Hello all! I just got my first wedding cake order (!!) and the bride wants a cake with ribbon around each tier. I was wondering if I should use fondant or an actual ribbon. The ribbon seems easier because you can get the right color right off the bat and it wouldn't stretch when applying it, but what do you think?

Congrats on your first cake order! I have done both, ribbon is easier than fondant, but it all depends on the look she wants. If you go with real ribbon, they would just need to know ahead that it will be real and they will have to remove it. It can be attached to the cake with a dot of buttercream or royal icing.

A fondant band will of course be thicker than ribbon, and it can be kind of fussy to put on. Something that could be a factor is if there are other decorations on the cake that should be the same color as the ribbon. Color matching can be a challenge. HTH!

Absolutely, you can use real ribbon. A trick that I use, to keep everything food safe, is to cut wax paper the same width/length as your ribbon, wrap that around the cake first then attach the real ribbon with a dot of buttercream at the start/end spot. This does more than just keep it food safe, it also keeps the real ribbon away from the buttercream and no grease spots form. You can hide the "join" part in the back of the cake or under a flower. Fondant ribbon is great if you want the entire cake edible..real ribbon must be removed before cutting and some people don't want to go to that hassle. BUT getting the color to match perfectly is a challenge. If you are going to do that then make sure to go just a shade or two lighter when coloring and then let the ball of colored fondant sit for a couple days to let the color develop otherwise it will get too dark on you and not match.

HTH Cat

Lucks food decorating company had Edible Shimmer Ribbons. Check out their website www dot lucks dot com