Someone help me please, I am at the end of my tether now! I have a weeding cake to do in a couple of weeks that will have a stencil design around all 4 tiers. I have tried using chocolate, royal icing and plain dusting powder, and they have all been blotchy disasters.

Apart from needing to be an octopus to have enough limbs to hold the stencil in place whilst stencilling, whatever I use just gets under the stencil and bleeds making it look such a mess . I'm holding it against the sides as much as I humanly can, but it's not working.

Anyone had success with these things (from culinary stencils - and yes, i have watched the videos!)? Please help me someone as I'm doing black on cream, so i have no room for error here

Do I just tell my bride that it won't work and do hand piping instead?!

Are you stenciling on fondant? Because that's the only way I can make it work. Also the royal has to be pretty stiff.

I've taken the stencil designs out of my showcase. I do similar things (not the same) with fondant cutouts.

Save yourself some grief babe, get cutters. I have yet to see a stenciled cake that isn't messy. I'm positive the really nice ones have been photoshopped. Apologies Leahs, if yours are da' bomb.

Yes, I'm stencilling onto fondant. Like a fool, I actually thought this would be easier & quicker than piping a design on each tier - duh !

By the way, what design are you stenciling?? If it's floral/damasky, art deco, there are a bunch of cutters on Global, just ordered a sick amount of them last week.

I'm thinking Sugarveil might be a good thing to try...you can do the stenciling on a flat surface, and peel it up and then apply.

Yeah, I've given up stenciling cakes.

Now I have several walls in my house stenciled, so I do know how to do it. Just no luck with stenciling cakes.

The best way Ive found to do stenciling on sides is this:
Find something that you can put underneath the stencil that will be at the correct height (toothpaste box works well). Spray one side with cooking oil and wipe off excess. Then gently press the stencil against the side of the cake. Get an offset spatula and smear over the stencil. Take a small putty knife (it looks like a small bench scraper) and from one side swipe off excess. You can go over it a second time if you dont get it all the first time. Then gently pull up. Wash and pat dry stencil. Start again.
I did a toile cake and a matching toile "Planter" topper by doing this. As long as you make sure your RI is not too wet, it will work fine without bleeding. Hope this helps.

It may not be as technically perfect, but for a pretty quick method, you can cut out panels or a strip the height of the tier, stencil it flat and then apply it to the cake while still a bit damp/flexible.

This works best on square cakes, but it can work on round ones if the stencil is wide enough to hide a seam pretty well, or if there's a back on the cake

HTH
Rae

Rae-this is such a great idea!!!! I can't wait to try it. Thanks.

I just wanna say that I feel your pain on trying new stuff and I'm sending beaucoup de cake angels your way and try to get 'er done and to stay calm & not stress yourself out. Maybe if I tell you it will rub off on me-- --please, God!!!!

The best way I've found is to cut the stencil the same height as the cake side so you don't have RI coming out in places you don't want. Then smear shortening on the back side of the stencil and place very firmly against your fondant, rubbing it down so the whole thing is well adhered. Hold the stencil with one hand and with the other use your spatula to put a layer of RI onto your stencil slightly thicker than the finished product. Then with a bench scraper remove the excess RI first from one side to the center and then from the other side to the center.

You must wash off your stencil between each use and re-apply shortening...so it's a time consuming process. You also need to make sure that before you line up your stencil to continue your design the RI on the previous section must be completely dry. I switch back and forth between different tiers to make sure it dries completely. Here's a picture of a big one I did using that method.

OMG Lori - that is stunning! I just wish I was doing white on a darker colour, much easier to wipe off mistakes and start again if needs be. Black on cream - no chance!
I'll try the shortening thing, doesn't that leave a shiny film on the cake's surface though?

what cutters are you talking about buying?

i've seen the $85 one, are there more?

For all of you having problems, Designer Stencils has come up with a way to fix it. They are now selling a kit for $6 to help hold the stencils in place. Its a type of tape and paperclips.

Lori, put that cake in your saved photos so I can add it to my favs. It's lovely!

i made a heart shaped wedding cake . i used Wilton's dust , with a brush on my stencils.it worked for me.

I watched Mary from the cake girls on one of those shows, use corsage pins to hold the stencil in place. Haven't tried it personally but i thought it was brilliantly simple.

Lori, that cake is simply fantastic. I'm going to be looking for it so I can fave it!

They mentioned the pins as well on the site.

Here are some more Damask cutters, and I didn't look at the rest of the site, but it's a start.
http://www.jenniferdontz.com/v.....mid=cut043

http://www.jenniferdontz.com/v.....mid=cut044

Stunning cake! Wow!!!!

I myself am too chicken to try stenciling, so I'm going with cutouts.

Oh, and grab a bottle of White coloring. I find that when I get black on anything, if I put white on it, the white magically gets the black out. I have no idea how, but it's like Bleach on Crack!

Jen is going to be out of town next week so if your ordering from her, you might drop her an email so her son can fill the order.

OMG....all that is gauze bandage and "binder clips"!!

I have that stuff! Lol....who on earth would actually order that from them???? Great idea, and I will doing it!

Im glad I wasnt the only one that thought $6 for a couple of binder clips and some tape was bit excessive. You can probably buy a whole thing of clips and gauze for that price!! Just goes to show you that if you look for something that is in a specific category that the prices are jacked up. Like a tracing wheel. You can get it for a dollar in the sewing department at walmart but as soon as someone puts a brand name from a cake place on it, its automatically $5!!