hi! can you give me some advice on how to prevent cracks when covering cakes and bulges. thanks

I don't have either problem so what I do is I buy my fondant --Fondx for white---satin ice for black. I crumb coat and completly ice my cake and let set overnight in frig before covering in fondant. Never have any problems. HTH

With MMF I never get cracks. Can't stand SI - it's too hard and does tend to crack.

If you don't make MMF, you might try kneading in some glycerine or shortening.

For bulges, I make a dam with cake crumbs and a tiny amount of BC to make it strong, and I do my best to make sure that dam is close enough to the edge so the BC for my crumbcoat doesn't get trapped in the torte, creating that bulge. It works well, ecause if the dam sticks out too much outside the torte, it is durable enough to smooth or remove the excess with a knife.

To fight bulges, I buttercream between the two layers, then fill the gap on the side between the two layers and smooth it down. I place a cake board on top and put a pot filled with water (about 2-3 pounds total) and let sit for about an hour. Ever since I've started doing that, I haven't had a problem.