Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Help im doing a wedding cake very soon and the middle tier is meant to be quilted (the diamonds with pearls inbetween) but i have no idea how to do this any suggestions and what tools could i use ie impression mats??? Thanks Jane xx

Hi I’ve just done this effect around a birthday cake – I took a piece of baking parchment the size of the cake and folded it at 4cm intervals then placed it round the cake and marked at the bottom – I then placed a ruler up the side of the cake (lightly to avoid marks) and marked top edge – I found the easiest way to produced the diagonal lines was to use the edge of the ruler and going from mark to two marks along at top – I then cleaned up the lines with a tool (I think it was the veining tool – sorry bit new to all this so not sure what they’re all called) – then just placed pearls in points – I was very pleased with the effect – I hope that helps – I highly recommend trying on a bit of fondant first to check you are getting the lines you want. Hope it all goes well.

Hi Jane

Paul shows quilting in this tutorial http://www.cakeflix.com/handbag-cake-lesson-5-bag-detail-sides-and-zip. PME make impression mats like this one http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/pme-diamond-impression-mat/583367-1000 This is also available in large diamond pattern, just google ‘diamond impression mat’. I used the PME serrated cone tool to make star shapes in between where the lines cross to place the pearls. As advised by jeannettshomemade, it is always best to experiment first on some spare fondant, perhaps on a covered dummy cake. Good luck with your project. x