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Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Fondant can be a controversial choice when it comes to cake decorating. But buttercream cakes are always a timeless classic. Your bc cakes don’t have to be boring or plain though— you can definitely take make your buttercream cake an elegant luxurious dream with sugar flowers.
But how do you make sure your sugar flowers look flawless on buttercream? That’s where I come in!
So before we get into the nitty-gritty of buttercream and sugar flowers, lemme introduce myself! I’m Kelsie, the artist behind Sugar Flowers by Kelsie Cakes. I’ve been decorating cakes and crafting sugar flowers since 2006—back when my tools were circa-1980s Wilton hand-me-downs and my buttercream skills were… let’s just say, a work in progress. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the the do’s (and don’ts) when it comes to making buttercream cakes look wedding-level stunning with sugar flowers.
And now I’m here to help you skip the learning curve (and the cake disaster moments). So let’s get into some tips and tricks to create stunning, stress-free cakes!
Tips for Working with Sugar Flowers and Buttercream
Don’t Poke A Bunch of Holes in Buttercream Cakes!
Make sure you focus on keeping your cake looking clean… and don’t mess up that smooth buttery finish!
One way to achieve this is to wire your sugar flowers together in little bouquets before placing them in the cake. This reduces the number of holes in the cake, which keeps the cake’s structure stable and your design looking neat and elegant.
Always Choose a Sturdy Cake as Your Base
Buttercream can be heavy, and when you add sugar flowers, the cake needs to be strong enough to hold everything together. Make sure you’re using a sturdy cake recipe, like pound cake or chiffon cake, that can support the weight of your frosting and floral decorations without collapsing or sinking.
(ask me how I know! 🫠)
This recipe from Sugar Geek Show is for a doctored box mix cake that is firm enough for make decorated cakes with. It’s similar to a recipe I used when I first started making cakes and wasn’t quite ready to make them from scratch yet (aka I didn’t have a kitchen aid stand mixer yet lol).
Know Your Buttercream
Buttercream is used to describe a wide variety of icings— some of which don’t even have butter in them! (Looking at you, butter-flavored Crisco.) I’ve pretty much made them all— even ermine frosting!
I won’t consider myself an expert in buttercreams, though. I’ll save that for the pastry chefs and food scientists. But I do know that it is possible to combine buttercream frosted cakes with sugar flowers!
To learn more about the different types of buttercream, check out these articles:
- Sugarologie: Comparison of 8 Buttercreams
- The Cake Decorating Company: What’s the Difference Between American, Swiss & Italian Buttercream?
(and in case you were wondering, Italian buttercream is my favorite. I honestly have a soft spot for ermine, too! I think I went too hard with the American buttercream when I first started decorating cakes in high school, now and I’m kind of over it?)
Chill Your Buttercream Cakes Before Decorating with Sugar Flowers
Refrigerating your cake after applying the final layer of buttercream is essential. Chilling helps the buttercream (and the cake) firm up, making it easier to insert sugar flowers without smudging or damaging the smooth finish. A cold cake is much more forgiving when you’re adding those delicate sugar flowers.
This goes hand-in-hand with having the sturdy cake, too! Cold cake has much more stability for travel and prevents the cake layers from settling too much and causing bulges in the sides of the cake.
Attaching Sugar Flowers to Your Buttercream Cake
Now comes the fun part—placing your sugar flowers! Here’s how I ensure my buttercream cakes look picture-perfect.
Use Your Sugar Flower Tools to Avoid Damage!
When inserting wired sugar flowers into your cake, use needle-nose pliers instead of your hands. This helps you avoid accidentally poking your fingers into the buttercream, which can cause lovely unwanted marks or smudges.
You can also insert wide-mouth smoothie straws into your cake first, then place your sugar flower ‘stems’ (the floral wire part) into the smoothie straw.
Minimize the Movement of the Sugar Flowers
Once you’ve placed your sugar flowers in the cake, try not to move them around too much. Adjusting them can smudge the buttercream and create a messy appearance. This is especially important if you’re going for a smooth buttercream look. If you’re using a more rustic or textured buttercream, a little messiness can blend right in. (But you still don’t need to push your luck!)
