Putting fondant drapes on a cake so that the fondant looks like fabric is actually pretty simple if you use this easy fondant drape technique.
Swags and fondant drape cake designs can be formal and elegant or messy and casual, and you can see some drape wedding cakes here.
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Making the folded fondant into swags is done by using wooden dowels to form even ridges on a piece of fondant. Using dowels takes care of the hard part, which is getting the folds on the fondant even.
Of course, you can just fold the fondant over to make the swags, and have them be more irregular, like the way that most fabric hangs naturally.
But for a more formal look, using dowels can give you the more regular structure that you want.
Here’s a video to show you how to do it, or you can just read the description below:
Roll out a piece of fondant the length of the swag that you want.
I used a pasta roller to the fourth thickness for this one.
You can add a little tylose to the fondant to make it firmer if you have trouble rolling it out without ripping it, or use a 50/50 gumpaste/fondant mixture.
You can also use a mix of fondant and candy clay. That mix works really well for draping fondant like fabric because it gives the fondant some stretch and makes it pliable.
Put three or four dowels on the counter about 1 to 1.5″ apart.
Put the flat piece of fondant on the dowels and press it gently so that the fondant lies flat between them.
Trim the edges of the fondant to be flat. I used a pizza roller for this kind of thing since the rolling blade won’t stretch the fondant.
Push the dowels closer together to create deeper creases in the fondant.
Get the cake ready to place the drape on it, either by adding some water or sugar glue to the fondant surface, or by piping some buttercream on a buttercream cake in the position the drape will be.
If you’re doing this on buttercream it helps to have it cold so that the icing is firm when you place the drapes on it.
Pick the fondant up off of the dowels, starting by pinching the folds at one end and holding the folds gently together to keep the shape of the ridges as you lift it.
Place the drape on the cake and arrange the folds so that they fall evenly on the cake.
If you want to make a drape that looks fuller, add another piece of draping next to the first one.
This cake had two sections on each drape to give each piece a fuller look.
