I'm really hoping you ladies can help! I'm trying to apply a stencil to the sides/top of a two-tier buttercream WASC, and it looks like a two year old decorated this cake! In my 8 yrs of cake decorating, I don't think I've had this big of a disaster. I've never done this before, and it looked soooo easy. HA! Thankfully, this cake is just for practice. Whew...

First of all, I should say that I didn't refrig the cake before stenciling simply because I didn't have the room tonight. Sorry excuse, I know, but...I really don't think that's my main problem. How do you apply the icing to the stencil w/o getting it ALL OVER THE PLACE? I'm trying to be neat, but it's almost impossible to keep the icing inside the stencil. Also, what consistency icing should I be using? I've thinned it pretty well, but maybe it's still too stiff to apply cleanly. Another problem I'm having is applying enough icing, but not too much. What do you use to apply the icing? I'm using a Pampered Chef pan scraper (I have a hundred of them so it's brand new, of course!). Finally, how do you hold the stencil in place w/o the edges of the stencil marking the cake? I've had to rub out lines a hundred times, and it just doesn't look good.

Sigh...I don't know. Maybe I just need to practice this a jillion more times, but it's frustrating to NOT be able to do this well. Maybe y'all can help. Sorry this is long--thanks so much!

On CC's home page there are videos of how to stencil. It isn't actually that difficult. Maybe you could watch them and get some pointers to help you some.

HTH

I'm planning on doing some stenciling for a wedding cake next month... I think I will be doing a few practice cakes as well... Eek.

Hmmm . . . I've only done a stencil on fondant. You can stencil on bc?

You can airbrush or glitter stencil on bc....seems like stenciling with icing would be hard.

There's a video about stenciling on BC on the home page:
http://cakecentral.com/article177-VIDEO-How-to-Stencil-on-Buttercream-Video.html

Frankly, I figured the cake was either half frozen or a dummy because she's putting an awful lot of pressure on it and I see no movement.

You'd have to use a crusting BC to stencil on it or chill an MBC iced cake REALLY well. I'd only do it on fondant though.. not worth the headache.

I know that lots of people stencil on buttercream. There is a video on designerstencils.com - probably the same video that is on CC. I did a search in the galleries - just put buttercream, stencil - there are a lot of cakes. I would pm some of the decorators and see if they can give you any advice. I have the stencils ... haven't tried them yet though.

Thank y'all so much for the replies! I watched the stencil video a couple of you have mentioned. I think it was yesterday? But, it didn't address the two main problems I'm having--mess, and wrapping the stencil up over the edge of the cake. The stencil I applied to the top of the 2nd tier looked great! But wrapping the stencil is difficult. Yes, mbt4955, I looked at lots of BC stenciled cakes earlier today. So many of them looked beautiful--I KNOW IT CAN BE DONE haha! It's a matter of pride now!

As I said, I didn't refrig my cake, but I used crusting BC and let it crust for a long time. The stencil didn't stick to my cake at all. Oh well...I'll be going to the store tomorrow for more supplies. Looks like me and these stencils are gonna be close pals for a couple of days! Thanks again, ladies!

Sharon does it in her Perfecting The Art of Buttercream. Chilled crusted BC, and she uses a small palette knife. I would think if you tried using a bench scraper, yeah, it's gonna go everywhere. Work in small areas at a time. It should be fine!

Hi, Jamie! I'm sorry I didn't clarify, but it's not a bench scraper. It's a pan scraper. It's small, only about 1 1/2" square. I have a lot of Pampered Chef stoneware, so I have a drawer full of these--it's actually perfect for doing the stencil--I think I'M the problem...not my equipment, unfortunately!

OH, you make me scared! I have to stencil black icing onto a white cake in August! I do have a dummy and I intend to practice first, and mine will be royal onto fondant, so I hope I avoid these issues! Good luck with yours and I will keep watching this thread with interest!

I'm scared too!! I will be stenciling a round cake in 2 weeks! It will be a white fondant cake with a black lace design stenciled on. I planned on stencilling with sugarveil off the cake and then applying the design to the cake. I thought it would be a little difficult to wrap the stencil around a round tier, all of the sample cakes are square.

I have a ton of stencils and went to do a buttercream wedding last year thinking oh this will be easy as can be, WELL, i ended up piping the design on the cake cause i made more of a mess with the stencil then it was worth. NOW the top of the cake i can do with no problem. Its them dam sides.

I think you ladies doing royal on fondant will have a MUCH easier time. I think that if I had refrig'd the cake, the stencil sides wouldn't have marked the cake, thus eliminating one of my problems. Also, upon reflection, I think I should have thinned my icing down more. As for wrapping the design over the edges, I'm stumped. I do know that I'll be practicing this over the next couple of weeks. I'll post back here with my results--maybe my pain can be your gain!

