Hi! I am brand new CC. I have a question and hopefully someone will be able to help me out I wanted to make cute little hairbows to put on cupcakes. I tried candy clay but when I roll it out and try to lift it, it just crumbles. So is there any "fool proof" product that I can use to roll out and cut then shape that won't have me scratching my head? I wanted to make them for my daughter's birthday party this weekend. TIA!!

Fondant?

I have never used fondant...is it easy to use? I am very new to cake decorating and so far have only been using buttercream for everything

You can also use colorful candies to make cute little things like that. I love using starburst squares, warmed up in the MW and kneaded a little until soft - then roll out and form as you would with fondant or gumpaste. The bright colors are great, especially if you only have to make a few quickly and want different colors - I've used big gumdrops as well and have made flowers from both types of candies, too.

It's very easy to use! I use it for everything - covering cakes, making decorations and lots of other stuff. If you're using it for the first time and the party is for Saturday, I'd suggest you buy a small tub of ready-made fondant in white, which you can then color to your heart's content. I'd also suggest you look at tutorials on the internet. Also, look into the materials you'll need - a really smooth rolling pin (the Wilton fondant roller is very good), a small spatula for lifting the bows, food colors, etc. Once you get into it, I think you'll really like it and will find more and more uses. Good luck with this!

Thank you everyone! I guess I'm gonna give premade fondant a try. It just makes me nervous. Hopefully it's not crumbly like I am thinking. Thank you guys again!

Fondant is just like rolling out Playdoh...But some ready made and play with it!!

I would go with gumpaste for bows. Even they can be made of fondant, its a bit more trickier
to do them in 100% fondant than if you use gumpaste. That's because fondant stretches easier than
the gumpaste.

Edna

Edna, of course, is right, as usual. You can also get ready-made gumpaste or a gumpaste powder that you only have to add water to. It dries harder and faster than fondant. But neither one of them are crumbly! In fact, I usually have to add some powdered sugar to my ready-made fondant to get it to the consistency I need, but I think this has more to do with the climate where I live than anything else. Just make sure to keep either one of them in an airtight container while you're working and take out only what you need at the moment. This includes putting any little leftovers from what you're cutting out back in the container as soon as you cut them. But seriously, you'll end up having fun with this!

I tried fondant 3 years ago for my son's first birthday party and it kept ripping and cracking on me so I guess that's why it scares me. But of course I didn't do any kind of research just lots of Ace of Cakes watching So I am definitely going with the gum paste mix. Is there anything in particular that I should know about that? Hopefully I can get the bows made and dried by Saturday morning.

If you want a nice, clear photo tutorial for doing this, here's one from Cake Journal:
http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-a-gum-paste-bow
If you're not familiar with what she calls tylo glue, it's a little bit of CMC (tylose) dissolved in water and it's good for sticking your pieces together. If you don't have CMC, another really good glue is made by dissolving a little gumpaste in water. Actually, when they're fresh, you can stick pieces of fondant and gumpaste to each other with just water, but it might be good to have more hold. Since the bows will be smaller than the one Louise is making in the tutorial, you could just rolled up pieces of Kleenex of paper towels to hold the bow's shape while it dries a bit. The bows don't have to be totally dry for you to put them on the cupcakes (fortunately, since it's now Friday!). Just pick them up with a spatula and place them on the cupcakes. leaving the shapers in place until you're ready to serve them. If one or two of them fall apart, you can always re-assemble them right on the cupcake with no problem (something I've done lots of times!). Hope everything turns out all right. Send us a photo when you're done! I'll be on here a couple of times today, so if you have any questions while you're working, just ask.

I have a recipe for tylose gumpaste in my website, but you can get the pre-made one from wilton.
Check my video tutorials in my website, there is one on how to make bows. Don't get the powder mix from wilton, its no good.
www.designmeacake.com
Hope this helps.

Edna

No, I never use the Wilton one, either, but the CK brand is good and easy to work with. ¡Edna! How is it possible I didn't think of your tutorial? So, so sorry.

Thank you guys so much! I really appreciate all of your help. I ended up buying Wilton I gum paste. I was worried about making it from scratch with not having much time. But next time I will definitely try to make it from scratch. It took me few time trying to make some bows to realize how thin I needed to roll the gum paste. But once I figured it out it wasn't too bad! The little ones don't look too much like bows..but I think everyone will get the point,hopefully, hahaha. I will post pictures of my finished cupcakes tomorrow. Thanks again

Great going, sweet_tooth_0710! I hope you had a good time exploring this new medium and that you like it enough to use it again. I know that's how I've learned most of what I do in decorating - along with the great feedback from all my friends here!

Here is a link that shows you guys how the bows turned out I was really happy with the big bow...but the little ones had lots of cracks! I don't know if its because they were too thick or what exactly it was. But they did look good on all the cupcakes! Thanks again

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2022982

ps... any constructive cristism is very welcome

Cracking happens when the fondant/gumpaste dries out before you form your shape. You want to make sure it is kneaded well, and is nice and smooth, then take out just enough for one bow, make that bow before moving onto the next one. When working with gp or fondant you always want to make sure to keep it wrapped well and airtight to keep it from drying out. Your stuff turned out great though, I loved the ideas of the oreo's for the ears, so clever!

What cute cupcakes and cake, sweet_tooth_0710! LOVE those ears!!! I'm with bakingkat on the ways to keep gumpaste from cracking. I also work a little shortening into mine to keep it from drying out so fast (1-2 tablespoons per pound of gumpaste, say), but basically the trick is to work with a little at a time and KEEP THE REST TIGHTLY COVERED. It's a bother to have to remember that when you're deep in the midst of being an artist, but it's the only thing that works. But your cake and cupcakes came out so well that I hope you'll want to experiment with more. Oh, yes, one other thing that helps is to use a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and fondant. It holds up well for almost everything (bows especially) and is easier to work with. Most people only use pure gumpaste for certain kinds of flowers and for pieces that have to stand up straight or bear weight. I've been using it for more things lately because of the humidity where I live - fondant will often not dry out in time for delivery.