Buttercream Icing Collapsing

Decorating By kerririchards Updated 13 Oct 2005 , 11:10am by kerririchards

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kerririchards Posted 7 Oct 2005 , 4:28pm
post #1 of 17

I just finished decorating a 12-inch torted round cake for a wedding shower last night. When I got up this morning to deliver the cake, the buttercream icing had collapsed in a couple of spots at the base of the cake. It kind of bulged out and cracked. Has anyone else had this problem? Since this has only happened a couple of times to me, I can only assume that maybe it is the height of my cake that is causing the problem. I even let my cake "settle" for a couple of hours before decorating. If I remember correctly the other cakes were a little taller, too. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I fortunately had time to scrape all of the icing off and start over. Now, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it does not happen to the same cake twice - since this cake is traveling a couple of hours out of town!
LL

16 replies
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candyladyhelen Posted 7 Oct 2005 , 8:48pm
post #2 of 17

The cake is beautiful! Maybe the icing was too thin? Or maybe it was applied too thick?

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vitade Posted 8 Oct 2005 , 11:25am
post #3 of 17

I know you've explained it, but I just can't picture it. The icing slide off the cake? Maybe it was your filling coming out from the wieght of the top layer causing it. BTW, your cake looks great!

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kerririchards Posted 8 Oct 2005 , 11:38am
post #4 of 17

No, my icing did not slide off, it just kind of buckled. It was only in a couple of places at the base of the cake and the buttercream kind of pulled away from the cake. I used a medium consistency buttercream So I am assuming that it was from the weight of the cake. Also, the filling did not come out, I had a dam of buttercream around each layer to hold in the filling.

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Gingoodies Posted 9 Oct 2005 , 5:13pm
post #5 of 17

I am just thinking that it might have been an air bubble. That sometimes happens to me when I am smoothing my icing.

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stephanie214 Posted 9 Oct 2005 , 5:51pm
post #6 of 17

I've been having the same problem...throught it was me.

After I smootrh my icing around the sides, it droops and I have to smooth it up again. After doing this a couple of times, it then behaves itself.

Have noticed also that on the top when smoothing it looks like oil or something that is keeping the icing from sticking to the cake.

Help!!!

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TamiAZ Posted 9 Oct 2005 , 6:00pm
post #7 of 17

Did it happen in between two of your layers??? How many layers were in the cake? It sounds like an airbubble to me, too...

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stephanie214 Posted 9 Oct 2005 , 6:05pm
post #8 of 17

Mine are the sheet cakes with no filling.

It just wants to move instead of just lying there like it is suppose to.

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bikegal Posted 10 Oct 2005 , 4:01am
post #9 of 17

kerri,
I just had that very same problem for the first time. Just in one spot fortunately and luckily it was for my husband's birthday cake. It looked like a big air bubble had popped making the icing buckle and crack open. I was contributing it to the humidity that day, which was absolutely awful.

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vitade Posted 10 Oct 2005 , 9:36am
post #10 of 17

I'm not sure what you guys mean by air bubble?

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kerririchards Posted 10 Oct 2005 , 11:48am
post #11 of 17

You know, it did seem kind of like a big air bubble. And it was a very humid day. That might have been the problem. Fortunately, I did have time to fix it. I would just hate for something like that to happen after my customer picked up the cake!

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bikegal Posted 10 Oct 2005 , 1:51pm
post #12 of 17

kerri,

I totally understand your worry about customers, my cake looked fine when I went to sleep. When I woke 'lo and behold a big eyesore. I'm sure your customers would have mentioned it to you if that had happened to any of the cakes you sent home with them. Cooler weather is just right around the corner thank goodness! Vitade it's like a giant air bubble was trapped underneath your buttercream and decided to explode. icon_smile.gif

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Nana2three Posted 10 Oct 2005 , 2:04pm
post #13 of 17

Your cake is beautiful! Are you flowers gumpaste or fondant?

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kerririchards Posted 10 Oct 2005 , 4:07pm
post #14 of 17

The flowers are silk. The gumpaste flowers were a little more expensive than what the customer was wanting, especially for a wedding shower cake.

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Gingoodies Posted 12 Oct 2005 , 5:54pm
post #15 of 17

vitade.. as you are mixing your icing.. air is incorporated into it. Sometimes an air "bubble" gets into the icing as you are frosting the cake or even decorating it. When it pops, it will leave a crater of sorts in the icing. When the bubble is nearer to the cake that the outside of the frosting it will tend to slide off the cake.

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vitade Posted 13 Oct 2005 , 10:36am
post #16 of 17

Wow, I haven't had that every happen. Is it a certain type of recipe that will do it or does that not make a difference?

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kerririchards Posted 13 Oct 2005 , 11:10am
post #17 of 17

I just used a regular buttercream recipe - the same one I always use. You know, shortening, conf. sugar, salt, flavorings and water. So I don't think it was my recipe. But even though this has just happened to me a couple of times in the past 2 years that I have been decorating, I am now quite gun shy. I finished another cake last night and opened the box this morning with bated breath! Whew! It was still perfect!

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