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YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
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YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR

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Fast Ed's garden herb, almond and rose petal cake

Fast Ed's garden herb, almond and rose petal cake

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Is this the prettiest $5 Woolies cake hack?

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This is the adorable Woolies cake hack you need to make for Australia Day

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4 celebration cakes for every occasion

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Ice your cake like a professional with this clever hack

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This is the $4.40 Coles cake hack that is breaking the internet

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Cake decorating ideas and tips

Cake decorating ideas and tips

Chai spiced walnut and treacle cake with baked plums

Chai spiced walnut and treacle cake with baked plums

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Mocha-choc cake with marshmallow top

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What is heavy cream in Australia?

Crepe layer cake with walnut jam

Crepe layer cake with walnut jam

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Black Forest Cake Roll

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White chocolate sweetheart cake

  1. Home
  2. Food

This cake decorating trend is more harmful than you think

Are you making a mistake? - by Rebecca Lowrey Boyd
  • 10 Apr 2018

One of the easiest – and prettiest – ways to take a cake to the next level is to adorn it with delicate edible flowers.

It’s one of the biggest trends in cake decorating right now, but you need to be careful before you DIY.

Cake with edible flowers
Getty

Some of the most beautiful blooms, like hydrangea, lily-of-the-valley and ranuculus, are extremely toxic.

And even edible flowers can be dangerous, especially if you don’t know where they’ve come from.

Unlike fruit and vegetables, which have an exclusion period for pesticides before they are harvested, flowers from the florist aren’t grown for human consumption, unless they’ve been specifically sourced from an edible flower grower.

If edible flowers have been sprayed with insecticides, it’s possible that the icing could be contaminated.

"If you're planning to put fresh flowers on a cake, and they're going to make contact with frosting that's going to be consumed, those flowers also need to be organically grown and not treated with any pesticides," Susan Reid, Food Editor of King Arthur Flour's Sift Magazine told The Kitchn.

One of the easiest ways to get (safe) edible flowers is to grow them yourself. The following flowers are available in edible form at Flower Power.

Daisy

Chamomile

Dahlia

Dianthus 

Lavender

Marigold 

Nasturtium

Pansies

Snapdragon 

Stock

Viola

After some more ideas? Take a look at these cake recipes featuring edible flowers:

Melt and mix honey cake 

Fast Ed's garden party honey cakes with frosting and flowers

Pineapple coconut cake slice

RELATED: So you've bought edible flowers - now what?

Rebecca Lowrey Boyd
Rebecca is the Digital Managing Editor of Better Homes and Gardens.

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YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
Watch 6:32

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR

{headline}

{headline}

Fast Ed's garden herb, almond and rose petal cake

Fast Ed's garden herb, almond and rose petal cake

Is this the prettiest $5 Woolies cake hack?

Is this the prettiest $5 Woolies cake hack?

Confetti cake

Confetti cake

This is the adorable Woolies cake hack you need to make for Australia Day

This is the adorable Woolies cake hack you need to make for Australia Day

{headline}

{headline}

4 celebration cakes for every occasion

4 celebration cakes for every occasion

Ice your cake like a professional with this clever hack

Ice your cake like a professional with this clever hack

This is the $4.40 Coles cake hack that is breaking the internet

This is the $4.40 Coles cake hack that is breaking the internet

{headline}

{headline}

Cake decorating ideas and tips

Cake decorating ideas and tips

Chai spiced walnut and treacle cake with baked plums

Chai spiced walnut and treacle cake with baked plums

Mocha-choc cake with marshmallow top

Mocha-choc cake with marshmallow top

What is heavy cream in Australia?

What is heavy cream in Australia?

Crepe layer cake with walnut jam

Crepe layer cake with walnut jam

Black Forest Cake Roll

Black Forest Cake Roll

White chocolate sweetheart cake

White chocolate sweetheart cake

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