Tips for Adding Wafer Paper Flowers to Decorated Cakes

Wafer paper flowers are a good alternative to gumpaste because they’re lightweight and easy to add to cakes without fear of breakage.

There are some things to keep in mind when you’re adding them to a tiered cake, so read on to see what you need to worry about and what shouldn’t be a concern.

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wafer paper flowers on a cake — Wafer paper flowers on a cake

Using wafer paper flowers on cakes.

There are two ways to use wafer paper flowers on cakes.

You can insert wired flowers into the cake using drinking straws or flower picks as a food-safe barrier, and attaching unwired flowers directly to the surface of the cake. The best method to use will depend on the type of flower and whether the cake is covered in buttercream or rolled fondant.

To insert wired flowers into the cake.

Some type of barrier should be used between the cake and the wire of the flower stem.

These can include plastic drinking straws, coffee stirrers, or plastic flower picks that are used to hold a single stem.

Anything that’s food safe and prevents the wires and floral tape from coming into contact with the cake is fine.

Wrapping the wires in some tinfoil is also a good solution for the food-safety issues.

The general idea is to prevent any inedible elements getting into the cake, so you want to create a barrier between them and the cake.

To attach unwired flowers to the cake,

You’ll need to use some type of edible glue to press the flower onto the cake surface and make it stick.

If the cake is covered in fondant, you can use piping gel, corn syrup, or wafer paper glue. What works best will depend on the weight and size of the flowers.

If your cake is covered in buttercream, you should use extra icing to attach the flowers to the cake surface.

If the flower is too large, you might need to prop it up on other flowers or the cake board to support it’s weight if it’s on the side of the cake.

With flowers that are light enough, you should be able to stick it to the icing by simply pressing it on.

Flowers built on wooden picks.

You can build flowers on wooden skewers or toothpicks so that you can insert them directly into the cake without using a barrier.

The disadvantage of this is that you won’t be able to adjust the angle of the flowers once they’re in the cake.

Click to see my list of cake decorating and baking supplies in my Amazon shop.

How to arrange wafer paper flowers on the cake.

To make a wafer paper arrangement on the cake, decide where the flowers will be on the cake, and start by attaching the largest flowers first.

Apply those to the cake, then fill in the spaces around them with more flowers, working down to the smallest filler flowers and leaves if you want to add some greenery.

Be careful if you insert any stems into the cake because they might be difficult to reposition if you change your mind and want to move them, especially on a fondant cake.

Try to plan out the design ahead of time so that you don’t create any holes in the cake that shouldn’t be there. They can be hard to fill in, and can compromise the structure of the cake itself.

If it’s possible, avoid inserting the wires into the cake at all. If your flowers will be on the top of the cake, you can bend the wires up under the back of the flower and place them on the cake without sticking the stems in.

If the flower is on the side of the tier, see if you can attach them to the cake by resting the flower on the base of the cake board or on the ledge of a tiered cake.

Any wires that are inserted into the cake should be inside plastic drinking straws or coffee stirrers to keep inedible elements from touching food that people will be eating.

You should also tell the person who will be cutting the cake about how it’s built so that they can remove anything inedible before cutting it.

When I delivered wedding cakes, I would make sure to give instructions and tell the person who was going to cut the cake about anything they needed to be aware of after I set the cake up at the venue.

How to protect the flowers from the icing.

Since wafer paper flowers can absorb moisture, you may need to protect them with some type of barrier between the flower and the icing. However, most wafer paper flowers can be attached to a cake without any barriers as long as the cake is at room temperature and won’t be refrigerated.

Refrigerating wafer paper isn’t the best idea, but not because of moisture in the fridge. The thing that should be avoided is the condensation that can form on the cake when it’s removed from the refrigerator, because that can soften and shrivel the paper.

If you attach wafer paper flowers to a cake that’s at room temperature they’ll generally be fine and won’t be damaged by touching icing.

If you’re nervous about the possibility of the flowers softening from the icing, you can brush some melted white chocolate onto the back of the flowers to create a barrier between them and the icing.

This will prevent the flowers from absorbing any moisture from the icing at all, so you’ll be sure that they won’t soften.

Tips for using wafer paper flowers on cakes.

Try to minimize the number of wire stems you insert into the cake. Too many inedible wires and dowels in the cake make it difficult to cut, and can weaken the cake’s structure.
If you do need to insert a wire into the cake, use a drinking straw or coffee stirrer to encase the wire. You can also dip the wire stems into white chocolate or candy melts to coat the wires, but you won’t be able to bend them after that.
If you’re inserting a flower into fondant, make sure that you want the flower to be there because you won’t be able to repair holes in the fondant.
Try to use the shortest wire stems that you can. If you can prop the flowers on the ledges of the tiers instead of inserting them into the cake, use some extra buttercream as glue and do that instead.
Attach unwired flowers to buttercream by pressing them on, or use corn syrup to attach them to fondant.
Start with the largest flowers and place them to create the general shape of the flower arrangement. Fill in with medium-sized flowers, then end with filler flowers and leaves.
Have an idea of which flowers you’re going to be putting on the cake and where they’ll go before you start.
Make extra flowers so that you’ll have more than you need. It’s better to have too many than to run out and not have enough!
Use needle nose pliers to grip the stem close to the flower if you’re having trouble getting them up against the cake. This will prevent your hands from pressing into the icing.
If you can attach the flowers and leaves to the arrangement by sliding them behind larger flowers instead of sticking them into the cake, that’s the best way to keep inedible wires out of the cake.
If you want to test out the arrangement before putting it on the cake, you can lay the flowers out on the table the way they’ll appear on the cake to check the color pattern for any changes you’d like to make.

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How To Use Wafer Paper Flowers On Cakes