it - vanilla, rum, liqueur, cognac or synthetic additives. Cocoa powder will not spoil the taste and consistency. It must be mixed with a tablespoon of sugar and added to the mass at the last stage of whipping.

An even simpler buttercream is 100 grams of butter, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 4 tablespoons of water. It is necessary to brew syrup from water and sugar for 5 minutes, cool and mix with soft butter. You can also add flavors or dyes to this mass if desired. The cream can be made using 2 yolks, 150 grams of butter, 60 milliliters of water and 75 grams of sugar. Brew the syrup, pour in the beaten yolks, cool and beat again, but this time with soft butter. In addition to butter creams, you can use butter creams. Use cream for them with maximum fat content - at least 30%, and better yet - even higher. Cool thoroughly before whipping. It is also acceptable to use ready-made vegetable cream in containers. They come in white or chocolate.

Dyes can be used both food synthetic and natural:

• pink and red colors are achieved by adding cherry, raspberry, and strawberry juice;
• chocolate or coffee color - add a little cocoa powder or brew instant coffee (1 tablespoon) in 30 milliliters of water;
• the orange tint of the cream is citrus juice: orange, tangerine;
• Dried saffron and lemon zest will give yellow color;
• green color – spinach juice.

We recommend: Video: how to beautifully decorate a cake with chocolate

Cream flowers on a “nail”

To create flowers you will need the following accessories:

• a plate with a large cap - the flower itself will be laid out on it;
• a pastry syringe or bag with nozzles of different shapes and diameters;
• parchment paper;
• cake.

First, the flower is created on a nail, especially if you have not yet gotten your hands on this type of decoration:

1. For symmetry of the future decor, you can cut out a circle from parchment and draw it into even parts so that the petals are the same size.
2. Squeeze a narrow strip of cream onto each part, then make a depression in the center. In the middle we lay out a contrasting circle - the core of the flower.
3. Refrigerate, carefully remove from the parchment and place on the cake.
4. This way, flat flowers are obtained - daisies, for example. To create volume, make several rows of petals so that they do not overlap each other.

Making flowers on the surface of the cake

Flat and voluminous flowers, as well as stems and leaves for them, can be formed directly on the cake - on the side or at the top. You will need butter cream of different colors, a cornet or a pastry syringe, and several attachments.

Let's get started: Lilac branch. On the fully decorated cake, small “inflorescences” of lilac are squeezed out in the form of a cluster. A rich buttercream of lilac, white or purple color is used. Place the mixture into a syringe with a grooved nozzle with teeth. Squeeze out several small balls without gaps. Pipe out several stripes of brown cream, making a branch. Squeeze out the leaves from the green cream with a longitudinal movement, press the leaf in the center with a knife.

Flower meadow. Place the butter cream into a bag with a nozzle about 1 cm in diameter. Pipe round flowers next to each other in a spiral pattern on the top and sides of the cake. Make sure there are no gaps between them. Sunflowers. You will need yellow, green and brown buttercream. The nozzle used is oblong. Leaves, stems and petals of sunflowers are squeezed out in small strips. The core is squeezed out in small drops to create an imitation of seeds. Chrysanthemums. The flower is formed from three rows of oblong petals. You can use white cream. After the cake is frozen, the edges of the petals are tinted with dye using a sprayer (airbrush).

Work examples

What kind of cakes do craftsmen make from flowers?

Minimum glaze

Some strawberries

I wonder how to cut such beauty?

Wedding option

Bon appetit

Decorating a cake with fresh flowers is a very interesting and lively idea. Such cakes are not found in the mass market; they look delicate and a little vintage. Or not? You can find quite modern and bright options, and leave the tenderness to lovers of cream flowers.

With the right choice of colors and imagination in the design, you can get a truly unique cake, and most importantly, delicious and absolutely safe.

For some flowers, the cake will also be completely edible, which is especially important on holidays with children. Have a nice day and write, have you ever decorated a cake with flowers? How's that for an idea? Write your ideas in the comments, and I’ll finish our delicious review here.

Ivan, a lover of sweets, was with you.

Flower cake – 15 options with photos

Spring is in full swing! And Instagram is bursting with creamy flowers. April showers bring May flowers, or so they say. Perfect bouquets are made from buttercream icing. It's no secret that Instagram really loves cakes: the more outrageous, the better. Insta-bakers constantly delight us with crazy creations, from giant donuts and waffle cakes to incredible metal cakes. So check your feed right now and you will see that it has never looked so fresh, beautiful and SINLY delicious. Here are 15 joyful and wonderful cakes that will make you want to shout “Happy Spring!”

1. Secret garden.

   
   

   If your favorite book as a child was “The Secret Garden,” this cake is for you.
2. Just great.

   
   These delicately arranged cupcakes are actually the top layer of an intricately arranged bouquet cake.

3. Give me hope, Buttercup.

   
   

   This bed of sweet yellow blossoms will bring a ray of sunshine to everyone who looks at it and especially who tries it.
4. Sweet violets.

   
   

   These delicate petals are filled with life. Look at the violets! They're too sweet to eat, but we'll try anyway.
5. Flower cake.

   
   

   Not only is this bouquet edible, but so is the basket. Bring this cake to your Easter lunch and it will become the star of the table.
6. The power of petals.

   
   

   These delicate floral cupcakes will bring spring to everyone's office party. This will be one of those meetings where everyone is on time.
7. The power of purple.

   
   

   It's everyone's favorite hair color baked into a spring cake! This is the perfect birthday cake for your best friend with purple locks.
8. Cinco de Mayo.

   
   

   These colorful cupcakes look like they belong in one of Frida Kahlo's paintings. Serve them at your party and it's guaranteed that every tray will return to the kitchen empty.
9. Happy Monday.

   
   

   See how one Insta-baker surprises his friends at work. She is undeniably a girl boss.
10. Like snowflakes.

    
    

    What do snowflakes and these spring flower cupcakes have in common? Each one is stunningly unique. You could put them under glass, if you could hold on, of course.
11. Nice palette.

    
    

    Not only are the petals realistic, but the color scheme is very beautiful.
12. Art imitates life.

    
    

    This cake combines edible primroses with baby's breath. It is difficult to say where human artistry ends and nature begins.
13. Love yourself.

    
    

    You have to admire a baker who bakes his own birthday cake.
14. Cherry blossoms 24/7.

    
    

    The cherry blossom season lasts only 14 days, but all the flowers fall on the second or third day. But with this cake, flower lovers can enjoy it all year round.