I have a wedding cake due in May. The bride wants cloth ribbon on buttercream, will the oils from the buttercream seep into the ribbon and how do I prevent this? Any help is appreciated. By the way it is a square cake. Any suggestions about applying the ribbon? Thanks everyone.
I'd like to know as well. I use fondant "ribbon" to avoid this very question.
I take the ribbon and cut to the needed size, then I rub shortening all over the cut ribbon( oh, cut it long enough to overlap in the back a couple of inches)both sides completely and then wipe the ribbon as clean as you can with paper towels. This will keep grease spots from coming through.
The color will be a little darker but it works fine. then just wrap around the cake going to the back, overlap the ends and hold them in place with a little buttercream. I do this all the time and it makes the cakes look great.
Take your ribbon and wax paper. With an iron on low place a thin towel over the ribbon with the wax paper(wax side on the ribbon) and run the iron over the ribbon to transfer the wax onto the side of the ribbon that is going to touch the cake.
You will have to play around with the iron to make sure it is warm enough THe first time I did the I forgot the towel...... and the wax paper stuck to the iron.
Lesson learned! LOL.
you might have to test it out as ribbons are different just to see.
THANKS FOR THE TIPS!!
gigiofknb: thanks for asking!!
I have to put ribbon on a wedding cake next week and these tips will come in very handy!
Sandeeb: won't this method (crisco rub) make the ribbon much darker? (I went to great lengths to find just the right shade of ribbon for this cake and don't want the application of it to ruin it
goodiegoddess: does the wax paper method change to color any??
I use Crisco on my ribbon too. It does make it a little darker though. Just test a small piece to see how much difference it will be. I would rather have the darker ribbon than a spotted ribbon with dark spots where the buttercream spotted it.
Press n Seal works too. At the bakery I worked for we used the 2 sided tape and wax paper attachment. You could also run some strips of Press n Seal or wax paper around the cake and then put your ribbon on. Just make sure your ribbon is secured tightly at the ends.
I had a wedding cake in January that was buttercream with a navy blue satin ribbon and rhinestone buckles. I used packing tape on the back of my ribbon...I just rolled it out, put the sticky side down on the ribbon & trimmed off the excess. It worked like a charm & was so QUICK and EASY to do...no grease bleed through whatsoever. I used a little buttercream on the sealed side of the ribbon to act like "glue" against the cake & it didn't move. 
I just let the buttercream suck the grease. Just dont use Satin ribbon if you do this. It gets too greasy.
If you have a perfect match in color, then yeah, cover it with either wax paper or packing tape. It will
get darker when the grease hits it. You can test it too before putting it in the cake by putting some
buttercream on the ribbon and see how it will react.
Edna
I encase mine in clear contact paper...works perfectly and no seeping
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%