I definitely need some help!! I'm struggling with (what I call) "Blowouts". In the past couple of months, several times after icing a cake with cream cheese buttercream bulge(s)/air pocket(s) develop on the sides of the cake. The icing just pulls away from the cake and the icing looks like it has started to liquify. At first, I thought it might be due to the cake being too moist. However, by increasing the amount of flour I ended up with a dry cake and still had Blowouts! At this point, I'm thinking it might be the icing, specifically the way I mix the icing. Normally, I put all ingredients except the sugar into the bowl; mixing it on high until creamy. I then lower the speed to 2, adding the sugar a little at a time. Once all sugar has been added I kick it up to high again for a minute or so until creamy. I can only hope the problem is in the mixing. My clients really like this buttercream but if I can't fix this problem I'll start losing my mind and my clients all at the same time!! I'd truly appreciate any input.

I've never heard of anything like this happening except when the cake is frozen and you ice before thawing. I learned that the hard way. The buttercream sweated and ran and it was nasty.

Could it be the heat or humidity level? If you're using cream cheese in the icing, it's going to be softer than regular buttercream. Perhaps it's simply melting off the cake?

Are the blowouts consistantly in the middle of the sides? Where the layers meet? Or are they on the top and sides?

This topic has been discussed on both answers.

1) If the blowouts are cinsitantly in the middle of the sides, where the layers meet then it is most likely your filling, You need to make sure you have a stiff damn around your filling if you are not using only buttercream, and you also need to let your layers settle before you smooth the outsides, the allows the cake to push out any extra filling and you can smooth the "bulge" when you smooth the sides.

2) If they are all over the place on top and sides, it seems the culprit is too much moisture in the cake. This can be caused by the cake itself being to moist, or if you ice frozen and the air expanding in the cake can cause bubbles in the buttercream.

I hope this helps, if you have more questions please ask!

Leily

I had this happen when I iced a cake layer that was too cold, on a warm day. The icing buckled away from the layers.

If your cake layers are still frozen or are very cold, that may be part of the problem. I think you icing is probably not the problem.

Another tip, If you are icing a cold cake from the fridge or the freezer in warm weather, Something I do is take the back of the rose nail (the pointy end) And stab my cake about every 2 inches. This helps to give the cake/air a place to expand too when thawing so that it doesn't crack, buckle, or bubble your icing. It is a little trick I learned when working in a bakery when we had to get cakes out and didn't have time for them to thaw

Leily