Buttercream Blowout?

Decorating By sk8gr8md Updated 24 Jun 2008 , 1:11am by sugarshack

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sk8gr8md Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 3:06pm
post #1 of 17

Does anyone else have this problem? My cake will look great, but once I pull it out of the fridge and it comes up to room temp, I'll get what I call a buttercream blowout. A bubble separates the icing from the cake in spots. It doesn't seem to matter if I crumb coat or not. I do try to fill in any bad spots with buttercream before I cover the whole cake. I use the icer tip (best thing ever!) and make sure I push the BC against the side of the cake rather than just lay it on. My fave smoothing method of late are a plastic spackle knife around the sides and a hot spatula on the top.

Sorry if I rambled. I have some fun cakes to do this month and I'd like them to be perfect.

16 replies
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christeena Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 3:17pm
post #2 of 17

I've had this happen also and posted the same question here - someone said that the cake gives off "gas" as it comes to room temperature from refrigeration causing the bubbles. So from now on I make sure the cake comes to room temp. before I deliver or set -up so that I can "pop" the buble and do any repairs. What a pain!!

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hope22023 Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 3:28pm
post #3 of 17

I had the exact same problem several months ago. You can avoid the problem by icing the cake when it is at room temp. Once it is iced, you can take it out of the fridge with no problem.

(I was filling and crumb coating, refrigerating, then immediately putting on the final coat of icing. Had a blow out everytime. Now, no more blowouts!)

HTH.

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sk8gr8md Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:00pm
post #4 of 17

That makes perfect sense! I never even thought of that and always iced my cakes right out of the fridge. I'll be sure to do it at room temp tonight. What would I do without my CC saviors?

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DianaMarieMTV Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:11pm
post #5 of 17

I've only had this problem once. I was doing a cake for my best friend's birthday and the cake was a little frozen still when I was icing it, but I wasn't terribly concerned since it wasn't a paid cake. Anyhow, I had the cake on my kitchen counter behind me and I was doing dishes and I litterally heard the cake "fart" for lack of a better term! It made a little "psht" sound and I turned around and it had a little air bubble. I left the bubble in there and when I took it to my friend I told her, "You and your cake have something in common, neither of you can keep quiet!" icon_smile.gif It was a funny story. ....maybe you had to be there? Haha

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arosstx Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:16pm
post #6 of 17

I had that happen too. It was on a class cake, so I felt like an idiot there w/ all my fellow classmates!

All I can guess is as the colder air escapes the cake as it is warming up to room temp, the bc traps it in and since it has to get out somehow....

Now I wait until it's room temp, that seems to have solved the problem.

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kerririchards Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:34pm
post #7 of 17

And here I thought I was the only one with this problem! I posted this same question about a year ago and no one else seemed to know what I was talking about! I talked to a friend of mine who worked at a local bakery and she said that they had that problem ALL the time - but since she had moved and was working in a different bakery, she had only seen that a couple of times. She said the only thing they did differently was to refrigerate the cakes after decorating. So I started doing that - refrigerating until delivery or pickup. But I always wondered what happened to that cake when it warmed to room temp. I made a sheet cake one time that I decorated during the day. I didn't refrigerate it at any point and it looked great the whole day. It looked good the next morning as well, but a couple of hours later I peeked in the box before the lady came to pick it up and I had a huge blowout on one side. So I have tried it both ways and sometimes I get it and sometimes I don't. Weird! But I have been crumb-coating and then sticking it in the fridge because the hardened icing makes it so much easier for that second coat to go on smoothly without pulling anything else off. Guess I will try it without doing that. Thanks for the suggestion!!!

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ellepal Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:38pm
post #8 of 17

I have the same problem at times, but my buttercream cakes always end up with a huge bulge across the center where the two layers meet. I have tried everything, and nothing seems to work well. I want to give up doing buttercream wedding cakes for this reason!!

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kerririchards Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:47pm
post #9 of 17

ellepal, you will get rid of that bulge if you don't add a "dam". Just fill your layers almost to the edge and then really press down pretty good on top of the top layer to squeeze the excess out the sides. You can fill in any empty spaces with crumb coating. Then let it settle for awhile before icing. Or if you are adding a dam, you could make it a bit wider and then press down to remove the excess.

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simplysweetcakes Posted 5 Jan 2007 , 4:48pm
post #10 of 17

I've always wondered why the "blowout" happens...it all makes sense now.

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brnrlvr Posted 22 Jun 2008 , 1:48am
post #11 of 17

S ifI have this straight, You can ice a room temp cake and then refridgerate it overnight and you don't have to worry about blowouts. But if you refridgerate overnight, ice straight out of the fridge, return to fridge, when it comes up to room temp you get the blowouts?

Had my first one today on a wedding cake. Not good. Never have had the problem, but I just started refridgerating my cakes.

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sugarshack Posted 22 Jun 2008 , 3:16am
post #12 of 17

I personally believe it is caused by condensation between the cake and the icing, and the temp changes cause it. I get blow outs even if I ice at room temp and then fridge. I live in a very humid climate, not sure if that makes a difference.

and the bulging problem can be solved by stiffening up you dam BC with powdered sugar until it is really stiff.

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brnrlvr Posted 22 Jun 2008 , 3:22am
post #13 of 17

Crap! Just when I have discovered refridgerating cakes for transport!!

Does the frosting actually ever fall off,or is there just the bulge/bubble?

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brnrlvr Posted 23 Jun 2008 , 11:49am
post #14 of 17

Still wondering if the frosting ever actually falls off. And does it happen every time you fridgerate and bring to room temp? ANd is there a way to chill for transport, but maybe for just an hour, and get the benifit of chilling,but not enough to cause the blowout? ANyone get this with cakes that have not been refigderated?

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sugarshack Posted 23 Jun 2008 , 5:50pm
post #15 of 17

I do not fridge at all b/c I do not have the room, so I am sorry I am no help with that. but I bet if you started a new topic someone could help you with that!

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brnrlvr Posted 23 Jun 2008 , 10:07pm
post #16 of 17

Thanks Sharon!

I have not bought your stacking video yet, but do you deliver fully stacked, and if so, what support system do you use?

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sugarshack Posted 24 Jun 2008 , 1:11am
post #17 of 17

yes i do!

and my 2 methods used are bubble tea straws and stress free rings

HTH!

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