Question:

The last couple of times that I put a rope border on the top of a cake, part of it has fallen off. Luckily, it only did minor damage to the cake, but i hate that it happens. Can you tell me your tried and trues for making the rope border stay where you put it?

TIA
christy

fondant or BC?

If using fondant just paint a little water on the cake to stick it to, I find that works as well as anything.

I have used royal icing, melted candy melts and water to attach rope borders to fondant. All three worked, but the royal icing and the melted candy melts worked better for me.

For buttercream icings, I use the same buttercream I am icing with to attach the rope borders.

Hope that helps!

Ack!! I should have remembered to say it was buttercream. Traditional Wilton Recipe buttercream. Same as I iced the cake with.

based on the examples in your photos, I'd suggest that you're using a tip that is too big to make a good rope. I love making a rope border ... here's a couple of pics with top rope borders to give you an idea of size that I use:

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/750403
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/322993

Try a smaller tip, make sure the rope is on top of the cake (not on the side) and I think you'll have better luck.

Thank you IndyDebi, I was using a 32 I think. I'll try with a small one the next time. Do you have the number of the tip that you prefer to use?

Christy

I knew you'd ask! All of my stuff is in storage. I did look in my kitchen drawer, before I posted, to see if maybe I had that one in there, but no ... I was a good girl and put them all away! Looking at the wilton online store, I'm going guess about an 18.

I normally use a tip 21 and you should try to make sure the rope is on the top squarely, not off on the side. Hope this helps and BTW I love tip 32 for shells.
evelyn

Thanks. I bought a 27 I think it was, anyways for drop flowers and I'm going to straighten the points and try again.

I LOVE the rope border and that's about the only one I'll use. I'm not that good with shell borders! I know they are supposed to be the easiest to do - but not in my case! lol

Anyway, by looking at your Easter basket cake, it looks like the icing is a little too thin. Also, it needs to be more on top of the cake vs the side of it. I have used 21 before, but mainly for the bottom border and I really like the smaller star tips for the top of the cake, I think the smaller sizes (like 16 or 18 ) look better on the top.

Try alternating colors with it! GORGEOUS!! I made a Dr. Seuss cake one time that has a green/purple rope border - I did 3 green "swipes" and then with 3 purple. Looks SOO good!
Make sure they are the same size tip.

When putting the rope border on top edge of a basket weaved cake you want to make sure you are putting the border on the cake, and not just on top of the basket weave. Because the rope border can get heavy and the basket weave is only attacked the the cake in places it can weigh it all down and fall off.

When doing the rope be sure that you are piping it on top of the edge of the actual cake, not just on the icing on the side.