Originally this week I planned on sharing a new cake recipe, but both myself and the recipe needed more time. In an attempt to not push myself to the recipe developing brink during an already busy week at the bakery (as I wrote about in the inaugural essay for the internet recipe culture series), I’m republishing, with light edits, a short piece I shared on my website last year. If my Instagram explore page is any indication, and it probably is, more and more people have adopted the trend of using florals for cake decoration. This piece is on the safe practices I’ve used in the two years since first offering cakes on the bakery menu.
I remember the first flower I placed on a cake for decoration—a soft pink snapdragon atop a tres leches. I had no idea about floral arrangement yet, but the natural curvature of the stem seemed to just ask to be placed in a way that would accentuate both flower and the roundess of the cake. The result was rather haphazard; florals placed with no sense of composition or style other than I thought they looked good where I placed them. Ever since, I’ve let the flowers dictate to me how they’ll go on the cakes. This is my approach to cake decorating, but an important aspect of decorating is to first make sure the flowers are safe for using as deco.
“When the roses speak, I pay attention.” - Mary Oliver
What I mean by “safe” is the flowers should be non-toxic and pesticide-free, grown by a thoughtful farmer. Whenever people ask me if the flowers on the cakes are edible, I tell them there is a difference between edible and palatable. The flowers are purely meant for decoration, not consumption. In theory you could pluck a dahlia off the top of one of my cakes and take a bite, but you may not find it a pleasurable eating experience. Flowers often have quite a bitter taste to them, so I advise my customers to remove the florals before slicing and serving. I don’t develop my cake flavors with the flavor of any flower in mind because the flowers are not meant to be eaten. If you really don’t want to discard the flowers, you could do as my soon-to-be father-in-law hilariously did over Easter weekend and remove the flowers I used on the dome cake I’d made for dessert and place them in directly into a vase, buttercream still clinging to the stems and all.
As the baker, it’s my responsibility to source my florals from farmers I know avoid pesticides. This means I do not use the heavily-sprayed flowers easily found at my grocery store. One of my absolute beloved flowers is the daffodil. The quintessential spring bloom, I know spring has arrived in Atlanta when I spot these guys sprouting up from the dormant winter ground. So it pains me to know that all parts of the daffodil are toxic. Even though I wrap any stem that goes directly into the cake with floral tape, I never chance it. My customer’s safety comes before the aesthetic of the cake, always.
If you’re interested in using flowers for your cakes, I suggest researching the local flower farms near you. Hit up your farmer’s market and chat with your farmers. Spend the time required for due diligence. This is the best way to know for sure if the florals you’re wanting to use on a cake are safe to do so (pesticide-free; non-toxic). If you forget to ask while at the market and Google is giving you conflicting information, err on the side of caution and don’t use that flower. You will sleep better at night if you know the people eating your cake are safe to do so.
A non-exhaustive list of edible, safe-for-use-on-a-cake flowers, just from the top of my head: roses, dahlias, snapdragons, pansies, violas, chamomile, sunflowers, calendula, nasturtium, marigolds.
Don’t forget greenery! I’m personally never finished decorating a cake until I’ve added some green, a reminder that the decoration came from the earth. My personal favorite green is the pea plant because every part of it—from the unruly little tendrils to the flowers themselves—are edible. Fresh herbs are a low-cost way to add natural elements to your cake decoration. I like to candy mint leaves especially by brushing on a simple syrup then sprinkling with sugar.
Here is a list of the flower farms I’ve sourced from:
Love is Love Cooperative Farm (at times through my CSA), Mansfield, GA
Hearts of Harvest Farm (at Grant Park Farmer’s Market), Arnoldsville, GA
Floribunda Flower Farm (my main supplier), Rockdale Art Farm, GA
Hillcrest Flower Farm (throughout 2022), Marietta, GA
In the past, usually in the dead of winter with little other options, I have ordered online from Gourmet Sweet Botanicals. This was always the last resort though and only a few times, as this option is very expensive, the flowers are not always as beautiful as I wish they’d be after having traveled on an airplane (relatable), and the guilt of not buying local or even regional became too much. Now in the winter when florals are sparse but the citrus aplenty, candied blood orange wedges or candied citrus peel bows do most of the heavy lifting on my cakes.