How do you get those diagonal lines on fondant and buttercream?

Do you mean the diamond look, like on this one? http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/2523486748/

There is a mat you can use to press the pattern into the fondant and BC. On the cake in the above link, I just use dowel rods and pressed them into the icing, just eye-balling it on where it should be pressed.

If you mean the lines on top of a cake to show people where to cut, you can use the same processes.

If it's the diamond pattern you mean, you can get the impression mats at Earlene's cakes here, http://www.earlenescakes.com/store/impression_tools.html

HTH
Mary

Yes, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

I need to invest in a mat as well! I wasn't able to find one in time for the cake I did yesterday and I someon on CC suggested to me to use a right angle triangle which worked out GREAT! I used my wilton fondant cutter to make the impressions a little deeper to make it a little puffy. There is a picture in my profile using this method. Tried to make an attachment for you, but it was too big

The silver dots are silver dragees. The size is 4mm- they come in all kinds of sizes and colors. They are very inexpensive- i buy them for less than $1 a bag and I didn't nearly use 1/4 of them!

Where do you buy dragees? Can you buy them at Michaels?

I'm not sure, but you they may. I went to AC moore because they used to carry them, but they no longer had them. It's worth a sho though- I would call them first to save yourself a trip in the event they do not have them- they're usually pretty helpful with that.

Guess what! Dragees have been banned in California. My Wilton instructor just told me

We use the grid on buttercream, however the flat mat is difficult to bend around some smaller cakes, any suggestions on using the mat easier and lining it up in back of cake?

we make our own pearls with fondant and super pearl dust.

non toxic and noone will chip a tooth on the hard silver balls.

she said they weren't fda approved and that the mercury level was too high. I guess a 10 yr old boy had some sort of reaction to them, his parents filed a lawsuit and had them band in Cali. She said something about him eating a ton of them. I really don't know the story. I'm just going buy what she told me.

I'm thinking the CA ban is only on the metallic ones, and not the pearl ones. However, I could be totally wrong.

Even if you try to order online, places won't sell them or ship them to CA.

Anybody else know?

I thought they lifted the ban here about a year ago. I may be able to look this week. Get back to me because I may forget . You can cut your mat smaller to get it around the smaller cakes.

Don't try to bend the impression mat around the cake. After your buttercream has crusted, hold the mat against the cake with one hand and rub up and down as you go around, but don't rub the last inch or you'll imprint the edge of the mat. Then just realign it and repeat. It will never line up evenly from where you started so just make sure you start at the back of your cake. I saw this demonstrated by sugarshack in her "Perfecting the Art of Buttercream" DVD.
Good luck!

I live in So. CA and I buy dragees in my local cake supply store all of the time. They just have a little sticker that says non-edible now to cover their a$$.

how do you attach them unto a cake. I would think that buttercream just sticks to them, but how would you attach the dragees unto a fondant covered cake?

A dot of royal icing would work.

thanks for the advice. it would have to be a really teeny tiny dot so it wouldn't show. right?

I'm in CA & have also heard of the ban, so I'm not longer "wasting" the ones I have in stock. One other thing about dragees though - there is always "one guest" who will bite one wrong or complain about them... I made a beautiful cake for my Uncle & one of his guests said she almost broke a tooth. (was she using her "buckers"? ha ha!)... these are not THAT hard! It's sugar! so anyway, I always use BC now... but if you wanted perfect little dots, maybe you should take the time to use fondant for that part? I just encircled a 3-tier wedding cake with fondant "dots" & I sure wish I would have done it in BC! =)

To attatch I use a #1 tip on a pastry bag with piping gel. Haven't had any fall off yet!'
Oh and you can get them from GlobalSugarArt...all sizes and colors!

why not just make your own? They arent hard to do...(there was a tutiorial on here somewhere...dont know if it still here or not..using a number 10 tip to cut them out and roll them up and then put them in luster dust...)

Just a suggestion for those in california who can't get dragees. How about using that button candy that comes on those strips of paper. U know, the old fashion dot candy that is multi colored. I thing you could probably cover them in a dark color then use luster dust to paint them to make them seem matalic. And the are flat on the buttom, so they would go on the cake a lot easier. But I guess if you where going to do that you might as well make dots on paper with royal frosting let them dry hard and cover them with luster dust. These seems like fewer steps. Personally, I would not want to make my own drangees, that seems like it would be really time consuming.

I don't get a lot of customers asking for dragees (in CA), so if I do, I'll probably just let them know they've been "outlawed" & I can use an alternate medium to obtain a similar look - even BC dots as long as they didn't have to be metallic looking, however you could always go over them with a brush of luster dust as well... I cannot STAND the people (especially in CA!) who are always sueing... so I read that they're outlawed because a kid ate too many & had a reaction? I haven't looked it up, but I bet his tongue was silver for a couple of days, or he was very hyper from all the sugar - so, control your child? I'm sorry if it was a lot worse of a reaction, however I still feel there needs to be parental control. I believe my bottle had a disclaimer regarding the metallic substance used.