I want to use some stencils to cut out shapes on the sides of a fondant that will cover my cake.  Do you do this before covering the cake or do you do it once it is place on the cake?

I have never done this before but in my opinion I would do it after applying the fondant to the cake, because when applying fondant it kind of stretches and pulls and you could lose the shape you are wanting... I would try and make your hand as steady as possible and then using a exacto blade or something like it to cut out your shape.... HTH Good Luck!

AI did the same for my sons cake. I put the fondant on the cake first then applied the shapes with a bit of water. [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3055384/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

My intention is not to apply cut out shapes but rather cut out parts of the fondant that is applied to the cake's sides so that you see a bit of the buttercream (a contrasting color to the fondant).  I saw a photo of this and it is very interesting.

This is a photo of what I want to do.  My dilemma is how this is done.