Hi,

I will be using a stencil on the sides of a cake for the 1st time next week. The cake will be covered in fondant, and the stencil work needs to be black. I want to start practicing on this tonight if at all possible.

What's the best frosting/icing to use for this? Buttercream? RI? If you've done stencil on fondant work before, please share your successes/failures with me...and any recipes you used would be MOST appreciated! TIA!!!

http://cakecentral.com/articles/138/how-to-stencil-on-a-fondant-covered-cake-video

The above tutorial is how I learned to do it. I've had nothing but success using his technique.

Royal works best for me, but it's hard to get royal really black. Black piping gel has been recommended, but I haven't tried it.

I have seen it done on Cake Boss using Royal Icing and a scraper. It looked pretty easy, and I have wanted to try it for awhile. Haven't had the opportunity yet.
He placed the stencil on the side (or top) of the cake. He scooped royal icing on the side of the scraper and smeared it across the stencil. Next, he carefully pulled the stencil away leaving a beautiful and clean design. It looked fabulous.
Hope that helps. Good luck!!

i used americolor super black to get black royal icing.

worked just fine.

make sure to clean your stencil off between uses, in case any icing got on the underside of the stencil.

I use royal, also do clean after every section, good luck

I stencil buttercream on crusted buttercream. I have several in my photos. I clean the stencil after each application. If you stencil needs to overlap let the buttercream crust a bit before overlapping so it won't smear the previous design. (Just to name a few)
Tiffany rose lamp, helping hands, orange on orange leaves, Thanksgiving oak leaves, pink roses, Spring flowers on lt blue, hot pink design, spring vines, white lace on lavender, and red and yellow tulips.

I use royal icing, slightly thinned. Be careful when you remove the stenil!!

I use royal icing, and if you don't have any Americolor Super Black, then substitute some cocoa powder for some of your powdered sugar when making the RI. That will get it dark to start with, then add black. Remember that it will deepen a bit too when it's dried.