Hubby thinks I should quit cakes (LONG sorry) - Page 3

Have you taken a good look at all your cake pictures? I just did & I am in awe of what you have done. Take a look at my pics of cakes, it will make you feel so much better about your bubble. I thought I was pretty good until I joined this site LOL. I hope one day I will be able to decorate like you do.

How do you get cake bubbles? Especially in buttercream? I made a cake last month and got a bubble. i made the cake the night before and woke up to a bubble. I flattened it out to fix it and a few hours later it was back. 9x13 cake, 2 layers, frozen when i iced it in buttercream. Is it just moisture escaping? I had never seen or heard about it before, so I'm glad someone has asked the question.

Oh girl my cakes look like a pre-k made them lol and I'm not giving up. I learned here that practice, practice, practice makes perfect and all the words of encouragement these wonderful people give me. After seeing all the cakes everyone else makes here I was embarassed to even put mine up but I did anyway because this is what I enjoy doing on my spare time and I won't give up. If this is what you love then keep doing it you'll get better as time goes by.

It may or may not make you feel better, but I'm going to tell you a story about me and one of my cakes...

First of all, your cake is beautiful! I doubt anyone noticed it but you.


In June 2007 I did my first wedding cake for a stranger, previous to that I had done friends, friends of friends... but this one was a stranger who found me and hired me. I was freaked out, to say the least.

It was my first time baking, torting, filling... a 16" square, which was quite the task all on it's own. I covered and re-covered these cakes in fondant. I was planning on bringing them separate and do the decoration on site, but I realized with the vine it was just going to be too time consuming. So, I stacked at home, finished it up. It was raining, hot, humid... I brought the cake to a venue I had never been to or even heard of.

I got it upstairs, set it up, and started noticing bubbles. Not just one, this was like, the bubble cake. freaking out. I had an exacto with me, so I was trying to do some poking, but then it was the bubble cake with holes in it, so I had to quit and just leave. My husband had come with me to help with the delivery, so he drove and cried the whole way home. then I started throwing up when I got home, swearing off wedding cakes forever. I felt sick to my stomach FOR DAYS after delivering this cake.

It was a Saturday wedding, on Wednesday I get a call from the venue, I had no idea what to expect. They called to tell me that I was the most professional decorator they had seen, that my cake tasted amazing, and they wanted me on their preferred vendor list and could I bring some cards and participate in their open house. ?!?! I was in shock.

A few days after that, I ran into the mother of the bride, who told me they loved the way the cake looked and it tasted even better and that it was the conversation of the night, thank you thank you thank you. I've since done 6 or 7 cakes for their family.

those days of crying, throwing up, swearing off wedding cakes, it was all a waste of time...

All of that to say, Don't be so hard on yourself! relax! The cake looks great and I'm sure your customers think so too!

I try to remember this when I'm so hard on myself

I just watched a video on you tube by Jannelle's cakes. She says that she chills her cakes after applying the fondant in order to avoid the cake inflating and getting air bubbles. I'm a newbie with very little fondant experience, but thought this may help you.

I just checked out your photos, cakedesigner59, and I can see why you're so hard on yourself -- you're truly talented, and talented people expect a great deal of themselves. The technical wrinkles are a pain in the tushie, but you "deserve to be legal" -- you have a great future as a professional decorator!

I think that is absolutely the best advice given - EVER!

AND, cakedesigner59... that's a buttercream cake?!

Holy cow, you are crazy for contemplating for even a nano second quitting! That's as smooth as a fondant covered cake, and I would have never guessed in a million years it was anything but fondant. I've never heard of a buttercream blowout... wow!

Don't quit. You're cakes are great, and you are only going to learn more with time. I wish I could make bows that perfect!

Your cake is beautiful!! I too had a bubble yesterday on a baby shower cake and was devasted, but had time to fix it. Icing was buttercream and I have no idea why it happened and had posted a "help" yesterday morning. Made me want to throw in the towel and my husband said no more cakes for money - just for family! I agreed. I feel differently today, but probably will never do a wedding cake, due to the tremendous stress. I couldn't take it. Keep up the good work - we are all in this together.

It is a beautiful cake, I love the little hearts and your bows are stunning. We all have set backs, I have come to tears more than once over a wedding cake. I tell you what finally did help me with leveling cakes, I bought the big Wilton leveler, the one that looks like a hack saw. I does the job and is much easier to use than a knife or the pathetic wire leveler also sold by wilton. I found one other thing when I was pulling my hair out a few years back over leveling issue. I found that I needed to let the cake completely cool before freezing. If the cake cools to quickly it may not have had enough time to settle. I hope this helps, don't be so hard on yourself but I know we are all our own worst critics.

You have received some great advice. I can only offer my method.
I level my cakes in the pan about 5 minutes after taking them out of the oven but leave the top piece on until they cool. When they are almost cool still warm to the touch but not hot I remove the trimmed part and wrap in two layers of sams stretch wrap.(or if I don't need the pans right away I just wrap them with the sams stretch wrap right in the pan and then stack them in a rubbermaid tote that has the latches as they have a tighter seal. To store until I am ready to decorate. I put the bins in the dining room which is our coldest room of the house all year long.

I also use the viva towel method of smoothing and I think it helps eliminate bubbles.


I had to look really hard to find your bubble and think the cake is Stunning. Please don't give up.

I had my first bubble in buttercream on the last cake that I did. I just poked it with my exact-o and smoothed it back over with my paper towel. I didn't notice that it had come back when I delivered the cake. Everyone raved about it, so if it was there, they didn't notice it or mention it.

You do beautiful work. Don't let things you really can't control bring you down. Baking is all a chemistry experiment. Maybe it was more humid that day and that caused the problem. I know when I got the bubble in my icing it was really warm and humid in my house.

I hope things are looking up and that you are feeling better.

A cake friend gave me this idea for cake bubbles...use a coffee stirrer. Stick in the bubble and suck the air out...of course, you may want to do this when no one is looking. Works like a charm.

Your cake is cute and believe it or not I've never had a bubble in my icing and this is the first time I've seen on. Now fondant on the other hand is another story, I get little bubbles all the time. Don't give up, a lilttle patience goes a long way.