For this cake I have applied the Florence mesh stencil and have used IMBC on IMBC to achieve this effect.
I started by mixing colour into the buttercream that I was going to use to stencil with. I suggest using a dark contrasting colour to your base cake colour for best results. I was going for a dark red to match the festive theme.
My base cake was an ivory colour, and it was smoothly iced and very cold which is very important. With my cake on a turntable, I aligned my mesh stencil onto the side of the cake, and smoothed over it with my hand to make sure it had adhered completely and evenly.
Using a small offset spatula, I applied a thin coat of buttercream over the entire mesh area. Using a metal scraper, and starting from one side I applied even and firm pressure, scraping over the meshed area. Then I smoothed the scraper over again starting from the other side. If you think that you missed a spot, apply a bit more buttercream and repeat, before removing the stencil.
Carefully peel off the stencil.
If you are doing the whole cake, align stencil with the end of the previous panel, but only smooth down the meshed design part, not the border so as not to smudge your first panel.
Some tips:
– If you are struggling to achieve a deep colour using IMBC and gel food colours, try warming up the buttercream in the microwave for a few seconds and then mixing again.
– I found it helpful to rinse and dry my stencil between panels, so I could smooth the stencil and not risk smudging anything. I also put my cake back in the fridge while doing this to keep it cold.
– If you would like your design to start from the bottom like mine, you need to have a cake board the same size as your cake underneath it. This way you can lift your cake onto something else of the same or smaller diameter (I used a cake pan of the same size). You would then align not only the side but the bottom edge as well. So the bottom border of your stencil would be below your cake, where the cake pan is. Take extra care when doing this because your cake would be a bit more unstable!
By: Beatrice Scholtz from @thebeaskneescakes