How to make a Poofy Bow {Fondant or Gum Paste}, Pt 1

November 29, 2011 by Rose Atwater 27 Comments

Today I'm going to share with you How to make a Poofy Bow! This is a 2 part tutorial... so grab a drink and stay a while!

First up, don't you hate it when you read a recipe all the way to the end to find out something is going to take exponentially longer than you planned? I do!

So, let me say up front that generally speaking, you cannot do this in a single day! You will need at least one day of dry time, but 2-3 days is better!

So, let's get started! Here's a list of what you'll need. Everything is not in the picture and you can probably substitute for some of these items, but this is everything I used.

Gumpaste (which is what I recommend strongly!!) or fondant with Tylose powder added (about 1 pound)
Rolling Pin
Ribbon Cutter
Shortening
Sugar Glue (or water with a tiny amount Tylose powder added)
Paint Brush
White Chocolate
Round Cookie Cutter (about 3.5")
Pastry Wheel or Pizza Cutter
Ruler
Plastic Wrap
Cookie Sheet, dusted with corn starch

Today I wanted to share a tutorial on how to make a pretty poofy bow with fondant or gum paste. For this post I'll be using Wilton gum paste (and referring to it), but you could also do homemade fondant with Tylose powder added. If you use fondant, it will need longer to dry and there is a possibility it won't ever get completely hard if you don't use enough tylose - that's why I really recommend gum paste!!

If you do choose to go with fondant, I don't usually measure, but my estimate is that you'll need 2-3 tsp. of Tylose per pound of fondant.

My first step is to make a round base for my bow. I roll out a small piece of gum paste, then cut a 3.5" circle. This is a super easy step.. just cut it and set it on your cookie sheet to dry.

You do not want this gum paste paper thin... maybe an ⅛th".

After you've done that, take about half of your remaining gum paste and knead it until it's soft and pliable (keep the other half wrapped so it doesn't dry out). Then roll it out pretty thin - large enough so that you can cut strips 7" long.

I roll mine out on a flexible cutting board (I bought this cheap set of 5 and use them all the time!) with a thin layer of shortening on it to prevent sticking! Any smooth surface will work. After it's rolled out, trim it on all sides - but again, make sure it's at least 7" long in one direction.

Cut as many strips from it as I could (balling back up and re-kneading, then re-rolling until it runs out) then moved on to the other half. Note: I made lots of red and green fondant before doing this bow, hence my hands are green and red. In addition (as if the red and green were not enough), apparently I have freakish, non-photogenic hands... yikes!

If you don't have a ribbon cutter, you could do all of this cutting with a pastry wheel and a ruler. My ribbons are each 1.5" wide. I do 3-4 strips at a time and make my loops, then roll out again, do 3-4 more, etc.

Note: the 7" long loops give you a bow that is about 6" in diameter. You can see this on a cake in part 2 of the poofy bow tutorial!

Back to your ribbons...

So, after I get a few strips of ribbon cut, I flip one over and paint each end with sugar glue. As I stated above, you can use water, but the glue is thicker and doesn't drip as easily (ie., I don't make nearly as big of a mess with it)! After it's painted, I pinch the ends to make them stick.

I try do a special little tri-fold. I don't know how to explain it, but I think you can see it in these pictures...

Once both ends are pinched, you're going to fold the loop over and pinch the ends to each other. There should be enough sugar glue there to make them stick, but if you need to, paint a little more on.

Now, if you leave this loop as it, it'll sag and be flat before drying. To prevent that, simply wad up a ball of plastic wrap and place it inside the loop... like this.

This bow can have either 11 or 12 loops. For the bottom layer, you'll definitely want six loops (you'll see why in part 2). For those, I set them down flat and push them against the side of my (corn starch dusted) cookie sheet to keep them good and poofy...

I usually do at least one extra, if not two extra loops like this, just in case one or two crack or break.

After you have at least 6-8 laid flat, you'll repeat the above process and do another 5-8 loops (I recommend at least 6), except this time, you'll lay them on their sides. That way they are "poofy" with no flat sides for the top layers of the bow.

Lastly, you'll want to make some "tails" for your bow. I only made 2 for this bow, but you can add up to 5 or 6. These are super easy! Just roll out some more strips, but this time they only need to be about 4-5" long. Then cut them to make the pointy ends.

Transfer them over to your cookie sheet, and wrinkle them up however you like. I placed a little piece of plastic wrap under the end to make it curl a little. *NOTE* The one thing I forgot to do was pinch the ends of the tails. You will want to pinch them just like the ends of the loop ribbons... this makes them much easier to put in your bow!!

Now, that's that... we're all finished with part 1. These loops will need to dry at least overnight (12 hours), but longer will not hurt! I really like to make mine 2-3 days in advance!

After you've let that dry, click on over to Part 2 to see how to finish up your bow!

Do you have any questions about this tutorial? Please leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer and help out!

« Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes {Recipe}

How to Make a Poofy Bow {Fondant or Gum Paste}, Part 2 + Gender Reveal Cake »

About Rose Atwater

Rose Atwater is the founder and cake decorator behind Rose Bakes. She is baker, cake decorator, author, wife to Richy and homeschooling mommy to 6 wonderful kiddos! Her work has been featured in American Cake Decorating Magazine, Cakes Decor, Pretty Witty Cakes Magazine, Huffington Post and Cake Geek Magazine. Learn more here...

