Ok, I have made many cakes and I always use dowels and cake boards when tiering. But I can not stop the bulge!!! I have been putting a rope of fondant in place of a piped channel to hold filling in. But it seems like no matter what the filling it bulges!! I use Carma Messa fondant and I know that’s pretty soft but it still happens with a decent size rope damn. Does anyone have any good ideas for stoping this. I know I’m probably putting to much filling in but I’m a fat girl and like the good stuff!!
There are several things that tend to cause bulging. Always make each layer of cake perfectly level. Investing in a good leveling saw/tool is a great help. As for using a fondant rope - that's good but how big are you making it? Maybe you are using too much filling. Many yrs ago I attended a demo by people at a large bakery supply place and they said to make more layers (torte each 2" layer into 3) and less filling between each. In fact they said you don't even need that 'rope' - just a smear of filling between each of those thin layers. You will still get that great taste and use less in the long run -- saving you money! Why not try that? That way each cake tier consists of 6 layers of cake and 5 layers of filling! You can even use more than one filling in each tier this way - thereby increasing the wonderful tastes :)
I could be 100% wrong here but I suspect this is the result of a couple of things happening; too much buttercream on the outside of the cake, uneven coat of butter cream, and a combination of temperature and gravity. I suspect what is happening is that you are adding buttercream to the sides to smooth out the uneven layers. Over time the moisture from the cake affects the viscosity of the buttercream affecting its ability to hold. Then, gravity kicks in and pulls on the already weakened BC and pulls down on the thicker parts. The fondant is just along for he ride, sagging with the BC. I used to run into this a lot until I started to trim the outside of my cakes, allowing more control of the BC thickness. If you don't want to go that route, you can always chill your cakes.
Hi I had this happen once or twice and it was because my buttercream was too soft - I use American buttercream. I do use a generous layer of it but since I stopped adding to much milk to the buttercream I no longer have the problem. I don’t use a dam around the outside. I also only put a thin layer of buttercream when I prepare the top and sides for the fondant. I never refrigerate my cakes. I use Renshaw fondant.
When I had the bulging problem on a couple of my cakes I left the fondant to start to set up a bit and then used my smoother which got rid of some of the bulge.
I've only had this happen once or twice and those times it was on really really hot Aussie summer days and the cakes were just not able to be kept cool at venues (no air conditioning or room in the venue cool room) so developed a little bubble of warming, expanding air. I obviously just didn't squish enough air out of the cakes on those occasions.
Now, I squish each layer as I'm building the cake so there's no air trapped in there. I refrigerate all my cakes until the last possible moment. I use either Satin Ice or Fondtastic fondant. I am very generous with my buttercream/ganache layers - but I only use a dam of whatever I'm using for frosting, not a fondant rope. I've not actually heard of that one before! :)
thecanadian160 has the answer bang on. Make sure each cake is 100% even. I realized this was one of the main reasons I was getting a bulge. Good trick is to make a cardboard template of your cake tin. Then place template over your cakes and trim each cake individually, the fill and stack. You could stack and trim your cakes, but I can only speak for myself, I can’t seem to get good evenness doing this way. Also, even with a dam, I always, always use ganache to seal the edges of my cakes on the outside between layers. I use to use buttercream, but just wasn’t sturdy enough. Ganache dries hard. And unless I’m pressed for time, I crumb coat, fill and stack my cakes and let them settle for several hours to overnight before I cover with fondant. That way, gives all the filling and bc or ganache time to setup and adhere to the cake.
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