Fondant Draped Wedding Cake

• First tip - if your cake is frosted with a butter-based icing, make sure it's well-chilled so you can press the drapes in without deforming the frosting.

Shaping drapes

• Knead together a mixture of 1/3 gum paste to 2/3 designer fondant for the drapes. Gum paste is stiffer than fondant and sets more firmly; this will help the drapes hold their shape.
• Roll the fondant out evenly to about 1/8” on a surface dusted with a mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar.
• I’ve seen cake dowels used for the shaping step, but I used smoothie/coffee straws for this part and they worked beautifully!
• Alternate one straw on top of the fondant with one placed underneath, to create a series of ‘waves’ in your fondant sheet and press them in gently. Remove the straws slowly, being careful not to stretch the ‘waves.’
• Press the top of the wave into the shape of the drape you’d like – you can pinch the tops of the waves together (like I did in the video) or leave them alone for a looser drape.
• (I used 4 longer slanted drapes and 2 shorter vertical drapes for the cake in the photos/video.)

Adding drapes to the cake

• Once you have the main part of the drape shaped, pinch the ends together and trim away any excess. I held the drape an inch or two away from the cake side a few times, adjusting the shape and length a bit to make sure it fit the area I wanted to cover on the cake. If it’s too long you can pinch the ends together a bit more closely and trim the excess again.
• With some edible glue, brush the sides of your cake to help adhere the fondant. (Again; make sure to have the cake well-chilled for this part!) Press gently but firmly until well adhered. I also used some plastic silk flowers with long stems to decorate - this allowed me to press the stems in through the edges of the drapes to make sure they wouldn't move during transport.
• (Optional - you'll see an airbrush in the video – the bride wanted a gold-tinged pearlized look to the cake, so I used a mix of pearl, silver, and gold airbrush color to get the effect I was after! I linked the airbrush kit and metallic colors I used above; its a great kit for a beginner.)
• (One more note on the airbrush colors - metallic colors are grainier in consistency than plain colors, and have more of a propensity to clog your airbrush. You may have stop and run clean water through the airbrush tip to clear it a few times in the process. It was a super FUN process though; if you ever get a chance to airbrush a cake, DO it!)
• After the drapes were placed and airbrushed, the rest of the cake decorating will be....well, cake! I added pearlized candies, ivory roses and flowers, black flowers, and a few artificial feathers (1920s themed wedding). Once the drapes were set and the airbrush colors had dried I packaged it in a large cake box for transport to the venue!