I've read so many forums mentioning about making a stiff dam before filling a cake with buttercream. What dam are they reffering to? Is the still dam different from the filling? What kind of recipe can I use for the dam? I'm really confused. Help. =]

As far as I know, you use a thick buttercream-type cream and pipe a ring (without a tip), a little in from the edge so it can spread out a bit when you add the upper layer(s). This forms a 'dam' for the usually softer fillings, such as fruit or pudding.

I am sure others will pop in to give more insight into this question!

Eve.

Oh, I should have said...after you torte your cake, you pipe the dam on the lower portion of cake, before adding the filling within this piped area, then you place the upper layer of cake on top of it. The reson wedo thiss to prevt thefinished cake from bulging out sideways from fillings squishing out

Just in case my first post wasn't clear!!

E.

Use your regular BC and add powder sugar until is it stiff enough to almost form a rope with your hands. Use a coupler without a tip to pipe your dam. Then fillinside your dam with regular BC or a thin layer of other filling. Put the next layer on top and press down a little. Crumb coat and let the cake settle for a few hours before doing the final icing.

Thanks Evoir and Tiggy. Honestly, I have been looking for a huge tip where I can pipe the dam and I totally did not know that I can just use my coupler itself. THANKS for the tip.