Hi, I need your help. Lately, when I cover a cake with fondant (wilton or satin ice) my fondant bulges where my two layers connect. At first I thought I had overfilled the cakes so I used a lot less filling, then I thought it was the AC being on in the house so I turned it off the next time I worked on a cake but still the same. What am I doing wrong?

I didn't have this happened before I don't know what I am doing wrong. Plus I have been having a lot of cracking even if I roll quickly and lay it on the cake quickly.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=633571&highlight=newest+trick

Ok first of all the air conditioning has nothing to do with it. That actually helps things. We keep our house at about 68 year round. We are total polar bears and I am ok with that. It's good for the cakes too.

To alleviate this bulging thing, there are two things you need to do. The first is use a very very stiff dam. Don't use icing that is soft. I mean stiff, like so stiff you can mold it with your hands. You will be white-knuckled piping it. Make sure that when you pipe the dam that it's not right up against the edge of the cake. I always pipe the dam about 1/4 inch away from the edge. This gives it a little bit of room to expand when any subsequent layers are added. Finally, make sure you don't overfill. Get down at eye level and look at your cake. If it makes a slight hump over the dam then it's overfilled. Think about it-if you put weight on top of that overfilled dam it has no choice but to expand outward.

You can also weight your cakes as Leah suggested, but I personally don't do that. I have let them sit with a crumbcoat at room temperature for several hours, but I really don't do that anymore. I generally don't even crumbcoat-I just go ahead and put one coat on and then refrigerate it before traveling with it.

I had this problem and used all the above tips with no success.
Bought sugarshack's BC dvd and there was my answer.
Evidently some of my pans had sloping sides.
Got down to eye level and trimmed until the cake had good, straight sides.
Thanks, Sharon Z.

Well if you watched Sugarshack's DVD she is also a proponent of using a very stiff dam to prevent bulging. I think if your pans have sloping sides then that is a whole different set of issues.

The most common causes of bulging are overfilling and not using a stiff enough dam. Those problems are exacerbated when the cake settles.

If I have to decorate a cake the same day, I use weights. But usually I fill the cake the day before and let gravity work on it's own overnight.

Did not say I didn't use a stiff dam.
Just stated that it didn't help.
Maybe I should have mentioned this only happened with a set of 8x2 Magic Lines that I ordered online.
It had never occurred to me that just because I paid premium prices for premium pans that this would be a problem.
They gladly exchanged them, but I have made it a habit to check ALL my cakes for level (from all angles).

I don't do the dam a zambito recommends unless I am filling with something other than buttercream. I just put a thin layer between the cakes and then more along the outside since I use the cake board as a guide to smooth the cakes. I think the most important thing is letting the cakes rest either with or without a board.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will definitely try your suggestions. Thank you!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone for all their great advice. It made a huge difference. No more bulge. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

A

Are you a member on that site? Isit worth the $10 a month? Thanks! Nncy

Hi I am not a member but I did buy five of her videos.

ASugarpixy, can you share what ones you really liked ?

I Loved all of them but my top three were Perfecting the Art of Buttercream., Successful Stacking and Flawless Fondant. Now I must say that I have modified techniques but these videos helped me to analyse cake decorating in a new way.