Comments

Kristen Miller

November 29, 2011 at 3:26 pm

Rose! I can't thank you enough! 🙂 It makes perfect sense so far and I am feeling more confident about making them already! I'll try it out for myself tomorrow. Yay!

Reply
Marie

September 24, 2013 at 6:24 pm

So you leave them out to dry or wrap and refrigerate them?

Thanks!

Reply
- Rose
  
  September 25, 2013 at 12:11 pm
  
  If you refrigerate them, they will not dry/harden. I leave mine out at room temp or even place them on a cookie sheet in the oven. I just turn on the oven light for a tiny bit of extra heat (I don't actually turn the oven on!).
  
  Reply
Marie

September 25, 2013 at 7:12 pm

Thank you!

Reply
Tanya

February 11, 2014 at 11:29 am

Awesome tutorial! Thanks so much..neat with plastic wrap. I didn't even think to use that. :))

Reply
- Rose
  
  February 11, 2014 at 2:42 pm
  
  So happy to help! 🙂
  
  Reply
Kate

June 08, 2014 at 10:01 am

Thank you so much for taking the time to create this, super helpful! I have all my bits and pieces drying just now and will put it together towards the end of the week. X

Reply
Claudia Norman

August 17, 2014 at 8:05 am

Thank you for this tutorial. Part one seems pretty
Easy. I should be able to handle it. Lolling forward to part two.

Reply
Teresa

September 06, 2014 at 7:09 pm

Just made my first cake using your tutorial. Thank you so very much. Directions very easy to follow & my cake turned out fantastic!

Reply
- Rose
  
  September 06, 2014 at 7:48 pm
  
  Awesome! So glad to hear it!
  
  Reply
Autumn Scott

April 14, 2015 at 11:25 am

Im making a cake similar to this

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fGDHI46em2M/TeEtU4ReCKI/AAAAAAAAB7U/x-t9M8jLMa4/s1600/cake%2B2.jpg

How do i choose a color for the ball of fondant in the middle? Or should i just go with white? or Would that be too obvious?

Reply
- Rose
  
  April 18, 2015 at 1:09 pm
  
  I can't see an image when I click on that link.
  
  Reply
Alicia

March 08, 2016 at 8:14 am

I assume you just leave these completely open to air to dry out?

Reply
- Rose Atwater
  
  March 09, 2016 at 5:32 pm
  
  Yes!
  
  Reply
Alicia

March 08, 2016 at 8:16 am

My apologies! It appeared there were no comments until I scrolled on down the page. And thanks so much for taking the time to post this detailed tutorial!

Reply
- Rose Atwater
  
  March 09, 2016 at 5:31 pm
  
  No problem!
  
  Reply
Jackie P

January 17, 2017 at 8:14 pm

Rose you are such a sweet lady to freely share your knowledge and talents. I have tried doing bows before but I did not think of doing them days in advance. And I love the little pinch on the ribbons. It is those little pearls of knowledge that helps us amateurs out here.

Reply
Leason

February 17, 2017 at 9:17 am

Hi rose.I was up half the night making fondant for the first time.Really wanted to try the bow. It's been hours and it hasn't dried. I read over the instructions and saw I needed tulosr powder to hold it together.

Will have to squash all my stripsthat I made and do something else.cause I don't hv tylose.
Enjoy the tutorial though.

Reply
- Rose
  
  February 18, 2017 at 12:41 pm
  
  Oh goodness - sorry! You have to add tylose or gumtex to get fondant to dry hard.
  
  Reply
  - Leason
    
    February 22, 2017 at 9:21 pm
    
    Thank you.
    Will try to access tylose powder for my next try.
    
    Reply
Nikki Thomas

February 24, 2017 at 8:16 pm

Hi Rose! Can you deliver (or have a customer pick-up) a cake with the fondant bow on top or should it be placed on top of the cake after delivery? Just not sure, whether the bow would be too heavy for the cake?? Also, does the bow require any additional support (similar to how a tiered cake requires dowel rods under each tier)?

Reply
- Rose
  
  February 24, 2017 at 8:43 pm
  
  I always put the bows on at home before delivery. I use melted candy melts to attach them and no, they're not too heavy!
  
  Reply
  - Nikki Thomas
    
    February 27, 2017 at 7:02 am
    
    Great! Thanks!! I tried it out and came out perfectly!
    
    Reply
Agatha

March 26, 2019 at 2:39 pm

Hi Rose, This is a great tutorial, thank you! Can you tell me how long each strip was? It says they are 1.5 inches wide, but how long do I have to have them? Sorry if I missed it in the directions. Thank you for your help 🙂

Reply
- Rose
  
  March 28, 2019 at 4:33 pm
  
  You know - it's been ages since I made a fondant bow, but I'm thinking 8-9".
  
  Reply
Brenda Hiltz

May 19, 2020 at 8:02 pm

Loved the tutorial. In Part 2, can candy melts be used in place of melted white chocolate or, do you think it would dry too quickly?
Thank you!

Reply
- Rose
  
  May 20, 2020 at 7:53 pm
  
  Absolutely!
  
  Reply

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