Hello out there! I love that square/diamond design that people do on their cakes and I've seen people mention an impression mat to do the effect. First, what is an impression mat and second do I have to have one in order to do this effect on my cake...much thanks!
One type of impression mat is basically a piece of plastic that has a pattern impressed in it or cut out of it. It can be used on fondant or regular crusting icing, like buttercream. It is not necessary to have a mat though...you can do the diamond pattern, for instance, with a ruler.
Hi! An impression mat is usually a thin sheet of flexible plastic or other material that can be placed next to the cake to make indentions in the desired pattern. If you want to create a diamond pattern without using one, you can always freehand the pattern. I've heard some people marking evenly along the cake top and bottom and using a string of floss (non-flavored!) to lightly make indentions in the frosting. patterns can be traced onto fondant with any sharp-edged tool like a long spatula. The impression mats are a great time-saver though!
I've also used a wooden skewer to make the diamond pattern in my buttercream....it was time consuming so I broke down and bought the mat.
Hey, nightowl- I, also, like the look of the impression mat. check out this website and see if it helps.
http://earlenescakes.com/store/impression_tools.html
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