This cake was based on one that the bride found online, but she wanted to add a few things to it.
I put the abstract fabric effect from the wedding dress skirt on the middle tier by using strips of fondant.
This was done on buttercream, which is what 99% of my clients ask for.
Ice the cake and smooth it out, then cut some strips of fondant about 1/4″-1/2″ wide. It doesn’t need to be precise.
Coil up one of the strips and insert it into the cake where you want the center of the pattern to be.
If you want to do something totally symmetrical just coil the stip around the center, pressing the edge of the strip into the icing as you go.
If you want to be more freeform, just wind the strip around cornelli lace-style.
When you’ve covered the entire tier, go back and fill in any spots that look like they could use an extra piece.
You want the pieces to be relatively close together to mimic the fabric strips that are sewn on to make the floral patterns.
Press the pieces into the icing with a fondant smoother to make sure that everything is in place and secure.
If the fondant strips are really soft this can smash them, so make sure that they’re either fairly stiff, or that you give them some time to dry out before you press them in.
If you’re working on fondant you can do a similar design but you’ll just attach the strips to the surface of the cake the same way I did with the ruched fondant cake.
