Help!!!! I created a Spongebob pool party cake and I used the piping gel to make the water affect. Its starting to crack. Is there a trick to prevent this? And how can I make it stop cracking. I am delivering in a few hours.

Anything helps!

Jolene Handal

I'm not quite sure why it would do that. I did a swimming pool cake yesterday and I used blue colored buttercream first and then blue piping gel over the top. I didn't have any cracking issues. Could you post a picture?

I did not use Buttercream first. I just spread it directly onto the fondant. I am trying to get a photo with my forum question but it will not post. I did post a phot of the cake this morning. I am nervous the cracking will be worse by tomorrow afternoon. Do you think it could be the humidity?

I've not tried piping gel as water yet, but I'm wondering if you could just apply a little more piping gel over the crack?

I thought the same thing. I have filled it in a few times now. I am going to send a little extra gel with the cake. Luckily it is a friend. Before serving the cake just have her fill it in again. I wish I knew the answer for the next one I do.

I really don't do a lot with fondant other than accents, but do you think the fondant could be sucking the moisture out of the piping gel and causing it to do that? It acts like a sponge every time I use it. Maybe next time a barrier between the fondant and the piping gel would keep that from happening? I'm hoping someone else who has had this happen can chime in. Who'd a'thunk?

GarciaGM - I think that might be it. The fondant must be sucking the moisture out of it.

I use homemade piping gel. The recipe calls for lemon juice, but I prefer it to be clear so I use vinegar instead. I have made cakes where I used blue piping gel over buttercream:

http://lamaisondesgateaux.blogspot.com/2011/05/bonne-fete-dan.html

http://lamaisondesgateaux.blogspot.com/2011/05/bonne-fete-alex.html

http://lamaisondesgateaux.blogspot.com/2011/01/bonne-fete-william.html

http://lamaisondesgateaux.blogspot.com/2010/12/les-pingouins-dit-noel-est-pour-la.html

In the first and second one which had fondant pieces put in direct contact with the piping gel, I found that the fondant pieces started to melt. I'm going to guess that it has something to do with the acid (vinegar) in the piping gel. I wound up having to lean the boy with the fish against the bank because his feet sort of melted off when I stood him in the piping gel over night. The tire that the other boy is on, the rocks, and the bulrushes also melted quite a bit. I wound up having to do quite a bit of clean up before I could send it off to the birthday boy.

Can you scrape off the piping gel and coat your fondant with a layer of buttercream, then put the piping gel over the buttercream?

I've used blue jello instead of piping gel for larger bodies of water. The jello tastes great with a white or yellow cake! I made a pool cake and baked the cake with an empty pan in the cake batter to leave a hole for the jello. It took a lot more jello then I expected, but it was so worth the effect! BTW, I added Swedish fish to the jello!

Try white stokes piping gel

laurathecakelady that's a great idea do you just put it over the buttercream?

What I ment is you chill it in a shallow dish and then transfer on the cake with the buttercream as a base?

I didn't use buttercream as a base. I used cake as the base. I posted some pictures of the cake. they are the only pictures I have posted right now, so if you look in my profile you can see. Maybe that will help!

I didn't use buttercream as a base. I used cake as the base. I posted some pictures of the cake. they are the only pictures I have posted right now, so if you look in my profile you can see. Maybe that will help!

Thank you for sharing this idea it looks great.