ugggh. it's driving me crazy, and i am beating myself up over it. I did a wedding cake for this past weekend and on the bottom tier I did not line up the top of the stencil with the top of the cake, i did it from the bottom up on my first go around. I immediately saw my mistake, but with black royal, there was no fixing it. I was planning on putting that section at the back of the cake, but then my helping husband who was holding the stencil, pushed a bit too hard on the top and put a thumb dent in the top of the cake where the stencil was correct. So there goes that idea. I was struggling to find the best 'side' to put face forward. The top i got the orientation right, but then again there was a slight smear on one section. Thankfully that was able to be filled in with a paintbrush and put at the back. It wasn't a disaster in the rear at all, but the more i look at the photo, the more it just makes me cringe. i'm kicking myself for not trying out this particular stencil more throughly on a dummy before flying with it.

If the cake you are talking about is the one in your gallery, I say well done! I see that the bottom stencil doesn't exactly line up with the top, but it still looks clean and lovely. Be proud of that one!

Are you kidding me? That looks amazing. I do the same thing. You know where the mistakes are, but anyone looking at it doesn't notice it. The cake is beautiful . Don't worry so much. At least that's what everyone tells me!!!

I see what you mean, but the rest of it is flawless! My helping hand hubby dragged a stencil through my buttercream! And it was red ate filing on white buttercream, and it already took longer than I expected and we were running late!!! We were about done, it was the top tier, out of 7!!!

I didn't realize you have to line up the designs to match for multi level cakes. Is this a rule of design? Sorry but I loved the way it was set up. I guess I like designs a bit different because I wouldn't want to see the big pattern part straight down three levels. I thought this was a way more interesting way to look at design.. So should I line up designs if I make stencilled cakes?????

Wow the cake looks amazing! Don't beat yourself up. Question though - do you cut the 1/2" empty space at the base of your damask stencil? I bought mine from GSA and I have noticed there is a 1/2" space below with no stenciling in that area. I find it looks strange when I do damask on a cake with that space so I always cover it with a band. I saw that your bottom cake didn't have the 1/2" space below. What did you do or did your stencil come fully covered in the damask pattern?

Your cake is beautiful! I never would have noticed anything if you hadn't pointed it out.
It looks great.

THanks all for the kind words I guess we are our own worst critics! I wish the stenciling was done the way it is not the top tier with the 1/4 inch band around the top of the cake. On the bottom of the cake, I lined the stencil up with the bottom (seen on the left side of the cake, and then on the top on the right side. The seam for that side was somewhere in the middle front of the cake (so not ideal!). The way i got the top border and the stencil straight down to the bottom of the cake was to put the cake on a smaller stand (the top tier on a shortening can, the bottom 10" tier on a 10lb satin ice bucket) so that the stencil can hang down off the bottom of the cake. The bride was adamant about not having a border between tiers, so I did a swipe with some buttercream and smoothed it with my finger to close any gaps left from between the SPS plates.

thanks again for the kudos. Black royal just sucks...there is no going back to fix it and you just have to make it work!

You kidding? It looks great!!!

Just a few things - there is no need to hold a stencil. Just brush the backside lightly with shortening. It sticks right on, and easily lifts right off. Wash, repeat.

If you make a mistake with black royal you can fix it, especially if you let your fondant come to a crust before applying and you used shortening to hold your stencil in place. Scrape it off as gently as you can, it won't stain where the shortening is. Use a solution of 10 parts Everclear, 1 part bleach on a towel, q-tip or soft bristle brush. Yes, bleach. Dab, swipe, blot dry. Poof, gone.

Learned this tip from a very famous cake artist and this technique is apparently widely used in the UK.

It will not work on old stains, only fresh ones.

Anyway, just to give you some tips to help troubleshoot next time!

Can you put this damask design on a buttercream frosted cake? I've wanted to try it, but have never done fondant cakes.

Would the crisco on the back of the stencil work on buttercream o.k.?

I don't use crusting icing, but I don't see how you could use a stencil on any buttercream with royal icing. The fat in the buttercream prevents the royal from drying out and can make it run.

I know that people have used stencils to airbrush patterns onto buttercream.

But I'm no crusgting icing expert, maybe there is someone that uses stencils on buttercream, I've just never seen it though and wouldn't want to try it.

In other words, make the cake meet the stencil.