Can anyone tell me why I get the bulge on the side of my cakes at the seam between the two cake layers? Am I putting too much icing between the layers or what?

Here's a couple of things you can try in order to avoid that problem in the future:

Allow your layers to rest for a at least 5 hours after baking.

Pipe a dam 1/4" in from the edge of the cake with tip 12, then add your filling so it's BELOW the level of the dam. If you're worried that this won't be enough filling, torte your layers so you have four layers of cake and three layers of filling.

After stacking each layer, press down on the cake with a board. If anything squishes out, wipe it away.

Once the layers are filled, allow them to rest for at least 4 hours before icing.

Try this link for a visual aid. I used to have the same problem and this tutorial really helped me.

http://www.cakeboss.com/PreventBulging.aspx

i use a VERY stiff BC to make my dam, let them settle and then ice. I never get bulges!


HTH

I've often had the bulging problem as well, but just read a thread a few days ago about it. I can't remember who it was, but someone mentioned that they put a heavy something on top of the cake while it rested. Not too heavy, obviously, just enough to put a little pressure on it. I tried it this week...I had a cake resting (after filling, but before frosting) with another 2 empty cake pans on top of it to push it down a little. It's a good idea to put a cake board on top of the cake first, to distribute the weight evenly. Am I making any sense?