This is my first time posting. Please excuse any mistakes in my post process! 

Ok heres my thing. Im an experienced decorator and have never needed to do the settling process. I think its time to add this to my cake making process. I have some questions please. So I have read that you settle after filling. I bake freeze thaw then fill my 3 layer sponge with SMBC and jam. Do I now settle before covering in more buttercream?? And at room temp? With a weight? And as the cakes arent covered in BC wouldnt these need to be covered somehow for settling or I assume theyd dry out? And how long would ai settle them? Im confused and have a great cake planned so I want to settle the cakes this afternoon.

Please help!

Sophie

Personally, anything with filling other than buttercream and ganache (especially strawberry), I would settle over night.  If you don't have time for that, put a weight on it and either do a crumb coat or cover with plastic wrap and let it settle for at least a few hours.  I always poke a hole with a lolly stick or skewer through the top of the cake all the way to the bottom to give the air and easy access route.  You can just cover the hole later.

Good luck :)

Hi Sophie,

I always let me cakes settle. I bake in the morning and then torte and fill in the evening/night and let it settle over night. The next day crumb coat/ganache, cover and decorate.

Bashini - how do you store your cake overnight?

I would worry that a cake exposed to the air would become stale or dry?

I must be in the minority... I usually crumb coat my cakes straight after filling them. I do use ganache in most cakes which stops any bulging problems though...

Cara, I always use sugar syrup on each layer before filling. This would stop cake drying out.  Then I cover it with cling film and leave on the counter/table. I normally bake my cakes two days ahead. So it is quite fresh. 

If it's buttercream that I am using then I make sure I leave it to settle. But if it's ganache then I can straight away fill and cover. But still like it to leave to settle.

Thank you all im so thrilled I have replies!

I went ahead and filled and covered with wrap then put a light weight on each cake. I saw the difference after a couple of hours and then did the crumb in buttercream. Ive left them overnight and will be covering in Sugarpaste today. Cant wait to get stuck in to decorate this one! Got some cake lace, some free hand painting and a pastillage birdcage to sit on top. Cant wait! Hope it comes out like ive imagined tho. Th8ank you so much for your help everyone. The tips were great. And gave me confidence to do this step. I am going to be a Cake Central addict i can feel it! 

Sophie

That's great Sophie. Can't wait to see your creation!!

Hi All

Thank you sooo much for all your advice I settled the cakes and it went well. I didnt get time to get crisp edges this time but overall happy with the result. The birdcage is all handmade the only part none edible is the metal loop on the top of birdcage and the tealight inside the cage. The floral is all handpainted by meeee. Using gel colours and plain water. I held my breath when painting lol... it was quite an intense experience to say the least lol. The cake travelled 2 hrs to the venue then stayed in the car an hour before setup. Luckily it survived! Hope you all like it! 

Wow Sophie!!!! It is absolutely gorgeous!!!

Very beautiful cake! Love all the soft feminine colors.  You did a great job, glad it worked out well for you :) 

Thanks everyone. So chuffed you all like it! I had some issues. Like the bottom edges werent as flawless as id hoped which explains the addition of the ribbon (im not a ribbon fan at all!). I need to work on perfect bottom edges so i can stack without borders. I also need to work on centre dowelling, which i have done in the past but not religiously. Maybe I should make it a must for 3 tier plus cakes. Ive never had a cake shift. But for some reason this one did a bit. And it wasnt centred at the venue. From one angle i thought it was too obvious. But luckily for me from the front it looked great. I know ganache gives great edges but find making BC to fill and cover less hassle. Maybe will have to go back to ganache to cover. And i may start chilling my coverez cakes before stacking to keep the neat edges...

Any thouts?

I cannot stack a buttercream cake unless it's chilled.  I will always mess up the bottom edges of the fondant.  When it nice and chilled, I can just pick it up and plop it where I want it.  Some people are great at it.  Me...not so much.