How to make a sugar bow
I love sugar bows on cakes. I think it gives the cake a very feminine look and it is a necessity on beautiful gift cakes. So in this tutorial I will try to show you how to make a sugar bow. If you have not tried it before start by making a “medium large” sugar bow instead of a very small one. You can ad shimmer dust to your bow just by brushing shimmer on to the stripes before pleating and assembling the sugar bow.
Note: I find it best to use a mix consisting of 50% sugar paste and 50% flower paste. That way you will get a smoothe and flexible paste to work with.
This is what I use:
50/50 Sugar paste/flower paste
Rolling pin
Small spatular
Tylo glue
Artist brush
Polyesterfibre
2 sheets of kitchen roll
Cornstarch for dusting
1 Plastic bag
A pair of scissors
Step 1:
Take the plastic bag and cut up one of the sides.
Step 2:
Take some of the polyesterfibre and warp it in the kitchen roll:
Step 3:
Dust with cornstarch and roll out the paste thinly. Take the spatular and cut two long stripes and one short stripe. Place the three pieces in the plastic bag. To keep them from drying out.
Step 4:
Take one of the long stripes and make pleats in both ends. Brush the ends with tylo glue. Take the polyester roll and fold the ends together.
Step 5:
Gently press the ends. Set a side and repeat with the other long stripe.
Step 6:
Trim the ends so they have clean cuts. Brush with tylo glue and put them together.
Step 7:
Take the small stripe and make pleats. Brush the middle of the sugar bow with tylo glue.
Step 8:
Take the short stripe (maybe you need to cut it shorter) and wrap the ends around the middle of the sugar bow.
Step 9:
Now leave the sugar bow to dry. Note: If you want the sugar bow to stand up. You will do that now before it dries to much.
Step 10:
For the tails, roll out the excess paste and cut two long stripes.
Step 11:
Make pleates and cut the end. Place them on top of each other and brush with tylo glue and attache the sugar bow on top. Remove the polyester rolls when the bow is almost dry. Note: I find it best to cut out the tails just before they are applied to the cake. That way they are smoother and more flexible.
Happy Caking
Louise
1. jcann
June 15th, 2007 12:54 pm
Another great tutorial!
2. Louise
June 15th, 2007 1:30 pm
Thank you my friend:)
3. Anonymous
June 16th, 2007 3:07 pm
Hi Louise
Thanks so much for posting how to make it !
I will try it myself one of these days.
thanks
andrea kopp
4. Louise
June 16th, 2007 3:34 pm
Your welcome Andrea.
If you have any question, you can always mail me.
Louise
5. Aamena
October 9th, 2007 6:52 pm
wow! i had always wondered how its done! now that i have discovered your site, am sure i will keep ocming back!
6. Alisa
April 30th, 2008 6:58 pm
wow awesome! thanks for that tutorial!
7. Louise
April 30th, 2008 11:33 pm
Alsia: Your welcome
8. MoDog
May 1st, 2008 4:47 am
Your website is fantastic! I am an amatuer cake decorator, but I love to learn new techniques.
Can I make this bow using rolled fondant?
9. Denise
September 6th, 2008 5:43 am
your amazing! I have two questions. The first it kind of stupid but.. can you eat these? And my second question is how can you create such a beautiful cake and have the heart to eat it? I don’t think I could sit and watch people eat my creation.
I love your site.. very inspiring
10. Louise
September 14th, 2008 10:09 pm
MoDog: yes you use rolled fondant for this. But you can also mix 50/50 of rolled fondant and gum paste mixed together.
Denise: Well as you will need this to dry to get this look I am not sure that it would be that nice to chew on. I remove my bows from the cakes before it is cut into portions.
11. Nornah
September 16th, 2008 4:31 pm
how wide are the bow ribbons cut into 3″ pieces?
12. Louise
September 23rd, 2008 10:17 pm
Nornah: I dont use any specific wide. I just cut the bow in the size I want it to be. But 3″ sounds ok.
13. Dee
October 23rd, 2008 8:44 pm
OMG! I love your tutorials they are great and since I am a newbie at this cake decorating world this helps alot…Thanks
14. Louise
October 26th, 2008 6:17 pm
Dee: Only glad to help fellow cake friends.
15. Taryn
May 2nd, 2009 7:05 pm
Will this be able to stand up on the side of a cake? I want to “tie a ribbon” around a 10 in round cake but worry about it falling down or drooping? Any wisdom?
16. Kendra
May 5th, 2009 6:16 pm
Hi Louise!~This looks great! How can I store the bow to keep it looking good and what is the time frame on that? I am making my mother a birthday cake for her birthday and I want to make something special but I dont have A LOT of time to spend on it!
17. Louise
May 6th, 2009 10:40 am
Taryn: If you want to let the bow stand up a good thing is to let it dry in that position. I have made a “standing” bow using this tutorial only I let it dry standing up with the supporting filling inside the bow loops for a day or two. You can see that cake in the cake gallery/whimsical cakes.
Sharon Zambito showed in her latest dvd that she use melted chocolate in the came color to glue bows on cakes with.
Kendra: It is always good to let the bow air dry for 1-2 days before you carefully pack it in a container. I would let the filling support stay in the bow loops so that you are sure they wont collaps. Just make sure that you can remove the filling easily afterwards.
18. Gloria
June 30th, 2009 12:18 am
Hello there,
Great site, I have one quick question for you. What is tylo glue? I am not familar with the product.
Thanks
Gloria
19. Louise
June 30th, 2009 1:31 am
Gloria: Tylo glue is made with tylo powder and water: http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-tylo-glue
20. Renata McKay
July 4th, 2009 4:12 am
Hi Louise. I tried making the bow 100 times. Every time I do step 5, the bow tears slightly on the edges. Do you have any idea why this happens ?
21. Louise
July 19th, 2009 10:35 pm
Renata McKay: Do it tear in the end where you pinch or more out towards the wide side of the bow. Is your paste to dry maybe? Try and make it with only fondant/sugar paste icing and see if that makes a different. Please write back how that goes. Thx.
22. Sue J
July 30th, 2009 6:03 am
Your tutorials are so detailed and informative. Always a delight to follow.
23. Lori
February 23rd, 2010 7:30 pm
Thanks for the great tutorial – I made 2 bows for my daughters cake this weekend, they both came out great, and I only had to start over once! I forgot to stand the first one up while it was drying, so I had a laying down bow, but the second one stood up great. This was surprisingly easy – thanks for being so clear!