Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows how this look is achieved.  Can the cake be either buttercream or fondant.  Is the piping royal or fondant?  Any help would be appreciated.

I would make my piping buttercream softer than my icing buttercream..by just adding more of the liquid you do in your recipe.   I never, ever use royal on cakes...only on cookies.

I did a version of that look by impressing lines into buttercream. I thnk that the one in the photo is fondant with royal piped on the outside, but you could do it with buttercream on buttercream, or buttercream on fondant.

Thanks for your responses.