I am trying to do a cake with ribbon wrapped uneven around the cake like this one..

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1711080.html

I thought it would be easy but I can't seem to make the ribbon lay flat in some places....anyone know how to do this?

Try coating the ribbon with shortening. That should make it less fly-away and help it to stick to the cake.

thanks diane...but I have already done that.

is it covered in fondant? Can you brush the ribbon with gum glue and guide it with your finger a little bit at a time to give it time to stick?

How wide is your ribbon? If it's very wide it willnever lay flat.

I think if you put the ribbon at too much of an angle, it will naturally pucker in some areas and not lay flat. maybe gradually loop your ribbon at a low angle? Does that even make sense? haha. I just did a ribbon wedding cake yesterday and i was having the same issue. I finally had to put my OCD a side and aim to have the 'not flat' parts at the back so you could only see the smooth flat parts in the front. HTH

no it is buttercream...yes sweetheart you are right...it's like a natural thing with the angle. The only issue with the front/back is she wants the cake in the center of the room...LOL I just might tell her she is gonna need to move the table to the corner

Can you do each wrap around the cake individually? I don't know if that's what you're doing, but your right, it looks like it should be simple, and yet I have no doubt it's not.

I was just going to suggest something similar, cownsj. Cut the ribbon in pieces so you don't have to make any drastic angle changes with one long piece.

You can overlap slightly and use a dress pin to hold the pieces together while you're wrapping. Then, remove all the pins.

Could you do it in fondant?

I am a noob cake person, but I sew so I know ribbon. Straight grain ribbon will not curve smoothly because the outer edge of the curve can't stretch and the inner edge can't compress. So you get bends and puckers.

Cutting it in to shorter lengths could work (heat seal the ends by holding them above a flame for a few seconds) or you could use something else, fondant maybe?

Could you slit it a little where the slack / crease is and let it slightly over lap eachother and maybe glue it down lightly with bc ? dunno!