ok......
i made my 3rd ever fondant cake. i dont know what i did but i realize that i still need to learn a few things when it comes to cakes. haha!
i made a boxed yellow cake, used frangelico simple syrup and chocolate buttercream (butter/shortening)
i let it settle for a bit, thanks to the tips i read on my imbc thread. i didnt use imbc for this recipe as i assumed it would be hot and i didnt want to try it for the first time on a cake for someone else.
anywho, it turned out not too bad, but bulgy! it bulges at each layer. i should really post a pic.......
so is my fondant to thin/thick? i rolled it out on a wilton cake dividing mat and rolled until i could just barely see the black lines on the mat underneath. this is what my instructor said to do.
no i look back at the other 2 fondant cakes and i see that they both kinda bulged too.
any idea on what i am doing wrong? should i not have used the moistening syrup on a fondant covered cake?
the cake sides are covered in stripes of fondant and its for a friends shower and i am sure she will like it, but ......if this was for someone paying and i didnt know them, i would have had to redo it. but i dont know what i did wrong, so this is why i posted!
whew, ok. thanks for reading this
You stacked the layers? Did you use dowels? whenever you're stacking layers on top of others ALWAYS use dowels, they will hold up the weight of the other layers and prevent the bulging on the sides of the cake. For box cakes most of the time I don't use syrups as they seem perfectly moist to me. However I'm sure if you dowel next time it will help keep that from happening.
Jen
hi jen,
thanks for replying to my post.
sorry to have made it a long post and not all that clear what i did. it was a 4 layer oval cake. nothing stacked on top of it. the fondant bulged where the 3 layers of filling would be. i am thinking that my buttercream should have been stiffer? i filled it with the same buttercream i iced it with before applying the fondant. typically, how thick should my fondant be?
thanks!
did you let the layers settle before putting on the fondant? I learned to let gravity do it's job for about 8 hours after BC and before fondant.
If you take a small pin, you can prick a hole and let out some of the air underneath.
Posting a picture will help.
did you let the layers settle before putting on the fondant? I learned to let gravity do it's job for about 8 hours after BC and before fondant.
If you take a small pin, you can prick a hole and let out some of the air underneath.
Posting a picture will help.
did you let the layers settle before putting on the fondant? I learned to let gravity do it's job for about 8 hours after BC and before fondant.
If you take a small pin, you can prick a hole and let out some of the air underneath.
Posting a picture will help.
in the process of getting a pic up i only let it settle for maybe 45 mins. so you say a good 8 hours to settle eh? is that at room temp?
thanks for your help!
Fondant should be 1/8-1/4" thick.
thank you. mine was that thickness for sure. i am now suspecting that my buttercream underneath wasnt stiff enough and i didnt let it settle long enough before putting the fondant on.
if you don't have the time to let the amount of time recommended for settling you can rush the process a bit. when you take your cakes out of the oven leave them in the pan and place a paper towel over the cake and gently press the cakes down to where they are level. this also helps you not to have to cut the cakes to level them. after i push the cakes down i usually turn them out on a cake board and let them cool for 1 to 2 hours and i've never had a problem with my cakes bulging when i started to do this. before i had major probs with bulging.
Whether the sides bulged or not, it's a beautiful cake I love the way you put the name on the top, and the colors are very well planned. I can't really see the bulging in the photos, and as most of us have realized we are, in fact our very worst critics. I think it's a beautiful cake, and hopefully the next time you make a cake you won't have the bulging problem. You did make a damn of frosting before filling, right? I know most people only do this if they're filling with fruit or pudding or something like this, however I have noticed, that by making a damn, even for buttercream it keeps the rest of the filling buttercream better in place. I just use the plastic tip holder, with out a tip, or a tip twelve wilton, and put a fairly thick rope of buttercream all the way around the outside edge of the layer. then I fill the buttercream in, inside that rope.. it kind of keeps it inside the cake, I have noticed if I do not do this, no matter how long the cake "settles" my filling tends to kind of start smooshing out the side.
However, I still think it's a beautiful cake.
Jen
thanks for the nice words jen! 
i did not use a dam. i always use a dam with other fillings and reserve some bc that is stiffer for the ring. i didnt do it this time as i thought it wouldnt be necessary. a-ha! i bet you that would have solved it too.
Jana, there are many threads and even some articles on this site about bulging layers and what to do to prevent them. There's also a nice chart from Wilton, I think, about how much filling you need for each size cake. If you have the time to do a little research, I'm betting you'll have fantastic results next time!!
Jana, there are many threads and even some articles on this site about bulging layers and what to do to prevent them. There's also a nice chart from Wilton, I think, about how much filling you need for each size cake. If you have the time to do a little research, I'm betting you'll have fantastic results next time!!
thanks for the info karen. who'd have though getting into the cake biz would be like getting a college degree. sooooo much info! thank goodness for cake central
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