Hey everyone!
I bought one of these mats last weekend, since I want to use it on the top tier of a wedding cake in April. So I practiced with it, and I just can't seem to make it look right. I only want the sides done, so I put the fondant on the cake first, and then tried to press the mat in "around" the sides. First of all, it didn't make a very deep impression, and I was trying for that quilted effected. Second - I couldn't get the diamonds to "line up" where the mat ended and I had to move it to complete the pattern all the way around the cake. Is there some kind of trick to this? It SEEMS so easy when you see a mat, that you just need to press it in - but it's actually kind of tricky to make it look right!
Thanks for any info anyone has!
Melissa
Yes it does look easy. I have it and found it difficult! What you need to do is press the mat on the fondant but leave about one inch of the mat off of the fondant on both ends. That is the way you are supposed to line them up. I need to try this sometime today or tomorrow for a quilted cake purse. What I am going to do first is put some fondant flat on my work surface and see if I can get the edges to match. Hoping someone out there can help. Did you get them from Earlene Moore? Maybe she can help.
You will very rarely be able to line up the pattern and make them come together at the end, perfectly... this "unmatched" part, is always the back of my cake. As fearlessbaker said - you don't start or end the patter with the edge of the plastic - as this will leave a mark. You simply imprint the pattern (w/ a firm hand), remove, and start the next print, slightly overlapping the last (just line them up, it will match). Does that make sense? Fondant is obviously harder than buttercream, you really need to do the print right after you apply the fondant. Don't allow too much drying time, or it won't work as well. Buttercream, you just let crust up for 5-10 minutes, then do it. You won't be able to repeat the pattern up over the top of a fondant cake (same w/ any diamonds), they will not match up. You need to do this on a bottome tier, where a top tier will cover the top, or if it's a top tier, you'll have to hide the top w/ flowers, bow or topper of some sort. Hope that helps!
Thanks for all the info!
jmcakes -
I bought mine at a local cake store for $5.99. It's small though - I wonder if they make bigger sizes - then I would have to worry about lining it up so much? Anyway, I'm using MMF so that should be fine - I think she meant to use a tier that would have something on top of it to avoid the rough edges of the edges of where the impression mat stops, I think? I don't think it matters what kind of fondant you use, at least I hope not!
I guess we just have to practice with it!
No, the type of fondant does not matter. There are 3 princess pillows in my photos that I have used the impression mat on. The crown one was MMF & the other two are Satin Ice. The mat worked great on both but the trick to getting a good impression is to to it as soon as the fondant is smoothed onto the cake. What I do is crumb coat the cake with icing, put it in the fridge to chill & set for little bit (so that when you are smoothing out the fondant your fillings and such don't move around and misalign your layers). Put the fondant on trim edges & use impression mat.
To get the diamonds to line up just take a peek through the mat. It's pretty easy to overlap without looking like you did. Another trick is to end your pattern in the back of the cake where noone will see it OR if you're using flower just cover it up with them.
I hope that helps a bit. I'm sure your cake will be beautiful! 
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