Good morning everyone!

We were shocked and very much surprised to find out that we're expecting our 6th child! I'm due July 10th, and we're going to find the gender of our baby on Feb 4th. It's coming up fast! Anyway, I want to make my own gender cake to surprise our children and other family with. The outside of the cake will be somewhat nuetral. But, the inside will be tinted either pink or blue to reveal whether our baby is a boy or a girl when it's cut!

So, after that longwinded explanation, here's my dilemma. I've designed my cake. It'll be small..maybe 8" round. I want wrap a fondant ribbon around the cake and have it look like it's tied in a bow on the front. I'd like it about 1/2 to 3/4 down the cake...so not sitting on the board. (I've added a link to give you an idea. .) I've never done this and am always amazed at how those bows seem to stay where they belong. How is it done? Is it ok to just use fondant? should I use a 50/50 fondant-gumpaste mix? I hope I'm making sense...my pregnancy brain gets the best of me sometimes. Thanks for any help!!

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1462995
The bow in this cake is a bit bigger and wider than I want...and I don't want the tails on the bow. Otherwise you get the idea.

OH...I should mention that my cake will be covered in bc...not fondant. Can I still do the bow?

Here's a link to one that I did. Bow not resting on the edge of the cake. My cake was fondant covered though...

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1554390

Anyway, I attached mine with some royal icing, and it looked beautiful. Then about an hour later...it fell off. Don't know if it was too heavy (fondant with tylose) or what. But if there's a secret to getting these to stay up there, I wanna know too!

Your cake is adorable!! I'm sorry the bow fell off though. Grr! I could use fabric ribbon...but I really wanted to try this technique. And...considering it's a cake for me, I figure if I screw up at least I'm not disappointing anyone but myself.

First off, congratulatins on baby!

I've only made bows on the bottom borders, but I have done other "heavy" fondant objects higher up on the cake (just did a buttercream toilet cake with a fondant "flusher"). What I would say is to push a few toothpicks in the center of the bow and adhere it with icing as well - for double security.

I've done them on both fondant and bc covered cake.

The trick I've found to them not falling off is to make the bow as light as possible, which means rolling the gumpaste/fondant as thin as you can when making the bow and letting it dry completely so no more moisture is in it.

The when I attach it to the fondant ribbon I use a little bit of tylose glue (water and tylose powder) and a toothpick for extra security.

I push the tooth pick through the bow and into the cake. I put the tooth pick kind of behind the center part of the bow so it is not visible.

I've attached them without the toothpick and they stayed fine but I like the toothpick because I know for sure it's not going anywhere.

And a trick to getting the ribbon on is to cut the fondant and then roll the ribbon on to your rolling pin (I use a small plastic one for fondant) and then unroll in on to the cake.
By rolling it onto the rolling pin first it allows you to hold the rolling pin and not the fondant and avoid stretching or smushing the ribbon.
Here are a few examples, HTH.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1540668
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1474965
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1313139

I also have a question about this cake seen as tho its showed here and ive always wondered!! -

The pattened lines that are imprinted onto the sides with the silver balls in each corner - are they done free hand as I would like to do this sort of thing but worried the spacing will come out all wonky, does anyone understand what i mean lol??

Thanks

Thanks so much for the helpful tips!! Toothpicks! Why didn't I think of that? How far in advance would you recommend making the bow itself? Could I make it now..say about 3 weeks before I make the cake?

I make my bows at least a week ahead, and straight gumpaste. I want them bone dry. I also roll them as thin as possible.

BEST advice I have ever recived about putting ribbon on a BC cake: chill the tier well so you don't ding up the icing. I do this and barely have any ding marks or scrape marks from the ribbon. It is so much easier to work with cold cake.

The BIG cake in my pics was BC, and had a TON of fondant ribbon and GP bows, and GP plaques. All cold tiers when applying that stuff.

You could make it that far in advance,it will be dry and ready to go.
I've been making extra bows and such when I have the time and storing them in air tight tupperware containers for when I might need them down the road.
Saves time.


ikklejo- do you mean the quilted pattern on the side of a cake?
You can use a diamond or square cutter to make the pattern or a quilt impression mat, then you add the pearls/dots.
I've tried it free hand before with not so good results.

Thanks for the tip on the cold cake Jamie. I'll remmeber that when it comes time to do my cake.

Also..I'm assuming the ribbon part that's wrapped around the cake must be soft..not dried. When I put that on my bc cake, will it just stick on it's own, or will I need to use something as glue?

You all are so helpful! I only decorate as a hobby now and it's been a while since I did anything this involved. But...my baby inspires me.

I don't use a crusting BC, and it just sticks on it's own. Crusting-you probably need to wet the back of it. Or not, I don't know.

Yes cold cake is a must, can't believe I forgot that.
I chill all my cakes before and after I work on them, makes for less mess ups.
The ribbon should stick to the bc no problem but you can always use a little bit of water if you want, careful not to use too much though because the ribbon will just slide down the side of the cake, I learned this the hard way!
The fondant for the ribbon around the cake should be soft, and not gumpaste either, only the bow should be gumpaste or fondant mixed with tylose or a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and fondant.
Gumpaste will dry the fastest and hardest, but if you are going to make it 3 weeks in advance you could go with the fondant and tylose or 50/50.

Excellent! Thank you! I was considering trying SMBC for the first time w/ this cake. I usually use sugarshack's bc...which I love! But, I've been looking for an excuse to try SMBC. Does anyone have experience w/ this? I know it doesn't crust, so I'll have to use the hot spatula method for smoothing. As far as the fondant ribbon though...will it work just as well w/ the SMBC?

I like to use melted chocolate or candy melts as my "glue" to hold heavy items onto the sides of cakes. I place chocolate on several areas behind my bows so it help spread the distribution of the weight of the bow. It works with bc and fondant. It's not effected by heat or cold. When I used toothpicks if the cake was light it pulled right out from the weight of the bow.

I like the melted chocolate idea! I forgot to say in my original response...I had a toothpick in my bow too, and it fell off anyway.

I think the melted chocolate will work perfectly!

SMBC is all I ever use, whether or not I'm covering in fondant. I have used Sugarshack recipe one time in the dead of summer out of necessity, I was really pleased with it.

Hi Sorry for the dumm question but what is the recipe for Sugarshack?