Hi there,

Does anyone know how the gathering at the bottom tier is done? I don't want it puffy like the pic, but just that gathered look. Anyone know a tutorial for it?

Thank you!

Michele

I've done a couple like this and I think they are so butt-ugly!

You don't need a tutorial for this if you just think it through. Why does everyone need a tutorial for everything these days?

It's not hard, but it is time-consuming!

I covered the cake with a thin layer of fondant and then made strips and glued the long sides to each other, and then glued the strips to the cake. You might have to play around with the length and width and thinness of the strips until you find what works for you.

Good luck.

I think it's cute. What I would do is roll my fondant thin, put it in the fridge to stiffen up, then fold it in half (lengthwise) and apply it. Time consuming but easy.

Taste is never objective!

Chilling the fondant is just an extra, unnecessary, time waster of a step. We just rolled, cut folded and glued and we were good to go!

Not as difficult as it looks. Measure the height of your cake and add 2" or 3" so it goes over the top and under as well. Cut strips about 6 or 7" wide and whatever you need for height. Lay some dowels down on your work surface, say 4 or 5. Lay your fondant over that and using some more dowels or your finger tips push the fondant down between the dowels. Pull the dowels out from underneath your strips and push the now pleated fondant together. Apply some piping gel or other sugar glue to your previously fondant covered cake and then apply your pleated strips to the cake. Make some more pleated pieces and apply in the same manner.

See page 69 of this:
http://www.decopac.com/resources/printmat/WeddDecoratorsGuide08.pdf
Then put the pleats vertically and sort of smoosh them to one side.
This might help:
http://www.wilton.com/technique/Fondant-Veil
Or this:
http://sugarteachers.blogspot.com/2010/05/pleated-fondant-technique-by-shirley.html
Hooray for tutorials!

You don't even need to cover the cake with fondant to begin with. Just put some fondant through a pasta roller to get it thin, cut it into strips, fold one side over so that the edge looks like folded fabric, and slap it on the cake.