I love the taste of butter, but I keep having a lot of problems with little cracks and repairs after it has crusted. It seems like butter causes it to crust faster --sometimes before I can get the cake smoothed. Once the cake crusts, I can't smooth it out. Last time I tried using more hi-ratio , but I still had some problems. Do you think I should stop putting butter in it? Or should I maybe add a little higher ratio of fat to powdered sugar? I've been using 1 1/2 c hi-ratio , 1/2 cup butter, 2 # P sugar, water, and flavorings.
Also, I keep getting these "blowouts". ??? The cake will look fine, but when I deliver it , it has a quarter size "bubble" or blowout. I have to poke it to let the air out, and then try to smooth it. Usually the bubble keeps coming back. What causes this?
I've been smoothing with a little scraper and Viva. Maybe a fondant smoother would work better to smooth and press out air bubbles.???

Thank you for reading. I really appreciate your expert advice!

Sorry, can't help you on the butter question. I only use shortening to make my buttercream.

As for the bubbles, maybe you're not smoothing enough. I use only a fondant smoother and I haven't had any problems so far (fingers crossed). A fondant smoother is a nice, flat plane, better than a scraper. For large areas, I've heard you should use two. Start at the centre and work your way out, never double back chasing a bubble.

HTH!

How do you make your buttercream? I make Swiss Buttercream and refidgerate the cake after the crumbcoat, smooth it out and than apply more buttercream, refidgerate again and than smooth it out until it is perfect. I dont have any problems with cracking or blowouts.

i used to buy my buttercream from a bakery that I loved.. and one day the woman told me that me that she used heavy cream instead of milk/water and ever since I have been doing that my buttercream is very light, not too sweet, & has the perfect amount of butter taste. I use 1 lb butter to 2 lbs powdered sugar.

I used the same recipe as you and had the same problem. I researched on here and found 2 solutions. 1 was using heavy cream instead of water. The other is what I went with, which is adding corn syrup. I probably put in 2 tbsp per recipe. It seems to have made a difference.

I actually think it is the water that makes it crust faster, not the butter.

Also, do you freeze your cakes first? I have found that the blowouts happen when I ice a frozen cake that hasn't thawed completely. I normally don't freeze mine, but sometimes I overbook myself and have to!