• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Decorated Treats

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Cake Recipes
    • Cookies Recipes
    • Brownies & Bars
    • Bread & Dough Treats Recipes
    • Sweets & Candies
    • Jellies & Cold Dessert
    • Frostings, Fillings & Sauces
  • Designs & Tutorials
  • Tips & Techniques
    • Preparing Cakes for Decoration
    • Fondant Decorating
    • Piping Techniques for Cake Decorating
    • Gum Paste Flowers - How to Make
    • Decorating with Chocolate
    • Other Techniques
  • Submit Your Cake Photos
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Categories
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Techniques
  • Your Cakes
  • Contact Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Categories
    • Recipes
    • Tutorials
    • Techniques
    • Your Cakes
    • Contact Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Fondant Decorating

    How to Make Fondant Waves on Cakes

    Published: Aug 18, 2020 · Modified: Aug 4, 2022 by Priya Maha

    I made a beach-themed birthday cake recently and made 2 types of fondant waves on the cake. One was 2D waves and the one I have on this page is more of 3D waves.

    A two tier beach themed cake in blue, orange and yellow, with orange gum paste hibiscus and fondant surfboards

    See the spirals on the cake? Those are the 3D waves I am talking about and will be covering on this page. I also have a tutorial for the 2D waves on the cake (the ones attached to the top and bottom tier of the cake) as well as the fondant surf boards and a separate tutorial on how to assemble the beach themed cake. 

    Lets get on to see how I made the 3D fondant waves below.


    How to Make Fondant Waves on Cakes

    These were the main supplies needed to make the waves:

    • Fondant - I used white Satin Ice fondant and colored it blue using Wilton Royal Blue food color.
    • CMC powder - I added CMC powder to the fondant above. CMC helps the fondant to set firm and hard and this helps the fondant to hold its shape better.
    • Extruder tool - my favorite tool for producing fondant rolls. I used a round disc to pipe out fondant rolls.
    • Waves template - I hand drew these. In drawing the waves, I measured the height of each tier to make sure the waves are of a height that matches the height of the cake. For this cake, I made 2 templates - one for the top tier and one for the bottom tier. These were my templates for the waves.
    • Shortening - I used shortening to grease my parchment paper template.
    • Fondant glue - I used this glue to stick the waves on my cake.

    And this was how I formed and attached the waves to my cake:

    • First of all, I got my template ready. In making these templates, I measured the height of my cake tiers first. And then I drew the waves on a piece of paper. Next, I turned the paper over, and traced the waves pattern on the reverse side of the paper. After that, I took a clean sheet of parchment paper and traced the waves (from the reverse side on the first paper) onto my parchment paper. 
    Fondant waves paper template

    • Next, I turned the parchment paper over and stick to a cake board with some blue tag. The reason I turned the parchment paper over is to make sure the pencil marks on the paper do not get transferred to my fondant.  And then I applied shortening on it so that the lines on the other side of the paper become visible. 
    Fondant waves paper template on a gold cake board

    • Next, I prepared my fondant. I added the blue food coloring and CMC powder and kneaded it well. 
    Light blue fondant with a bottle of blue food coloring on the side

    • And then, I filled it into my extruder tool fitted with a round disc.
    Fondant extruder tool with light blue fondant

    • I then piped the fondant and arranged it following the lines on my templates.
    Fondant swirls in light blue

    • Once done, I left the fondant waves aside to set. 
    2 sets of fondant swirls in blue, on white paper

    Attaching the fondant waves to the cake

    • Once set, I remove the fondant, one by one to attach to the cake. To make sure the fondant waves stick strongly onto the cake, I used fondant glue instead of shortening because the waves were kind of heavy and shortening would not be able to hold them in place.  
    Using a brush to paint on a fondant swirl

    • I started with the smallest wave and finished with the tallest for each tier. 
    A two tier beach themed cake in blue, orange and yellow, with orange gum paste hibiscus and fondant surfboards

    • And while waiting for the fondant glue to dry and set, I used my food coloring bottles to hold the waves in place. See how I stacked the bottles to support my waves. 
    A two tier beach themed cake in blue, orange and yellow, with orange gum paste hibiscus and fondant surfboards

    • Once the glue was set, I removed the bottles. And this was how the completed cake looked like with the 3D waves on. Click here to learn how I assembled the rest of the cake together.
    A two tier beach themed cake in blue, orange and yellow, with orange gum paste hibiscus and fondant surfboards

    Hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make 3d fondant waves. 

    Happy Decorating 🙂

    More Decorating with Fondant

    • Heart Sugar Cookies with Fondant - How to Make
    • Cake Lettering - How to Center Letters on Cakes
    • How to Use Silicone Fondant Molds for Cake Decorating
    • 3D Fondant Guitar Cake Topper

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there!

    I'm Priya, and I'm so excited that you dropped by :) Welcome to DECORATED TREATS, a place where I share all my cake decorating ideas & true and tried recipes for all things sweet.

    More about me →


    Currently trending

    • Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
    • Banana Butter Cake (Easy & Moist)
    • How to Make Tea with Milk Powder (Milk Powder Tea)
    • Earl Grey Milk Tea - How to Make Earl Grey Tea with Milk

    As featured on:

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    SUBSCRIBE TO DECORATED TREATS

    Sign up for latest recipes and tutorials!


    Thank you for joining!

    Keep watch for my latest updates in your email.

    .

    About

    • Privacy Policy & Disclaimer
    • Conversion Chart

    Resources

    • Submit your Cakes
    • Testimonials

    Decorated Treats is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Decorated Treats also contains other affiliate links, which if you purchase from may earn me a small commission. The full disclosure policy can be found here.

    Copyright © 2022 Decorated Treats