I tried the wax paper method of sealing the ribbon between two sheets of wax paper and ironing the wax onto the ribbon. When I attached the ribbon to the buttercream it started to soak up the grease. I had to remove it and coat it with shortening to make the ribbon even colored. The shortening caused the ribbon to darken in color. Is there any sure method of sealing ribbon so it doesn't soak up grease? TIA

What about applying contact paper to the back of the ribbon? I'm not sure if contact paper is "food-safe" though. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.

Cut a strip of freezer paper the size of your ribbon, iron the shiny side down on your ribbon. It will stick and create a food-safe barrier. I tried this once and it worked really well.

Do you iron directly on top of the freezer paper? Thanks

Yep, I did. I guess I was just too lazy to get a towel or something but it worked just fine. HTH.

I simply cut a strip of acetate same size as ribbon, place that on cake and wrap ribbon around that. It never lets grease soak through, and it's easy for server to remove when cutting, they never seem to mind and it doesn't show.

I need both sides to be grease resistant. I have to put buttercream borders on the cakes. I'll try the freezer paper technique and cross my fingers that it works. Thanks

I use ribbon all the time. I just let it completly soak. After 24 hours, you can't see any grease marks. It does, however, turn the original color darker, so you have to be prepared for that. I just did a cake today (Hydrangea) and it had purple ribbon. It completly got soaked...but completely, so you couldn't tell one bit. Just made the ribbon a darker purple.

I use sticky tape on the inner side. It seals it so the buttercream can't get in.

I like the freezer paper trick! And Ddaigle, I didn't quite understand what you let the ribbon soak in? Could you explain more? That sounds easy too! Thanks!

I cut strips of rice paper and apply it to the buttercream (I use SMBC so it doesn't crust). The rice paper slightly melts into the buttercream but leaves a layer to put ribbon/flowers onto it. Another trick I heard but have not tried is to paint a thin coat of piping gel over a refrigerated cake where you want to put the ribbon and it'll stick and not bleed.

Sorry to sound a bit silly. BUT. What is freezer paper? Coming from Australia I'm not sure if we have it but called a different name. Is it greeseproof paper?

Sweekcakes....when I put my ribbon on, I can see the grease marks starting to show. I just keep on decorating. Eventually, the entire ribbon was soaked consistantly through. It made my purple (or whateve color) darker, but I know that going in. I work at a bakery where we do hundreds of ribbon wrapped cakes and we do no extra steps. Just wrap the cake.