Ribbon and Jewel Wedding Cake

This Wedding cake was designed to match the ribbons and jewels of the bride’s wedding dress.

It was a three tiered cake comprising fruit cake, chocolate cake and a dummy polystyrene tier

The first two tiers were covered in marzipan and ivory fondant, the top tier was covered in ivory fondant.

Next I made the pearly beads and glass type beads. I rolled the beads from various colours of fondant. Once they had hardened I brushed them with lustre dust. I wanted the glass type beads to look like stones in a setting.

First I rolled pea sized white balls. Then I pushed a round ended tool into the beads to create a cup shape. Next I coloured small amounts of clear piping gel and piped it into the cupped shape beads. I used piping gel because it would look like a glass stone.

Piping gel has a high shine and is excellent for creating effects like water or jewels. Have a look at the stained glass cake and volcano cake to see the effect piping gel creates.

I left the beads to harden for a couple of days. Piping gel does not ever completely dry out but it does firm up.

Next I made the ribbons to go around the tiers. I cut out the ribbons using a ribbon cutter. This is a tool which has a spindle with removable wheels. Plastic spacers are fed onto the spindle between the wheels to get the desired ribbon size.

It is also possible to add serrated wheels to create the stitching effect along the edges of the ribbon. I cut out ribbons around two inches wide and then dusted them with pearl white lustre dust. I then secured the ribbons around the base of each tier.

I cut more lengths of ribbon to create wavy curls on each tier. I made bows for the top and bottom tiers and secured them with a little water brushed onto the fondant.

I wanted brooches in the centre of the bows and these were made of fondant. I cut oval shapes from rolled ivory fondant. I then rolled lumps of fondant into egg shaped balls about the size of a creme egg (yum). I cut these eggs in half and flattened them so that I could stick them onto the rolled oval shape. I dusted the egg part of the brooch and framed them with fondant beads, again dusted with lustre dust.

Now that the wavy curls of ribbon had hardened I could attach the jewels. I stuck them onto the ends of the ribbons and around the beads on the brooches using tiny blobs of piped royal icing.

I love the bright colours on the tips of the ribbons and the gathered ribbon on the cake board.