use an impression mat? lol i have to do a wedding cake they want the diamond design so im looking at a 1" diamond impression mat.. she wants buttercream not fondant... soooo i dont know how to use that? wont pressing it up against the side mess up the pattern? and ive heard the talk of rolled buttercream.. would that be the only way to use it? to use rolled butter cream to get the impression and then just place it on the cake? how would i smooth it? im so confused.. ANYONE PLEASE HELP!!! i want this cake to be perfect its my first PAYING wedding cake!! thanks!

it can definitely be done with buttercream, I do it all the time. Your impression mat needs to be clean and completely dry! Your buttercream needs to be well crusted and then you just literally push it into the icing, leaving an impression.

When I first got mine I thought "surely it will stick" so I dusted it really well with powdered sugar and then impressed it onto the cake and then used my airbrush (with nothing in it) to blow off the excess powdered sugar and it worked really well too. One time I finally got the nerve to try it without the powdered sugar and lo and behold...NO STICKING!!

WOW those are beautiful cakes, thanks for answering my question, and i cant believe its that easy.. regular buttercream or rolled buttercream? or both? which one crusts? does it need to crsut over? like maybe sit out over night or something ? how long b4 u press the mat on it? and by the way i posted another question on a different area on the forum, and u can answer my question real quick lol is that actual fabric ribbon on ur cakes or is there a cake to make ribbon look real and edible? thanks soo much im so excited to try and make a cake like this yours is awesome!!!

It works with regular BC, which should crust, I have also done it many times. You can use fabric ribbon or use a rolled fondant, I have also done both. If you use fabric, just "grease" it with cooking spray or something ahead of time, so you don't get grease spots that look uneven on the ribbon.

I used real ribbon on those cakes posted above! And all of those were done with regular crusting buttercream. I didn't have to let it sit overnight, just let them sit an hour or so.

I too have a cake coming up using the diamond impression mat. The tier with the impression is going to be a 14". Should I start the impression in the middle on each side. Is it going to look funny where the diamonds meet at the corners?

You guys got great answers, from all the responses you got, but you should invest in Sugarshack's and Jennifer dontz's dvd's they are a wealth of learning in them, they both have different techiniques but very informative. I bought all of their dvd's www.Sugaredproductions.com That's Sugarshack's.( Sharon)
www.Sugardelites.com that's Jen's You will be very happy that you invest in them. and you can ask them any Questions and they are very helpful, they are both members here.

Edited to add: I am not affiliated with them, I am just a Happy Customer, I think we should all help each other out, as sugar friends.