Tie together wedding cake tiers

1. Cover the octagon tiers with cream-colored fondant. The tiers used for this cake are 9, 11, 13 and 15 ins.

2. Use a ribbon or string (anything flexible) to measure the circumference of each tier.

3. Then, sheet gumpaste to the thickness of a credit card and the length of the largest tier. You can easily achieve this thickness using a fondant sheeter. If you use a pasta roller or a rolling pin, the technique still works well if the gumpaste is a bit thicker.

4. Cut 1-in. bands out of the full length of the gumpaste using a roller cutter. If you don’t have a roller cutter, you can use a ruler and a scalpel. Trim the bands to the length of the cake tiers.

5. Attach a band to the bottom border of each tier by evenly coating the back with shortening, water or edible CMC glue. Where the ends of the band meet, simply roll one end of the band into a scroll.

1. The ribbon technique also can be used to easily create more complicated designs, such as a double ribbon showcasing two colors. The double ribbon in this design features a wide red gumpaste band and a narrower black gumpaste band.

2. Attach the two bands together by using water or CMC glue.

3. Apply the gumpaste to the bottom border of each tier. The double ribbon creates a little more elegant design.

4. For a more complicated design, hand pipe scroll work on the gumpaste strips. Once you have attached the double ribbon to the cake, use tip No. 2 to pipe silver scrolls around the entire ribbon. This adds more detail to the simple ribbon design.

5. If you prefer not to hand pipe details, try stamping a design on the gumpaste bands. For a truly unique design, you can make your own stamps by filling empty ink pads or sponges with a mix of titanium dioxide (TiO2–also known as fondant whitener) and airbrush color. Or, you can purchase ready-made clear stamps.

6. Attach the stamped band to a wider red gumpaste strip using CMC glue.

7. Finish the design by creating buckles from the red and stamped gumpaste bands. Cut the buckles to length, fold over the top edge and attach them to the front of each tier.

1. Another option for a double ribbon is to scallop the thinner band. Use a shaped cutter to cut the pattern out of one side of the gumpaste strip.

2. Cover one side of the scalloped strip with CMC glue, and liberally cover it with glitter dust.

3. Attach the glitter ribbon to another gumpaste strip, and add it to the bottom borders of the tiers. This take on the double ribbon gives the cake some bling.