I am still new and have been running into problems with my cakes bulging out a little.

I made a white cake with strawberry filling. There were four cake layers, with 3 layers of filling. Cake was covered in buttercream.

I covered the cake with fondant and after sitting while I was doing the other cake, noticed that seemed to be bulging outward. My smooth and straight sides were now slightly rounded.

Where am I going wrong, how can I stop this? It took a lot of time to get the sides perfect and smooth and then it was gone.

I was having the same problem. I was told to make sure that when I placed my dam for the fillings, that it was thick and sturdy. I did and have not had another problem.

Did you make a buttercream dam before putting strawberry filling?
I have read also that before covering completely you are supposed to let the cake stand so that it will set.

I always put a sturdy dam of buttercream 1/2 " from the edge of the cake. I put the filling inside the dam no higher than the buttercream dam. I stack the cakes and crumb ice and let the cake sit overnight to settle. You can speed up this process by placing a piece of tile to weigh it down to settle quickly. I never have the bulge problem anymore if you do these things.

Shoot....I'm a bulge victim too. Not sure what happens in my case. I baked, cooled, dam with medium consistancy BC, filled with unwhipped ganache. I set a sheet of wax paper over the cake layers, put a tile on, and let it set. Not, overnight. But, it was about 10 hours or so. I got a 2 inch or so bulge. And, like an idiot, poked it with a pin & then tried to smooth with my smoother & viva. This was AFTER cake was done & airbrushed. I ended up with a crusty looking spot cuz the BC had set up.

I did the same process with a BC filling of medium consistancy. And, got the same size bulge.

Maybe my BC dam and filling needs to be a thicker consistancy that whats on the rest of the cake? It's so frustrating. I'm getting better at the smoothing thing & then I got a bulge.

This is why I stick with cookies!

Let cake crumb coat set up dry, the place book or books on cake to push down cake a little,,and let it sit for at least 1/2 hour minimum! Works like a charm!! I once had a problem with this before and ever since I used this technique..it doesn't happen anymore! Best of luck!

Jenifer

OH, and also,,don't need to add so much filling..just an inch of it all around behind dam! That's all I use as cake is sweet anyways..don't want to over power it!

Jenifer

May I ask what strawberry filling you used. I need a recipe.

thanks

If you use 100% butter in your buttercream, it may not be strong enough to hold up to the weight of the cake layers and fondant. The heat and humidity of the summer adds to this problem. Try a 50/50 ratio of butter and Sweetex, this should give your buttercream some strength. I don't like to use all Sweetex because I feel if I call the frosting buttercream, it should have a good amount of butter in it.

I did this last week...let cake bake and then I let it sit for 1/2hr...decided I wanted to be safe, so I put a board on it, with a book....after awhile I heard a crash in the kitchen.

I went in and my board/book had fallen, and my cake has a side that broke on it!!! I had to glue it with bc as I didnt have time to do another. thank god it didnt look broken and glued!!!

my cake was a choc. cake...which Im told is alittle more denser than a reg. cake??? to me it felt soft and springy.

No boards, no books, no cans

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-633571-newest.html+trick+l