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.

txsteph, you sound like me now! Don't be hard on yourself. Your cakes show true talent.

Everyone, I can't thank you enough. I have a lot of faith, and I believe that you are "cake angels" sent to give me hope. I love you all.

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!

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.

This is my first reply, I have to say the cake you made was perfect. Your edges were square, your bows were perfect. It was beautiful. I am sure that the recipients were very pleased. I work at a grocery store bakery and make buttercream cakes all the time. I get blowouts quite a bit. I always thought it was the temperature differences. At the store our cakes are frozen. We take the case of 8" rounds out and have to mass produce 2 layer cakes for sale. I make about 16 to 25 at a time. Since the cakes are frozen and the icing comes in a bucket (full of preservatives btw) sitting out in a warm bakery, the frosting spreads easily. We use a cake icer and then a bench scraper to press it to the sides of the cake. Once the cakes are done they are put into a refrigerated display case. Usually the next day I notice a few blowouts. I believe it is the differences in temperature and not enough pressure with the bench scraper to press the icing into the cake side. I am sure there is a moisture problem too. I know that this was long winded but I hope that it helps.

I actually am very bored with cakes like what we do at work. I like to do mine at home with fondant so I can test my skills.

I, too, had to search for the bubble. Your cake is gorgeous!!

I don't know the solution to the bubbles, but i might be able to help with levelling. First, I have the cheap-o $3.59 Wilton leveller and it works fine for me... Go to the hardware store and get yourself a torpedo level. They're only about 6" long and if you get the plastic one you can wash it easily. I couldn't live without it!

You do wonderful work. I think the cake is beautiful. I would love to hear that you are going to decorate for years to come.

I was having trouble making sure my cakes were level. I bought a small bubble level from Lowes. (It stays clean with my cake stuff.) I cut, then check it one way, then turn the cake and check it again.

If your cakes still seem off, lay the bubble level on the actual work table to make sure it is level. I have a stainless work table that is level in one area of my kitchen, and slightly off when I move it across the room.

-Debbie B.

You cake is wonderful! We are always to hard on ourselves and see flaws that cake muggles don't see. Honestly, I have looked through bridal magazines and found flaws in cakes there! No cake is perfect, but your are damn close. I mean look at my wedding cake! I made it for a friend who really couldn't afford to buy one, she was so appreciative, she thought it was the most beautiful cake (and I am thinking to myself OMG its bulging and the top teir is crooked, but she had no clue!), she was just really happy that she got a cake that she could NEVER afford otherwise. Please don't stress and please stick to decorating

First of all the bows are awsome, I am still trying to perfect mine, they drive me bonkers. I am going to try the marshmallow recipe this time.

Maybe you are not giving yourself enough time and putting too much pressure on yourself. I love the cake, smooth finish, hearts are wonderful, so I would suggest to give yourself a break. Maybe get a mild anti anxiety perscription, I know I had to break down and do that for myself. In my case a result of getting older, I lost my calm.

I have signed up for a two week course at Wilton so maybe I will pick up some helpful hints. I am hoping that this will fill in the blanks for me as I am trying to reopen my catering business. Where I now live there are not many jobs and I really want to help out the family finances.

I wish you all the best.

You all are so amazingly sweet to me! My hubby heard back from the couple (he sees them at the golf club he belongs to, and that was where the reception was too), and they all LOVED the cake. No one said anything about a bubble, of course. I am a Virgo (for those of you who believe in that astrology stuff) and I hear they are the worst when it comes to perfectionism. I beat myself up black and blue if there is one little smoootz on the cake. I obsess to the point where I too have to take anti-anxiety meds! Is it worth it? I don't know....I especially get worried when some of you all write on here that you would never do wedding cakes because of the stress/responsibility.

The times I've gotten a bubble in my cakes like that one was when I didn't get all the sides brushed off very good. Sometimes when I bake a cake there is a piece of the crust on the sides that comes lose. Sometimes I find it after I've crumb coated and let it set for a little while. Now I brush off the sides of the cake with a little gusto to get all the lose crumbs off and I've found I do not have that problem anymore.

Hope this helps.

Your not making cakes would be a lose to the cake world. Everyone has an oops everynow and again. Pick yourself up, dust off the cake crumbs, and keep on caking.

Bubble, what bubble ?.The cake is gorgeous.

I haven't read the whole thread, but that bubble aint a disaster. You take a toothpick and open the buttercream so the air that is trapped comes out and then press it down with viva paper. That happens more often than you think.
Edna

your cake is beautiful

That cake, along with the rest of them in your gallery, is gorgeous! My cakes will get one from time to time. Twice, cakes have gotten one after set up and I'd left. I got a call for one...it wasn't an ugly call...more like a "um...the cake is doing something freaky...." call. The other one, they never called...they took a few pictures (the bubble wound up getting so large it was the size of like 1/3 of the tier then it did the dastardly deed...IT PEELED OFF! leaving the cake exposed. They turned it toward the back and continued celebrating. They showed me the pictures...get this...not for their money back but so I'd know that it happened to ensure that it wouldn't happen with a future cake...seriously..was that not the coolest thing ever? (I was blessed that it happened to them...they were repaid for their kindness to be sure)

Crap is going to happen to EVERY DECORATOR. No reason to quit though.

Ok, I have gone through all your photos and your cakes are very fine. I think you are beating yourself up needlessly. Relax, enjoy your art as the people you do it for are enjoying.

Thanks again, y'all. Hubby and I think it has something to do with the temp differences. All4cake, do you freeze or refrigerate your cakes? Hubby thinks that because I do, when I bring them out of the fridge and the temp rises in the buttercream, the bubble develops. On the cake I did a couple weeks ago that got one, I did the thing where you stick it with a pin, and it CAME BACK. I couldn't believe it. It was gone when I put it in the car to deliver, but once I set it up at the site, it was back. Craziest thing I ever saw. I know you all say they look small, but to me they look like some huge cake goiter.

I have seen them (on someone else's cake) so bad that they peeled the icing off, and that's what had me so freaked out. I imagined all the icing peeling off and laying on the cake table.

I never crumbcoat a chilled cake. The times I've had them were on cakes that the formula called for oil...aaaaaaaaaaaaand it's only ever been on chocolate...I've since changed formulas and for now, no bubbles...