I have the opportunity to make my first cake for a wedding. The bride wants a yellow butter cake with a strawberry cream filling, covered with fondant. I have perfected the recipes, the problem is, I made a couple of practice cakes and the layers shift and the filling comes out! I pipe a thick layer of icing around the layer to keep the frosting in but as soon as I put the second layer on top, the weight of the cake smooshes the filling and it all seeps out. I need suggestions to keep the filling in. The filling needs to be about a half inch thick. PLEASE HELPPP!!!! I can't be responsible for ruining a brides wedding cake!

I read about a technique that I have used a few times and it works really well. Take a small knife and gently only about a quarter inch deep and a half inch in from the edge, a complete circle and carefully cut out a quarter inch deep of cake and fill it...I still put my buttercream dam around the edge too...keeps the filling in and makes a better seal. Wish I could remember where I read that, I would give them credit. HTH

Good luck!

it happens to me!! : ( I need that help 2 : )

I've been a hobby baker for 2 years now. I am a firm believer that the problem is because you simply have not made enough cakes/dams etc. It all comes right with practice, practice, practice.

It took me nearly the entire 2 years to be able to correctly bake/tort/fill/dam my large cakes without a bulge. The secret is not really a secret at all, it is JUST PRACTICE! Finally, you WILL get it right. In my case, I had to do it wrong about 20 times first........sigh.......

My filling was either too thin (almost invisible and certainly didn't pack a wallop in the taste department), or created a bulge, or bulged after settling, or sunk into the cake layer, or..... well, all sorts of things that were NOT what I intended.

What I did to finally get it right was take about 2 cups of buttercream (medium consistency), placed it in a large bowl and kept dumping more and more powdered sugar into the frosting until I had the consistency of Play-Do. I mean SUPER-STIFF!!!! It was so stiff that I ended up forming ropes and laying it on my torted layers because it was almost impossible to squeeze out of the bag. It was like fondant. Once I did that, I was able to make torted cakes with 1" of cake, 1/4" of filling, 1" of cake, 1/4" of filling, 1" of cake, 1/4" of filling, 1" of cake (a tier that ended up being about 4-3/4" tall overall).

I was so proud.........

Also, some fillings are just more slippery than others. Just because a person wants a cake to be a certain way (example: "The filling needs to be about a half inch thick") doesn't mean it can be done that way AND be done correctly. It is up to you, the decorator/baker, to inform the customer what YOU are capable of doing.

I wish you well. I'd try another practice cake using the SUPER-STIFF dam method above, and only make your filling 1/4" thick.

If your dam is indeed stiff enough, then you are putting in too much filling. Make sure your filling is stiff too. Whip the cream until it is very stiff and stabilize it with some gelatin or a couple of tablespoons of instant pudding mix so it doesn't droop. I don't really like to fill my cakes with overly loose fillings. If you are using American buttercream, add enough powdered sugar so that you can actually mold the icing with your hands. Yes, it will still pipe, but you will be white-knuckled doing it. That's what you need to do. Then fill the cake, but make sure you don't go over the dam. Crouch down and look at the filling at eye level and make sure it's even and not over the dam.

You can let your cake settle for a bit before you ice it, although I don't do that very often. Also, make sure you are using some good supports within each tier. I suggest looking into SPS.

Annie

Thanks everyone for all your great advice!!