Wedding cakes with bows and ribbons are always pretty, and whether you use the bow on top or on the sides of the tiers, it will be a pretty and elegant touch to the cake design. And if you make the bows and ribbons out of fondant, that will let the person who cuts the cake cut right through everything without having to remove the decorations.
This article includes affiliate links that will pay a commission if they’re used to purchase something. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Purple fondant bows with gumpaste brooches.
This four-tiered wedding cake had purple fondant bows with ribbon tails and gumpaste brooches in the center of the bows. The fondant ribbons that were wrapped around the base of each tier were wrinkled slightly to make them look like real fabric.
Green wedding cake with pink bows.
This 3-tier, offset square wedding cake was a pale green color and had pink fondant ribbons and bows on the tiers.
When you do an offset square cake, you need to make sure that there’s a decent amount of size difference between the tiers because if you turn the tiers too much the corners will hang over the size of the ones under it, and it will look dumb. If you want a full 45-degree turn, you should make sure that the tiers are sized to do that without overlapping.
Square offset tiers with chocolate bows.
This was another offset square buttercream cake with pale delphinium blue icing and chocolate ribbons. The loopy bow topper on the top was chocolate and made by making lops, drying them, then bunding them together.
Fondant bows can be made a few ways, but the basic method is to make loops, let them dry, then attach them together to form the bow shape.
Wedding cake with ivory fondant bows.
To make the bow-tie style bows on the sides of the cake, you make the two loops, let them dry, then assemble them with a piece of fondant for the center ribbon. You put the fondant ribbons on the cake, then put the loops on top of them to make it look like it’s all attached.
Chocolate truffle cake with chocolate ribbons.
This cake was iced with chocolate truffle filling and decorated with chocolate loopy bows and fans. When you whip chocolate ganache it lightens up and you can pipe it, but it melts really fast so you have to work fast. This kind of icing is NOT good for hot weather!
Blue piped wedding cake with loopy bows.
This is another cake with the delphinium blue icing. It’s a really pretty blue color that has a pastel tone to it. I used basic Wilton delphinium blue food color for this.
Wedding cake with thin gold and pearl ribbons.
This ribbon cake had loopy gumpaste bows with metallic luster dust brushed on them to give them gold and pearl sheens. The bottom tier was a double-barrel 8″ tall, and the two top tiers were shorter.
Crooked cake with pale pink bows and ribbons.
This cake was both topsy-turvy and had a carved edge on the bottom tier to give it a rippled look. It had bow-tie bows on the tiers and piped designs on the sides of the tiers.
Thin black ribbons and fondant pearls wedding cake.
This cake had a real satin ribbon wrapped around the tiers and small bows on the front. The trick to using real ribbon on a buttercream cake is to rub it with Crisco to start with to coat it with the grease evenly. That will darken it, but it will also prevent it from absorbing oil from the icing and developing dark spots.
After that, you can pipe a thin line of icing around the center of the cake and press the ribbon onto it.
Silver and white wedding cake with pillars and fondant rope borders.
This white and silver cake had gumpaste callas with silver centers and white ropes of fondant wrapped around the tiers. I made the rope ribbons and bows using gumpaste that was supported inside with wire and dried into that shape.
Purple bow wedding cake with ruffles and orchids.
This cake had a large gumpaste bow with ribbon tails on the front, and fondant ruffles on two of the tiers. The top tier had a bunch of purple orchids stacked in a tall arrangement.
Piped lace cake with blue bands and ribbons.
This tall buttercream wedding cake has lace piped all over the surface and blue chocolate ribbons. The multi-loop bows had silver gumpaste brooches in the centers.
Buttercream cake with gold fondant ribbons and gumpaste callas.
This 4-tier wedding cake had fondant ribbons brushed with gold and flat bows in different places on the cake.
One thing that you can do the match the color of the bow loops, which have to be made ahead of time to dry, with the ribbons, is to make them from the same color of fondant with some tylose to make a quick gumpaste. Brush the ribbons that go around the cake with the luster dust before putting them on the cake.
Square wedding cake with pink ribbons and bows.
This square tiered wedding cake has piped buttercream and pearls, with pink fondant ribbons and bows. The top tier has fondant ribbons draping over the edge of the tier. This is a crafty way to hide the corners, too, so they don’t have to be super-perfect.
Four-tier wedding cake with orange and pink bows and flowers.
This cake had double-layered pink and orange candy clay bows and ribbon borders around the tiers. The tiers that didn’t have the ribbons were covered with tiny white fondant flowers with pink and orange flowers scattered in.
Buttercream wedding cake with pink bow topper and ribbons.
This pretty buttercream cake had fondant pearls and piped flowers on the tiers, with peachy-pink ribbons and bows on the top and sides.
Burgundy bows and ribbons wedding cake.
This cake had alternating round and square tiers with burgundy decorations and gumpaste flowers. The bows were made from fondant and were brushed with burgundy petal dust from Crystal Colors. Those dusts are approved food coloring and give you a REALLY good coverage and deep color.