Stencilling fondant is much easier!! I just uploaded a cake I did w/ black BC on white BC. IMO it doesn't look as nice as fondant. The key is making sure your BC is completely crusted.

I'm not sure what you mean by wrapping the stencil over the top? The stencil I have is in a strip - maybe 6 x 12" or so? I have seen round stencils made especially for the tops. I think it would be hard to get it even otherwise.

It would be helpful if you had three hands! I just started on the left side of the stencil, applied a dollop of black icing which was thinned a bit. This kept that end in place while i loaded up the spatula with more icing. Held the stencil in place on the right side, and smoothed the icing over the stencil, left to right. I found that once it was on i had to leave it - if you try to smooth it too much it picks up the white BC from underneath. then just peel off the stencil. HTH

Thank you, beachcakes! Yes, another hand or two would be very helpful!

By wrapping the design over the top I mean continuing the design from the side of the cake, over the edge to the top of the cake. I'm convinced that with enough practice and patience, I can do this!

But, it sounds like your stencil isn't as tall as mine--I think that is helpful. The height of my stencil kept getting in the way and didn't allow me to maneuver the stencil the way I wanted to.

Going to check out your upload right now!

i do stencil a border in the DVd but i don't fridge the cake. I let it crust overnight and stencil the next day.

as far as wrapping the design up the top, I would not try to do it in one step. I would do the side part, take off the stencil, clean and then do the top part.

I use a small palette knife to apply mine and wipe off the excess.

does take a little practice

HTH!

I have stenciled a couple of cakes using Sharon's method that she demonstrates in her DVD. I love it. I thought it was pretty easy to do and gives a wonderful look to the cake. I did both the sides and top of mine on a square cake. I did it in 2 steps. first I stenciled the sides and then cleaned the stencil and moved it to the top lining it up as best I could with the side design. I used the same icing I iced the cake with to do the stenciling. I just thinned it a little.

Just a thought....

For those feeling intimidated...what if...

you cut out a parchment circle(to match diameter of top of cake), and a parchment band(the circumference of the cake), then, apply the stenciling to those while flat on the table. wrap stenciled band around same size pan as the cake is. If it's in buttercream, pop it in the freezer until ready to use. If in royal, allow to air dry. When ready to decorate, simply remove from parchment and apply to cake. Sounds like it'd work anyway.

did everyone scurry off to the kitchen to try it or did I skur you all off????

All4cake, I think I'm gonna give your idea a try! It'll be early next week though...I have a two-tier Easter cake to prepare for this weekend. No stencils involved! I'll let you know what happens...stay tuned!

Good luck!

That sounds like a FBCT COOL!

yep...'cept you'd want to chill it with the same curve as the cake or one could do it on the paper, carefully position the stenciled paper, icing side against cake, onto cake sides then, chill entire cake until firm. Remove cake from freezer and quickly remove paper, leaving design on cake....help may be required to attach iced paper to cake side without smearing....unless you did it in sections...

gotta be careful when doing the royal icing on parchment...it has a tendency(more like frequency) to slide off when it's dry...one morning, I woke up to find r/i swags on the floor where I had piped them on parchment attached to various pans and the pans were near the edge of the counter...as they dried...they slid

Wow! I glade to know so many others are in the same boat as me! LOL! I have two wedding cakes for May that have stencil type design on the sides. I am going to try the "homemade" version of Sugarveil. The SV is just too expensive for me to invest in right now.

Luckily I am going white on ivory, not black no white. What stencils are you using? I couldn't find what I needed. The brides both like the b&W on the David's Bridal website. Suggestions?

OK, I have the same question as OP--Sassy74. I was looking at the attached photo I had taken of a pillow cake (not mine) from a cake show several years ago. I wish I had taken a closer look at the time. How was this done?

Airbrush? Dust? Royal? on flat fondant then fondant applied to cake? If so, how can you smooth the fondant without disturbing the stencil?

Or was it stenciled after putting fondant on the cake? If so, how can you navigate all the edges/corners with the stencil pattern.

I'm stumped. Any ideas?

That is beautiful!

My guess (judging from the wrinkling on the top surface) that it was a print out, well trimmed then applied to fondanted surface. Right or wrong, that's my guess.

First off I do mainly cookies.(royal on royal)

I can't stress enough how much easier it is to stencil using a palette knife.

You have so much more control, the good ones have really nice flexible tips and really helps get the icing where you want it.

Hope this helps someone.

You can get a nice set at Michaels in the art department for a pretty reasonable price.

Designer stencils also sells a cake wrap kit that you could try.