I've conquered the dry cakes and now I'm having trouble with the cakes being too moist. When I layer them, the bottom layer bulges. Any help?

I'm using a box cake mix and people RAVE over the taste so I didn't want to change.

Also, for those having humidity issues with your icing - what are you doing to help with this? I did a wedding cake over the weekend and I had the WORST time with the icing not crusting.

When I bake my cakes I let them cool inside the pan for about 10 min
then I turn them upside down and continue to cool them with the
pan over them, then I remove the pan and let it air dry a little bit
until the cake feels firm, then I layer it. I have found that doing this
helps alot with the bulging.

About the bc not crusting, I have this trouble sometimes also, even
thought the recipe does not change. I just deal with it when this happens,
I don't know if adding more ps will help, and if this does, this also
would make the icing extremely sweet ( I would think). Sorry I
can't help with this.

I just wanted to practice this weekend and were lazy to make cake from scratch, so I bought box cake. You are right, they are very moist, and I had trouble with it as well. Actually the cake ended up in the trash, because it broke inside, when I was frosting (one layer slide). I will never bake from box again. I ended up making new cake WASC, which is doctored cake recipe, and I tell you, this cake is the best!! Find WASC recipe in this CC site.

You might want to try changing the fat in your recipe from oil to butter or part butter/part shortening. It makes for a firmer cake but still melts in your mouth. Oil at room temp is liquid, thus very soft but butter/shortening are solid so this makes a firmer cake that I have found helps stop bulging/settling.

Try it!

HTH

am i correct? isn,t wasc... a box mix.... with added ingredients.. even cakes made strickly from scratch will break on your also.. i never ice a cake ..no matter what type. until i freeeze it overnite.. for a few hours. or whatever.. this helps keep it moist and more stable for icing..

Duplicate post, please also see:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-641612-.html

HTH

I use wasc and my cakes never break. The added ingredients make the cake denser, but still tastes delicious like a box only mix. Wasc is considered a boxed cake extender recipe. It's also great to use for 3d cakes as it holds up so well. Everyone I make it for raves about it!. I always chill my cakes in the fridge at least, if I can fit them I'll put them in the freezer - it helps "chill" the BC faster too!