o.k. I did a cake and it's in my photos, and the person asked for a damask pattern on the top and bottom tier. I had craft stencils I had bought and used once before on top of a cake. This time almost every stencil would bow up at the delicate detail spots, or when i pulled the stencil off-it looked like I blobbed it on in areas. I also tried to make black RI and even made it ahead of time so the color could deepen, and still it was dark gray. So I painted over the crappy stencil with black gel. I'm just diappointed at how the stenciling came out, and I have a wedding cake each week for the next 2 weeks, that require stenciling-I'm nervous! Any suggestions?

I bought some black Ameri-color at Hobby Lobby and had the same issue a week ago. I put in a lot of the color and could still only get a dark gray color. I finally added a little cocoa, but I still couldn't come up with the color I wanted. It was royal icing as well. It sounds like maybe your stencil isn't lying flat to the cake and icing is seeping under the stencil. Did your stencil get bent up a little.