How make Fondant Ruffles

Fondant ruffles are so beautiful on a cake. The sheer beauty gets you every time. However, if you have made a ruffle cake you know it takes FOREVER to make. The last time I made one I swore I wouldn’t ever discuss ruffles again and didn’t want to talk about. Then, someone requests a cake and it is just so beautiful you cannot resist. At least that’s how I felt until it was GO time haha. I begrudgingly said yes to make one recently and made a tutorial for you, just because.

How to make fondant ruffles?

There are many ways to make fondant ruffles; vertical, horizontal, the lovely ruffle rose and petal ruffles. Of course, there are a few positives for ruffles: 1. They cover up flaws and 2. there is no right way of making them. Which means you can layer them however you like and they will still look beautiful. Make sure you set aside enough time to finish the ruffles. After making five thousand ruffles at least that’s what it feels like after a while, you will become faster and it will be “easier.”

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So how do you make these ruffles?

First, let’s talk about the materials that you are going to need:

Materials needed:

Cake covered in fondant (I like using the mat to cover cakes with fondant, I have a tutorial here)
Cell pad
Tylose powder/gum tex
Ball tool
Pasta Machine manual or Kitchen Aide attachment
Rose cutter
Dresden tool
Shortening
Cake turntable
Rolling pin

Step 1: Roll out the fondant

I suggest using the same color fondant that was used to cover the cake. Then add some tylose powder. Tylose gives it some stiffness, but not too much, we want our flowers to still have some softness. Take a small amount of fondant and roll out enough so that it can run through the pasta machine.

Step 2: Run it through the pasta machine and cut the flowers

Place the cake on the turntable. Then adjust the setting on the pasta machine. I keep the pasta machine between 3 and 4, this gives the right amount of thickness. This also makes sure all the ruffles are the same thickness. After the fondant goes through the pasta machine, let it sit for a few minutes until it is stiff.

To save time I cut out all the flowers and let them sit until I get a chance to ruffle them.

Step 3: Ruffles the roses

Place the flowers on the cel pad, I add 4 at a time. Use the ball tool to ruffle the edges of the flowers. Remember to keep the ball tool on the cel pad and the other on the flowers. The purpose is not to make the flowers get larger but to give the edges a nice delicate look.

Step 4: Making the fondant ruffle

After the flowers are ruffled, fold the flower in half, then pick it up and flip it over.

Roll the two edges of the flowers on the side up, then fold it together again and there you have a ruffle. Squeeze at the bottom so that it comes together.

Remove the excess fondant if it is too much. You can rest them on foam, but if not just add to the cake right away.

Step 5: How to add the fondant ruffles to the cake

This is where it gets a little tricky. I prefer to use shortening here because you can move things around. However, you can use piping gel. Take the ruffle, add some shortening to the bottom section, then add to the cake with the ruffle section up. Use the flat section of the Dresden tool and push the ruffle in to secure it. This step is very important, you do not want the ruffles to fall off.

Add the next ruffle to cover up the area showing from the last ruffle. This is where you decide whether to add the ruffles all around or finish section by section. Once again, this is up to you. I use both methods.

If you are making ombre ruffles, I suggest going all around the cake instead of finishing by section. You will need to make a lot of flowers, so, create a system that works for you. Whatever number of flowers you are thinking of you will need more. The larger the cake, the more flowers you are going to need. Block off a lot of time. This took a solid eight hours of work, that includes the rolling of the fondant, cutting out the flowers and adding them to the cake.

Step 6: Finishing up the cake

Once the ruffles are finished, think about what you want to do with the top edge. I like to fill in the top edge so that the ruffles are at the top. Also, fill in any areas that are open, you do not want any space showing. Use the Dresden tool to arrange the ruffles. That’s it you have fondant ruffles.