How do I stop this? I just torted my cake, made a nice thick damn, filled the layers with buttercream and now I can see the ripples on the side of teh cake through the fondant. Sigh.

I find the key to stopping the bulge is letting the cake sit over night crumbcoated.The next morning I re-ice it and the bulge is gone!! The only time I had to redo a cake was when I did my first tiered cake and stacked,iced,1/2 decorated it all in 1 day and by the end of the day it was bulging.I had to take off all the fondant daisies and make new ones and redo it the next day after it sat over night!!

Like mentioned above, you should let your cake settle for a few hours or overnight before covering with fondant.

I make a good thick dam of buttercream (so thick you can roll balls out of it). I dam, fill, crumbcoat & let it sit a couple hours if possible

Thanks everyone! Next time I will make a thicker dam and let it sit for awhile. I'm always in such a hurry to see a completed project. I was happy with the cake at first but now all I see are ripples. My husband thinks it's hilarious that I made this cake for my daughter's preschool but I'm planning a two tiered version for her family/friend birthday next weekend and I'd like to get it right.

PinkZiab, is that Jacques Torres?? If so, I'm impressed. He's fantastic!

I had trouble with this for SO long and took everyone's advice here to solve the problem. I let the cakes settle for a while and then go around the edges, trimming off about 1/2-1" of cake. I then crumbcoat them and let them settle more in the fridge, then come back and add my second coat of buttercream (make sure it's not too thick). I let that crust a bit and then brush my cakes with a bit of piping gel, then cover with fondant. Sometimes before totally smoothing and trimming the fondant I set the cake on top of something (like a big can of shortening) to let the weight of the fondant kind of "pull down." I then smooth and trim. Since I've been using these techniques I haven't seen that unsightly bulge. I don't miss it at all, lol!! I totally sympathize with you though -- it's hard to be patient and go through all of these steps when you can't wait to see the finished product! Best of luck to you.

Sarah

Thanks sgauta. I appreciate it very much!

After I've filled the cake, I use a cake board and put a little pressure on the top of the cake to push out anything that may try to bulge out later. Then scrape off the excess and let it sit for a while before going any further.

Well I'm officially jealous. I watched him on PBS when he had Dessert Circus. It's amazing to watch him work on TV. I can only imagine what it must be like in person. Lucky girl!