Any tips from you pro on ironing waxed paper to the back side of ribbon to be placed around cakes? I know anyone here would know more about this than me, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Wanda

I've never tried ironing it... I have tried using wax paper behind the ribbon, and even contact paper... didn't work. Found it difficult to work w/ and more of a hassle than anything. If there's any part of the ribbon that comes in contact w/ the buttercream, it will leave grease spots - and looked worse! I use ribbon all the time, and just put the ribbon on the cake (after buttercream crusts). Grease will soak through, but it soaks the whole ribbon, and at least is uniform! (Consider this when selecting ribbon color, go for a shade lighter, it will darken).

glad someone else asked this as I am curious myself. Have a wedding cake due on saturday, my buttercream dream recipe does not normally crust very well, this time I am going to use sweetex to see if that helps, but I still have a two hour car ride in 90+ weather as well. I won't get the ribbon until I am actually at the reception and I'm worried that my cake will have started to sweat by then and the colors of the ribbon will bleed onto my cake (ivory icing, dark red ribbon) what should I do??

anyone?

If you iron, just face the ribbon to the wax part of the paper.

Personally, it's just as easy to use double-sided tape to attach the wax paper and trim it.

I just used a strip of clear paking tape on the back of the ribbon- worked great and then I trimmed the excess- hope this helps

I am very new to all this. So you might laugh at my idea. Why don't you roll a thin layer of MMF or regular fondant of the size of the ribbon and cover the cake where ribbon goes on. Your ribbon will not absorb grease from buttercream and your butter cream will not bleed with ribbon color.

valli_war, that is not a bad idea, but I can't make mmf to save my life and I would hate to waste money buying fondant just to go around the border of the cake. Marcimang, did you have any problems getting the ribbon to smooth evenly with the tape on the back? Is the tape food safe?

I find that the best solution for me is to iron the ribbon between two strips of wax paper so that the wax sticks to the ribbon. The wax paper does not stay on the ribbon. This protects the ribbon from the grease stains. If you are not getting the ribbon until you get to the reception site, then just hold the ribbon tight between the folded wax paper and pull it through it a couple of times. This, too, will put wax on the ribbon and protect it. And, as always, make sure that the ribbon does not have wire in it. If it does, pull that sucker out!

Good luck.

I posted on this a couple days ago - all you do is take your ribbon and place waxed paper - waxed side down on the back of the ribbon then iron over it - it will transfer the wax to to ribbon. The heat I set the iron on was the heat setting for what the ribbon was made out of.

Hope this helps!
Debbie

I just did a cake last weekend that was IMBC with pink satin bow pinned on. I used double sided tape to stick on the waxed paper but I was considering spraying the entire ribbon and bow with Pam just to be sure the grease soak was even and not spotty as the whole ribbon and bow would not be touching the cake.

I placed the tape on the ribbon, then placed the waxed paper on top and trimmed to the size of the ribbon.

If you are going to iron it here are 3 tips
-be sure it's not a synthetic ribbon, it will melt
-be sure you put something between the waxed paper and your iron
-turn off the steam

thanks you guys, this is all very helpful information for me as I have never had to worry about this before. I have heard other people use pam to spray their ribbon as well, but doesn't that affect the taste of the buttercream it sit's next to? It sounds like wax paper is the way to go, just not sure if I should take my iron and do all the work up there, or take double sided tape up there with me ....

Will mmf fondant leak grease onto a ribbon?

I can't really answer that question for you myself as I have never been able to conquer mmf. But I do know that a lot of people use crisco like crazy to keep it from sticking to everything, which of course, would have the same effect as buttercream I think. But someone else can probably answer you better!

I don't iron my wax paper to the ribbon; when I tried that, it didn't stick...so I just wrap the cake with the waxed paper, tape it to itself to hold it, then wrap with the ribbon. Make sure the wax paper isn't bigger or too much narrower than the ribbon...

OR, if the ribbon will look OK, I'll just rub crisco on my fingers and run the whole length of ribbon through my fingers to pre-grease it, so it's evenly stained, but I usually don't like the way ribbon looks when I do this.

OR you can do a strip of fondant instead of ribbon.

How do you stick the ribbon onto your cake? I don't think you can pin it on - not food safe? TIA

a dab of frosting holds the ribbon together ... I am nervous about the bleeding colors ..

Yeah, I haven't tried the wax paper thing, but then again, I only use fondant. I, too would be worried about grease spots....the best idea may be to just try ironing it and see what happens.

I guess it can't hurt ..... right??