Hi everyone,

Any advice on how not to get rings on side of cakes at where the filling is. Not over filling, but seems to happen a lot. I use buttercream primarily. It also happens on my cakes that are filled and covered with whipped cream.

I made a cake from Martha Stewart magazine, used the suggested amount of filling, even baked a bigger diameter layer and had this same problem.

Thanks,

Margaret

Make sure you let you cake settle after you have torted and filled, at least an hour or so, even a slight pressing down on the top helps a bit for getting rid of those pesky unseen air pockets (See thread about "tile").

After the cake has settled I take a long sharp knife, place the tip on the turntable and keep the knife straight up and down, spin the turn table and trim around the whole thing. This way I get rid of any rough cake edges. We trim the top for a perfect flat table why not around also.

Lastly I've started using ganache for my crumb/or undercoat and it hardens (not candy bar hard) better and makes for very crisp lines when I cover with fondant and no more bulges. This has been learned through trial and error!

Icing dam.

Thanks Moovaughan for the tips. But how about if the client does not want ganache? Then do you do just a place BC crumb coat?

This happens to me too. Thanks to the OP for posting this. It happens more so when I use buttercream. I do put a dam. Do the people who don't get the rings around the cake ever refrigerate the cake after it's been filled and iced but before covering with fondant?

Refrigeration is fine after you have torted, damed, filled, done a crumb coat (whether BC or ganache) and let settle for at least an hour. However, I still let the cake come back to room temperature before I apply fonandt.

Fondant adds additional weight and may cause additional settling and can cause rings if you don't smooth, press down, smooth press down, smooth, etc. when applying.

If you apply fondant on a cold rigid cake, it looks great at first but when it comes to room temperature the weight of the fondant will make those rings.

Like KatsSuiteCakes said, I use a stiff icing for my frosting dam. I have mistakenly used the same consistency I ice with (a little thinner than a thin icing) and got the "rings" or "bands" that the OP is asking about. I also pipe my frosting dam about 1/4" in from the edge of the cake. After each layer is put on, I push down (with a board bigger than the cake) to settle the layer. When I crumb coat, I just fill in any of the gaps between the icing dam and the edge of the cake.

HTH,
Chelle

Thanks to everyone for all your great advice. Does the icing dam have to be applied and set up for a while before I put the filling?