I have a bride wanting this gold border on the bottom of each tier of her wedding cake.  Is this done with edible pearls or dragees??  This seems so labor intensive.  Does anyone know how to do this besides placing pearls on one by one?

I guess I should also mention the cake will be covered in buttercream, not fondant

Could you press onto buttercream before it crusts or use non crusting?  Do it over a pan to catch the loose ones? Then maybe just fill in by hand the areas that need "touch ups."  I've seen this answered before on this site, just not sure if it was on fondant or buttercream.  I did it on fondant and did it by hand:/

AIt looks like it's a mix of both. And they are applied by hand more than likely. Very time consuming

I've seen how to do it on fondant, but not on buttercream.  On fondant you just apply royal icing on the fondant then press the pearls onto that.  I don't see how I can do it on buttercream without it being super time consuming....I'm just hoping someone has a miracle tip for me.  I just see this being super time consuming....

Thanks for the replies so far...so far it sounds like there will be A LOT of time spent placing these on the cakes....

AMaybe you could cut a piece of parchment paper the length of the circumference of the cake. Next cut a wave pattern along the length of one side. Then attach the parchment paper to the tier with the waves on the bottom, leaving the buttercream exposed on the bottom half of the tier. Apple the dragees by grabbing a handful and pressing them on to to cake with your palm. Finally, remove the parchment paper and touch up the edges?

I'm a beginner but that's what I probably would have tried.

A*apply not Apple

And my guess would be to use a crusting BC so you could easily smooth the top half of the tier after removing the parchment paper

AI think it may be possible to cut a strip of fondant- size and shaped needed- apply dragees etc while laying flat on work surfice and then apply the decorated fondant stip around the tier-- thats what I would try-

I agree with MaurorLess67 , that would be a way of doing it. Marina sousa has a class on craftsy where she uses that method but it is on fondant.

http://www.craftsy.com/class/jeweled-wedding-cakes/141?_ct=sbqii-jxucu-byij-ycw&_ctp=5&_egg=sekhiu_wqbbuho_20131031&_ege=141

Wow!  Thanks for all of the great tips!!  The parchment is a great idea!

Also, I don't know why I didn't think of the fondant strip idea!  That seems obvious now!  Sometimes you just need someone else's perspective to look at an issue!  Thanks everyone!

A

i think that's a good idea to try

yes, I think being able to remove the fondant "ribbon" would be a big plus!  I'm going to try this out and see how it goes!

Hannahsmomi, I might have misunderstood your reply. You don,t remove fondant ribbon. You will apply the fondant ribbon, with the dragees glued to it , to the cake Just pick up a handful of dragees and apply how you need them, etc. . Mix a little g/p with the fondant or add little tylose to fondant. let set up for a little while. Roll, thin, cut out pattern you need like the cake. and use piping gel or b/c to fondant ribbon on back and carefully put around cake. That's how  marina  souse did it on the fondant cake. again , maybe I misunderstood you.

this is a pic of the cake of marina's cake with the silver ribbon with the pearls attached. hope the link works. it is on youtube, advertiing the class.

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AiFX3fTARar3vOflvUtuNZybvZx4?p=how+to+make+a+fondant+ribbon+covered+with+edible+pearls&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-745

icer1010...thanks for your detailed description of what I should do!  It's very helpful.  When I was talking about removing the ribbon,  I was referring to when the cake is cut (so people don't eat mouthfuls of pearls/dragees)  I love this board!  I always get super help here!  Thanks everyone!!