I've made 2 cakes now and ice them with buttercream, then draped my fondant over the top.

I rolled out my fondant with the help of 50/50 constarch and 10x sugar, then laid it on the cake.

I thought I did a good job smoothing them out by hand and with the smoothing tool, it all looks great when I'm done.

AN HOUR LATER, I will see larger than a quarter size bubble somewhere. I can't figure it out, where did it come from? I've actually pricked the fondant and let the air out then covered the hole with a decoration, but then I see ANOTHER bubble.

I can't figure it out. Is my buttercream melting or something underneath? Was there air there the whole time? Is the constarch that I'm dusting the fondant with making it not want to "stick" in certain places? What do I do?

Are the bubbles actually under the fondant or between "layers" of fondant? I've gotten bubbles from time to time between the fondant "layers" created from kneeding the dough. Those I can usually find and prick before putting it on the cake. If they are under the fondant entirely, I would put the fondant on when the buttercream is still soft or add piping gel painted on to glue the fondant to dried buttercream.

HTH!

If you're getting bubbles under your fondant while rolling it out, I keep a small, very sharp sewing needle handy and I prick the air pocket which lets the air escape... I then continue rolling my fondant out ... this works for me really well .. tcturtleshell showed me this! thanks TC!!

not while rolling it out. It's great, nice and perfect, then I lay it on the cake, smooth it out, trim the bottom, everything is great. An hour later I will see a bubble on the side of the cake and the fondant is kinda poofing outwards.

Is your buttercream really crusted when you put on the fondant? This is my only thought of why it could be happening. I would try painting some piping gel on certain areas of your cake to make sure its "damp" enough to hold the fondant to the surface of the cake.

hmmmm I've never had that problem before .. maybe someone else that has can answer this one ... I'll bump you back up to the top... good luck!

Are you refrigerating it? Sometimes the cake forms bubbles when it is refrigerated....(fondant shouldn't be refrigerated)

Good luck...

Did you freeze the cake? I had the same problem some years ago and I think the problem was that the cake wasn´t totaly defrosted.

Nope, didn't refridgerate or freeze either the cake or the fondant.

One time I made more stiff BC icing and it 'crusted' over to the point it wasn't really sticky and the fondant just laid there, I actually ripped it off and started over, so I don't let my BC dry out.

It's MAKING ME NUTS!

I'm making another cake today when I get home so I'm trying it all over again.

..it sounds to me that the fondant did not adhere to the bc underneath, in those areas, and forming air bubbles. Perhpas try a little thicker underlayment of BC and really work with the fondant to make sure it has adhered to the BC....after I use the fondant smoother, I like to go back over it with my hand.

I will put a thin layer of piping gel around the bottom of the cake for the fondant to adhere to....not sure if that may help, but you could try....the gel seems to make the fondant stay put

I need to ask a question about fondant and do not want to start a new post so here goes;

I have another order for the Barbie doll and wanted to know if I can use buttercream icing to make those logs that form the pleats instead of the fondant...so much fondant (mmf) is wasted by doing this.

Will the weight of the fondant top skirt smash the b/c logs down under the skirt?

tickledpink, sorry that I butted in with my question since I couldn't help with your question.

bump

Haha, should have added let them really set up first and be careful when smoothing your fondant.
Don't laugh but I have also used hard candy sticks and a couple of times, licorice twists, the red ones.
Hugs Squirrelly

Thanks Squirrelly,

I just hate knowing that the fondant is going to be thrown away...money and time wasted rolling those logs just to end up in the garbage.

Bad enough that the skirt is going to be tossed without adding more wasted fondant.

About how much time should I allow?

Haha, here is where it gets interesting. Some people only cover the buttercream before it sets others let the buttercream set to make the fondant adhere. Used to be that you got that fondant on before the buttercream set, that was the rule. That is actually how I do it, but with this, I let the buttercream lines set up for about 20 minutes. Then you can always mist the buttercream before applying the fondant if this is the way you go.
Geesh, it is all changing so much. In fact now there are a couple of fondants that do better on a cold buttercream base that has set up and also these same fondants like to be refrigerated, go figure.
I let let the stripes of icing set up and then mist the whole thing before applying the fondant. Just remember, really stiff buttercream!
Hugs Squirrelly

Thanks Squirrelly.