Hi all i have a wedding cake coming up in a week and i want to use ribbon as the bands on the cakes 3 stacked the cake is off white with burgundy satin ribbon my thinking is that the BC will stain the ribbon so i put some icing on a scrap piece i had and it just turned it a little darker my questions is do you think it will fade on the cake/ it will be set up around 10am and the cutting of the cake will be around 3.00 what do you think or should i be safe and put parchment paper around it too??
Thanks to all for your help

When I put a ribbon around a buttercream cake I iron it in between two peices of wax paper first. This leaves a thin coating of wax on the ribbon and prevents the grease from soaking in. Maybe test it on a small peice of the ribbon your using first to make sure but I haven't had a problem using this method!

Good luck!

Emily

No problem! Glad I could help! Hope it works for you!

Question: how do you iron wax paper without gumming up your iron? I'm confused.

I've never had a problem using my iron on wax paper. When I was a kid we used to iron crayon shavings in between wax paper to make a melty design. The wax on the paper doesn't seam to come off on the iron.

I tear off two peices of wax paper, place the ribbon in between, and iron once the iron starts getting hot. I never wait for the iron to heat up all the way, I guess you could use a lower setting as well. Once I've ironed one side I flip it over and iron the other side. The two peices of wax paper stick together so you just peel them apart to get to your ribbon. If your worried about wax staying on the iron you could wipe it down once it cools but i've never had a problem.

Hope that helps!

Emily

Does it have to be satin ribbon? I use polyeurothane ribbon (craft dept - Walmart) on a good crusting buttercream and I never have spots, except that one place in the back where the two ends meet and are held together by one dot of icing.

Even when I'm doing the ribbon design where it's woven right into the icing, it's odd, but it doesnt' grease up the PolyU ribbon.

i have done buttercream cakes with ribbons many times, it has never stained.just try it on one tier before you stack the rest.

I had this problem last month when I did this cake.. I ironed the Wax Paper three times , front and back of the ribbon, the grease will still go thru a litle bit regardless, but better than a lot of stain or greas, also what I noticed it takes away some of the shine from the Satin Ribbon because of the wax..So I thought next time, i will put cellophane tape behind it.

I too have used ribbon on my crusting bc cakes and have had no real issues with spots. Try to find the PollyU ribbon indydebi is talking about. It should do the trick too.

Does Poly U Ribbon come in a wide variety of colors ? I had to used Satin Champagne which was the color of the wedding.

Well, I'm going to be odd woman out. I refuse to use anything other than edible ribbon, made from fondant, and dyed to match whatever needs to be matched.

i hae to agree with leahs, fondant edible ribbons are really easy and more less of a hassel then real ribbon