Fondant - Trapped Air

Decorating By chris14467 Updated 13 Mar 2011 , 4:44pm by sugardugar

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chris14467 Posted 13 Mar 2011 , 1:49pm
post #1 of 3

I made a baby shower cake yesterday that turned out great, with the exception that the fondant started swelling in one spot when the cake started warming up. It didn't make the cake look bad, but I had fondant decorations attached to it and when the fondant started swelling, the decorations started to loosen from it.

Is there a way to keep this from happening? I tried to keep the cake as cool as possible, but in transport to the delivery site, it really swelled up. When I delivered the cake I poked some small pin holes in the fondant, but it didn't help much. Any suggestions?

2 replies
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cake_whisperer Posted 13 Mar 2011 , 4:40pm
post #2 of 3

You're doing it right though! Maybe just prick more holes? ...I make sure to poke several small holes behind every decoration, and I guess just be extra careful when applying your fondant?
I hate air bubbles!

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sugardugar Posted 13 Mar 2011 , 4:44pm
post #3 of 3

Hey there,

Air bubbles are such a hassle and, while some may happen regardless, there's definitely measures to help prevent. My last two cakes had none from what I can tell (none before pick-up and I didn't see any in the cust's photos!).

Anyhow.

Those bubbles are caused by air escaping from your cake naturally and getting stuck under fondant. Try to find ways to make that escape prior to icing with fondant. Personally I bake mine the day before, torte and crumb coat and leave out overnight. I was recently advised room temp works better as cakes do not settle properly in the fridge. I have read on here some folks put a tile on top of the cake (when parchment between) to gentle press the cake and speed up this process.

Secondly, a nice crusting BC made a world of difference for me. My goto BCs are now IndyDebbie's BC (if I don't need white I substitute the whole amt of crisco for 1/2 and 1/2 butter and crisco as I prefer the flavour) and for chocolate the recipe posted here by seriouscakes (my god I wanna eat this stuff with a spoon!).

Leaving it to settle is the biggest part here. Let that air escape prior to fondant-ing! Also, smooth your fondant in downwards motions with your smoother to push out any small amounts of air that may end up in there while icing.

Lastly, when it does happen, keep in mind pushing the pin in at a diagnal makes the hole you just made easier to hide.

HTH

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