cuz im having one hell of a time i have the diamond pattern and it looks like holy ugly crap i hate hate hate the crusting buttercreme it looks horrid i think it may be the heat of my house i can never find a perfect medium to smooth it it will either be too firm or too blah im just so tired of heat messing with my cakes i have my thermostat at 68 but the lovely arizona heat bumps my living space to about 82-84 any ideas is plain buttercream even an option for impression mats or am i hoping for too much?

You need to make sure is crusting buttercream and you have to let it crust really well before doing it.. I let it sit for the least 30 minutes before doing it so it leaves a really nice impression!
Edna

i have never tried it with buttercream but if i was to try it i would dust it with powdered sugar real light first and lightly use the mat. maybe that would work??? if that doesnt work i would use a nice stamp or cookie cutter....

You dont need powder sugar. You need a good consistency icing though...can't be too wet..
Another thing is make sure you clean with a dry paper the impression before pressing it again
Edna

It's only gonna get worse, it was maybe 100 here today, you know it will be in the teens in a matter of a month or two....might want to budget for turning down the air. I can't imagine not having a chilly cake studio and I'm in AZ.

oh i know jamie its sooooo hot it makes it unbearable and my cakes just weep luckly during this summer i dont forsee many cakes i guess i could give the crusting butter cream a go again it just seemed so blah last time i did it

What about using a hot knife to make your impression instead. It may be a bit easier.

I use the impression mat on buttercream - just do as tonedna says, make sure it is crusted well and make sure that mat is clean between each time you press it.

I read on here somewhere that someone used a tiny dowel to do it also. They made tiny marks at the top and bottom of the cake to make sure it was uniform, then used the dowel to make the diamnond pattern - maybe that would work better for you?

I know when I first started using the impression mat, there would be spots that I didn't press as hard as I should have, so I would take the large spatula and use that to "repair" the places that needed to have a deeper impression.

Does anyone have any tips for using impression mats for fondant? In the past, I rolled out my fondant, pressed the impression mat onto it and then transferred it to the cake. However, during the move to the cake, the pattern stretches and gets ruined. Any suggestions???

mkm, you press the mat onto the fondnat right after you apply it, before it sets up too much!

HTH

mkm, you press the mat onto the fondnat right after you apply it, before it sets up too much!

HTH

I would try a different icing recipe. Maybe one with all shortening? I'm willing to share mine if you want it.

Jen