I am seeing all these great fondant covered fondant cakes and they are perfect ..I mean NO bulge...so what is the secret to NO bulge??Is it barely any filling.....Rock cold cake from the fridge? Crumbcoat only?


Please could the fondant God's help I can cover a cake in fondant..not great mind you but the battle of the bulge..(and my wasteline..HeeHee) has me stumped...


Laurel

Okay well by no means am I a fondant GURU , but I believe the trick is to let your cake settle befor anything.

make sure your cake is complety cooled.
I usually let it cool, then I fill it (making sure your icing dam is not to close the edge of the cake)

I then wrap the cake and put some LIGHT weight on top like a book or something (you dont have to put anything on top I just do)

Then I crub coat and put fondant. I must say every new cake comes out better than the last.

but you are definately going to find different /unique ways to achieve this , you just have to see what method works best for you.
Good Luck

Make sure you have a good dam around your filling too........That helps tremendously!

ive heard people say the leave there cakes to settle over night, so that any air pockets and what not can escape, ive never done this and never had a buldge, so i cant really give you good advise on this

Bulging can come in two different ways, from two different sources.

1. Is your bulge in the form of bubble-like, isolated mounds on either the top or side of the cake? If so, this is air and can be addressed in a few ways.

Let your cake settle once it's torted/filled (I do this overnight but others do it for less time.) This allows for any air that is going to escape, as the cake naturally compresses, time to get out before it's trapped beneath any fondant. Otherwise the air will collect and come out in random pockets under the fondant.

Another way to deal with this, if you don't have time to let your cake settle, is to poke holes in your fondant that will allow the air to come out. In this circumstance, I will usually push a dowel straight down through the top center, and then pull it back out. This leaves a central column for the air to escape as the cake settles. Obviously, this leaves a whole in the fondant. So only do this in spots that will be covered with another tier or decorations.

2. If you're bulge is the kind that runs in a continuous line of bulge around the side of your cake, right where you've torted it, this means your filling is being squeezed out. Letting your cake settle will not prevent this. Settling is what causes this.

To prevent this, take some frosting, add PS to it to thicken it significantly. Pipe a dam of this around the edge of your layer, a full 1/2" in from the edge of your layer. spread your filling inside this dam. It should not exceed the height of the dam. Lay the next layer on top and press gently to level everything out.

Then take the thickened frosting you used for the dam and pipe it around the seam between layers to fill in the gap. Don't worry if this bulges out as you'll smooth it out with your crumb coat.

Apply crumb coat, then chill completely (at least 4 hours) before applying fondant.

Others will have other suggestions for what works for them, I'm sure. There are many ways to do things. Find what works for you. I had one cake bulge when I first began making cakes and did lots of research to come up with this method. If you look at my cakes, you will see that I have not had a bulge since.

HTH

I torte, dam, fill and then wrap in plastic. Then put a ceramic tile, generally the same size as the cake on top and let it sit for 3 hours. Unweighted, my cakes take about 24 hours to settle.