Buttercream Not Smooth After Dried
Decorating By Babernathy Updated 13 Jul 2017 , 9:05pm by kakeladi
I'm not sure the best way to word this but I've never noticed it happening before. I frosted and smoothed a cake yesterday and I was very happy with it. Well it sat over night and this morning it looked rough in areas and the corners seemed uneven. Does anyone have any ideas? I used to put my cakes in the fridge but kept having trouble with condensation and being able to really smooth good with the viva so people had recommended not even refrigerating it so I tried it with this one and it crusted perfectly and smoothed great but then this happened. I'll post the before and after pics. Any suggestions would be great :)
Not sure why it posted them sideways but the very first one was shortly after smoothing and then the next two were from this morning
I can only guess that it is the heat and humidity, even in an air conditioned area. I had a cake, that was sliced for serving, collapse yesterday from setting out on the table for a few hours. The room was air conditioned, but not very cool.
So would best practice be to let it crust at room temp and once I get it smoothed then put it in fridge until pick up? I'm always scared something funky is going to happen once it gets to the function. As far as I know nothing like that has happened yet but it's always in the back of my mind
One trick I have tried that works, (I found it on a tutorial but cannot remember who did it, so I apologize to them ahead of time), is to take some of your buttercream, add powdered sugar until you can actually roll it like fondant, and use that for your dam when torting. I just make a small log and put it all around the layer, after putting on my filling. Press down firmly when putting on the next layer. It gets rid of the bulge in the middle. And it holds up in heat and humidity. Again I apologize to who posted the tutorial because this trick really works. Hope I described it well enough to help.
@Babernathy , I apologize that I can't really say. I always keep my cakes in the refrigerator until the last minute, but that certainly doesn't help if they must set out at a venue for hours.
@cutiger , thanks for the tip on the firm dam. I have not had a problem with bulging, but that is brilliant and I will do it from now own, just for safety.
I'm wondering if you didn't mix the b'cream well in the 1st place? I am a firm believer in mixing on lowest speed for up to 10 minutes for a creamy, smooth b'cream.
Bulging is often caused by using too much filling. If you make your dam high/thick most likely you are filling until it is up to the top of that dam......which can be too much. We are better off making 2 filling per 2" tier - each one basically just a smear of filling than making one layer of fillling super thick - especially if it is a 'fluid'/thin consistency filling rather than a thick one.
I appreciate the tips on the bulging and dam. I did settle this cake 12+ hours in the fridge with weight on top. I understand there's a slight bulge and I plan on using a stiffer dam and less filling in general to help with this but my main concern in the way the buttercream rippled for lack of a better word. Not sure if it was the humidity in my house or what. I've never had it happen. But in response to kakeladi I always mix my bc a very long time. At least 10 min. Probably longer than that so I don't think that was the problem. Thanks for trying to help :)
Cakes don't settle refrigerated -- only at room temp.
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