It’s easier than you think!
A loopy fondant or gumpaste bow is an easy and impressive cake topper that works on birthday, wedding, or shower cakes!
We use marshmallow fondant for our bows. In our hot Texas climate with nearly year-round air conditioning, the loops usually dry overnight. If you have trouble getting your loops to dry, you can add some Gum-Tex to your fondant, or use a half-fondant, half-gumpaste mixture.
1. Roll a sheet of fondant about 8″ wide by 15″ long, approx. 1/8 inch thick. You don’t want it to be too thin, or the loops won’t be able to hold their shape when they dry.
2. Cut the sheet with a pizza roller, 6″ in width.
3. My bow loops will be 1″ wide. Use the ruler as a guide and cut with a pizza roller or fondant cutter. You can have as few as 12 bow loops or as many as 18, depending on the look you wish to achieve. This bow will have 14 loops, and I always make a couple of extras in case of breakage.
4. Dust the sheet of cut strips with a shimmer dust like pearl dust, or antique silk, which is what I’m using. The brush is a cosmetics brush that I only use for dusting cakes.
5. Pick up a single strip, and pinch together the ends (making sure your shimmer dusted side is facing OUT). If it doesn’t adhere by itself, you can use a little water at the joining point.
6. Pinch together ends.
7. On a large sheet of wax paper, carefully position the loop on its side for drying. Repeat for all loops.
8. Allow loops to dry, usually 1-2 days.
9. For the streamers, cut two 6″ strips the same width as for the bows. Dust with shimmer dust and cut a ‘V’ shape in the end with kitchen shears.
10. To achieve the look I want for these streamers, I place a piece of wax paper over an inverted cake pan, and arrange the streamer over the pan and flowing off the side. Make sure the streamer is completely on the wax paper. As you can see from the example at the beginning of this tutorial, there are many different ways to position the streamers.
11. Assembling the bow: Get a small plate like a bread or salad plate, and cover with a piece of wax paper about the same size. For your bow’s glue you can use royal icing or candy melts. If your bow is colored, tint your glue the same color as the bow. Place a small puddle of glue in the center of the wax paper.
12. The bottom layer of this bow will have 7 loops. Arrange them in a circle, turning some on their sides.
13. For the second layer, add another generous dollop of glue to the center.
14. For the top layer, stack another layer of loops on top, again turning some on their sides. Try to make the 2nd layer loop the “opposite” of the first layer loop. In other words, try not to stack two on their sides because it looks funny. Arrange in a circle. My second layer will have 6 loops.
15. For the top and center loop, apply your glue directly to the pointy side of the loop.
16. Arrange the top loop in the top gap, making sure you have good contact with the glue on the bottom.
17. Push it together. Sometimes, during the assembly process, the loops start to work their way outward. After I have assembled all the loops, I gently put both hands around the bow and press inward to make the bow formation tighter. This is done very gently. Stop pushing when the loops don’t move any more.
18. Let dry a few hours, or preferably overnight. If you’ve used candy melts as your glue, you can speed up drying time by putting in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so.
When you are ready to place the bow on the cake, make a puddle of glue on top of the cake.
Place your streamers on top of the cake, with the ends in the glue.
Remove bow from wax paper. Gently pick up your bow by sliding your hand under the wax paper. Turn upside down into your other hand and slowly peel off the wax paper.
Place on the cake! You’re done!
For a fun, whimsical touch, you can attach a fondant pearl to each bow loop with a dot of royal icing.
