Has anyone tried this? I'm not a fondant person (other than the occasional accents), but I'd love to use the imression mats I've seen lately. Can they be used with a crusted buttercream and still have the cake look good?

Missmeg....

I have used a diamond impression mat on a couple of my cakes. Take a look in my "Photos". The key is making sure you have a good amount of icing on your cake. Also, wait until your BC has crusted very well...

HTH....

Thanks Mikel . Those are some gorgeous cakes.

I'm thinking of trying the Wilton impresson mats. I want to overpipe the impressions for an embroidered effect or something. I think I'll start easy with a diamond mat and go from there.

if i was going to use the wilton silicone impression sheets, and those things are heavy and floppy i would cut them down, so i had like a 4.5" strip so i could do the sides. I think it would work, but you;d really need it in smaller sections so you can handle it easier.

I used one of the wilton impression mats on a BC cake a few weeks ago. I didn't cut it down and did not find it hard to work with on the cake. Just make sure that you're using a crusting BC and allow it to crust well. I think sugarshack said in her video to wait atleast 30 min or more before using the diamond mat. I forgot about that advice when I used the wilton mat, and applied it shortly after smoothing the cake. I had some areas that stuck, but otherwise it worked really well.

Yes, I've used it on BC. As mentioned above, the icing needs to be crusted well. Here's a pic of my first time using it: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1256596 (the one on the left)

id only cut them down if i was doing the sides of a cake or like one of the wilton pictures where it has a strip run down the middle of a tiered cake. doing the top of a sheet cake would be no problem as long as it is crusted good.

Just last evening one of my students brought in a three tiered cake which she had used the Wilton mat to make the impressions. At first I thought it was a fondant covered cake but quickly realized that it was impressed buttercream. I asked seveal times to be sure it was the heavy Wilton mat and it was and was surprised that the weight of the mat didn't press the icing over the edge and down the sides of the cake - but it didn't. The cake looked very nice. It was a crusting buttercream of course, and it was 'very crusted'. Good luck!