Gift Wrap Your Cake!

Everybody loves bows! I remember starting out making the loopie bows, but always wanted to make the "christmas" bows - So after tearing apart several ribbon bows, I was able to see how they were put together and that lead to developing "Melissa's Package Bows and Bow loop molds"  -- Rebecca post below walks you thru the steps so that you to, can create package bows!

                                                      

  

Materials used:

Gumpaste or Fondant with Tylose added

Gum Glue

Package Bow Loop Mold from http://decoratethecake.com/ 

 I had 2 different molds and you will see samples of both interspersed throughout this tutorial

Flower former

Pearl Dust, if desired

Pasta machine (or rolling pin if you don’t have one)

Molding the Loops

I used 13 loops each for the pink and the dark rose bows.

Roll gumpaste thin, my pasta machine was set on 2 (1 is thinnest on my machine). 

Dust the mold with super pearl or luster dust of your choice, if desired.

Lay the gumpaste over the cavity and slightly press in with your fingers. Place the top piece and press down.

Holding the top piece down, pull or trim away the excess.

Remove the top and work the edges down into the mold. If you work in all the way off the vertical edges and press the gumpaste into the mold well, you will not need to trim the strip after removing it from the mold.

Replace the top and press down, especially along the edges to seal what was worked down.

Remove the top, flip the mold over and “walk” the strip out. This prevents any distortion while removing the strip from the mold.  

Forming the loop

Lay the bow loop flat with textured side down.  Fold the left side down (texture side will come to the top), apply gum glue to the top of the end, then bring the right side down (texture on top) and position that end over the left end.

Adjust the alignment of the overlap to get the point to the shape you want.  Flip the loop over, shape it and place in the largest size flower former (or on a spoon board) for drying. 

You may need to add a little cone of paper towel to help the loop hold its point for a minute or so. Repeat for 5 loops for the bottom layer, 5 loops for the middle layer and 3 for the top.

Assembling your bow

 You will need to let the loops dry long enough for them to hold their shape, but still be pliable. Arrange the 5 bottom loops as shown in the picture, applying a small amount of gum glue and stacking the round ends on top of each other, centered.

The next layer of 5 loops will fit in-between the lower loops. Once again, use a small amount of gum glue on each, and align the round ends. The stack of ends will cause a raised center section – this will actually help this layer sit correctly. Carefully push the “leg” of the loop down, between the center and the actual loop portion. This will give the loop the proper slant to fit in place.

The final layer consists of the last 3 loops. I trimmed as needed to get them to fit and fill in at the top of the bow. Secure with a small dab of gum glue.

Allow to dry, preferably overnight. Placing the bow on a wire rack will shorten your drying time.

HINTS:

To match your bow with a fondant ribbon on the cake, make the bow with the same fondant, adding a small amount of tylose to hasten drying and give it strength.

A slightly smaller bow can be made by making a tighter loop, overlapping the ends more, then trimming.

Vary colors by layers, or mix up several colors throughout.

A larger bow can be made by using more loops, move them out a little and overlap just the side of the round ends, as in the picture  –keep adding layers until your bow is filled out. This bow uses tighter loops for the 3^rd and 4^th layers.

The large bow was not pearl dusted. I didn’t have any problem with the fondant w/tylose sticking in the mold.

Package cakes are one of my "customer favorites". Thank you to Melissa for developing these molds for the loops. Be sure to visit Decorate the Cake to see the variety of bow loop molds available.

Rebecca Stewart

DTC Products Used:
Plain Bow Loop