Plan Your Floral Design in Advance
Know Your Buttercream Finish, Floral Options, and Color Palette First
Is your cake’s finish going to be completely smooth? Rustic or textured? Covered in piping? Bright, bold colors? Naturally off-white in color? These are all things to keep in mind before placing your flowers on your cake.
If your buttercream is completely smooth, it’s extra important to make sure you don’t make any stray marks or holes in the cake. If you are using piping or a textured finish, then you have a little more wiggle room since you can cover up any oops moments with a shell border here or a rosette there.
Arrange Your Sugar Flower Design Beforehand
Before attaching the sugar flowers to the cake, take a moment to lay them all out on your work table. Play around with the arrangement until you’re happy with the overall look. This planning step can save you a lot of frustration later on. If you’re also using leaves or filler flowers, consider creating little bouquets first, so you can insert them all at once for a cohesive look and minimal cake-poking.
Work Your Flowers in Layers
Whenever I’m arranging sugar flowers on a cake, I always start with the largest sugar flowers first and then finish with the smaller flowers and greenery. Layering different sizes of flowers adds a little more depth and dimension to the cake.
Once your centerpiece flowers are in place, fill in any gaps with your small filler flowers and greenery. You definitely don’t need this step but it can take your cake to the next level.
Be Gentle with Wired Petals
If your sugar flowers have individually wired petals, you can adjust them to hide gaps (or smudged buttercream). Especially if you don’t have additional filler flowers or leaves, this is a really simple way to hide an oops. Just make sure you’re not moving the petals around too much so you don’t mess up the buttercream, or smudge the color on the flowers.
Remember: sugar flowers don’t like moisture and if they come into too much contact with the buttercream, the moisture from the icing can cause the sugar flowers to become less durable.
Tips for Keeping Your Cake Looking Beautiful for Longer
Storage of your Buttercream + Sugar Flower Cake
Keep your cake in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight. Sunlight can cause the colors of your sugar flowers to fade over time, so be mindful of where you store it. (Blue and purple food coloring especially seem susceptible to fading.) And heat can cause not only your buttercream to melt and your cake to settle, but it can also cause your sugar flowers to ‘wilt’ or bleed colors. Definitely not the look you’re going for!
Transportation of your Buttercream Cake (with or without flowers)
If you need to transport your cake, consider whether or not you’ll put the flowers on the cake at the venue, or in your kitchen.
If you have a lot of sugar flowers on your cake, consider placing them on the cake once you arrive at the venue, instead of before the travel.
Make sure you have a “first aid kit” with you with extra buttercream, piping bags, spatulas, etc. in case you need to make any last minute fixes to your cake at the venue!
This blog post over at Sugar Geek Show does a great job explaining the fundamentals of cake travel!
Timing Of the Cake Decorations
In an ideal world, you’d want to add your sugar flowers as close to serving time as possible. Sugar flowers are super durable, but placing them on the cake last-minute ensures they look perfect (and the cake stays stable) when your cake is finally unveiled.
And by last minute, I don’t mean you have to wait until you get to the venue! If your work flow means that you put flowers on your cakes the day before delivery, and you know your fridge isn’t too humid, then that’s still great timing! Last minute doesn’t have to mean literally as the clock is ticking down to midnight, I promise!
Read this next
Did you know that sugar flowers can last for months if stored properly? You can even save them as keepsakes from your event!
To remove sugar flowers from a buttercream cake, gently wipe off any excess icing with a dry paper towel or one slightly dampened with high ABV grain alcohol.
Allow the flowers to dry completely before storing them with desiccant packets to remove moisture.
Read this next
Let’s Make Your Cake a Floral Masterpiece
I hope these tips help you feel confident about making a beautifully decorating buttercream cake!
I have definitely had my fair share of cake disasters with both buttercream and sugar flowers (together and separately lol) over the last almost 20 years of cake decorating so I hope you can learn from my mistakes and my experience.
And if you still have questions about sugar flowers or buttercream cakes or maybe something tangentially related, reach out and I’d love to chat with you about it!
I love working directly with cake decorators, bakery owners, and wedding pros, so if you’re intereted in collaborating or becoming design partners, reach out!
I also work directly with brides, grooms, and anyone who loves a good floral design for their cake! You can fill out my inquiry form about my availability, or jump right into shopping for pre-designed sugar flowers that are delievered around your schedule.
