For this cake I have used the Indigo mesh stencil using a dark coloured royal icing to stencil onto a light coloured ganached cake to provide the best colour contrast.
I began by ensuring my ganache was well set with no tackiness. I used slightly stiffer than medium consistency royal icing (similar to toothpaste consistency).
I recommend doing a test patch first – if your icing is too runny it will bleed under the stencil, too stiff and you may not get even coverage of your design, so it’s always worth checking.
You can pin the stencil to the cake but I have just secured this one in place with one hand. I applied the royal icing firmly but gently starting from one side and spreading as one directional as possible. I like a stainless steel scraper to remove the excess royal icing, swiping in one direction & wiping clean the scraper between swipes. To encompass the cake with more than one stencil width, wash and completely dry the stencil and before continuing, check your royal icing is dry.
Then match up your design and repeat.
Royal icing is easy to make, keeps well in the fridge and gives great results. If you’re not familiar with using it, it’s worth a try and a little bit of practice will pay big dividends, especially for mesh stencilling.
Suzanne @bourne_ofcake