Glittery Christmas Bows Wedding Cake

This Glittery Christmas Bows Wedding Cake was my daughters dream wedding cake! Each tier was almost 9-inches tall covered in fondant with gum paste bows covered in glitter! This cake is the perfect Christmas wedding cake.

Christmas Bows Wedding Cake

When my daughter initially got engaged, she thought she wanted a wedding cake like this one – covered in sugar pearls.

But she had also always dreamed of having a Christmas wedding, so when she stumbled onto this viral bows cake on Instagram, she immediately fell in love! The only change? She wanted a bigger cake – and she wanted the bows to be red and sparkly.

My baby girl wanted to be a princess at her wedding (and she was!!!) and she wanted a very sparkly dress and very sparkly decor. And I wanted her to have her dream wedding!

Glittery Red Bows

First up – because I know this can often be controversial in the cake industry, I’m going to go ahead and drop the bomb that the glitter was real glitter (this is not the exact brand – we purchased it at a local craft store). It was non-toxic, but not labeled as edible.

I bought edible red sparkly ribbon. It wasn’t sparkly enough.

Then I purchased six different edible glitters, luster dusts, etc. and one real glitter. I tested all of them on red gum paste. Sarah loved the real glitter best – so we went with it and it was perfect!

If it makes you feel any better, the cake was mostly a dummy cake. The top and bottom tiers were 8-inch dummies, covered in fondant with a one-inch lip of fondant taller than the cake.

The middle tier was a 4-inch dummy cake, with a 4-inch real cake for the “cutting the cake” pictures. The only slice eaten out of that tier was the one she cut out of the back of the cake.

Nobody ate any glitter.

Would I do it for a client? Maybe.

If it was real cake and they completely understood that all the fondant and bows had to be removed before serving and they signed off in my contract. Maybe.

If it was a dummy cake? Yes, for sure. But I would also offer them the edible options, even though they are not quite as shimmery and sparkly.

ChristmasWedding Cake Details

Here are the exact details…

• The top and bottom tiers were two 4-inch cake dummies glued together. The sizes were 6-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch dummies. You can buy them individually or save by buying a set like this and using the sizes you need.
• The middle tier had a two-layer 8-inch cake baked in Magic Line pans stacked on top of an 8-inch dummy cake (4-inches tall).
• That tier was coffee flavored cake with mini chocolate chips covered and filled with brown sugar buttercream.
• I also had two kitchen cakes. They were each two layers of cake (4-inches tall) and they were baked in 10×15 sheet cake pans.
  • One was coffee flavored cake with mini chocolate chips covered and filled with brown sugar buttercream.
  • The other was white almond sour cream cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream.
• The bows were red gum paste. I made the loops and tails and let them dry for a couple of days (loosely copying what he did in his video). I brushed them lightly with vodka, then sprinkled the glitter onto the ribbons (cut with this ribbon cutter). I let them dry overnight again before putting them on the cake.

Sarah’s ceremony started at 5pm – just before sunset and then the reception happened after dark. Our entire yard, back and front, was transformed into a Christmas wonderland, and it was beautiful. This was all thanks to my amazing sister-in-law. Here are a few pictures of the decor and our property.

These are personal snapshots – we don’t have the professional photos back yet.