I'm still fairly new to decorating, so I'm still hesitant about my skills. I offered to make a friend's wedding cake because she's the 1st of 11 kids and doesn't have a huge wedding budget. She says she wants something simple. Then says she wants the damask cake that is behind Buddy on the Cake Boss. The one he made for a magazine shoot. That's not simple!! So I'm wondering this...would it be easier to stencil the damask, or use an edible image? Would the edible image look bad? Meaning, obviously not iced? Any thoughts? Thanks!!!

I would go with stenciling. I think you'll end up with a more professional looking result, and with edible images, the colors are often not quite right... they sometimes tend to have a greenish cast to them.

- Leisel

I personally would go with the stenciling as well. If you don't feel comfortale with stenciling, you can always get some damask cutters and cut out the shapes from fondant and place them on the cake.

Stenciling is quite easy. It doesn't take much practice to "get" it. You will have to feel how much icing you have to put on your spatula at a time, how to get it smooth without moving the stencil, how to lift the stencil cleanly. Also, you should clean and thoroughly dry the stencil just about every time you move it to get a clean, sharp edge. I'm in no way a pro and I did it on cookies. After about 4-5 cookies it was perfect.