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Buttercream bulge help (1 Viewer)

Janey

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My buttercream cake was set perfectly last night, put in the box overnight to get to room temp, and this morning there was a very slight ring round the cake not really noticeable but I knew it was there, it's starting to maybe bulge, why does this happen? And how to prevent this from happening again? Xx
 
Hi Jane

There can be many reasons your cake may bulge slightly, especially when going from chilled to room temp. My first thought is air pockets/air escaping, which usually happens when the cake acclimatises from cold temps to room temp. Other factors are gravity, too much filling, no dams, and even too much topper weight causing the cake to buckle under its own weight.

To try and prevent this from happening, there are a few things you can do.
  • When filling the cake, don’t overfill the layers, as this can cause sliding and bulging when you start adding height to the cake and start to structure it.
  • Use a buttercream dam (pipe a layer of buttercream around the outer edge of your circular layer before adding your filling). This will contain any soft fillings so that when you add more layers and gravity sets in, it doesn’t start seeping out around the edges.
  • Ensure you only put a light crumb coat/base coat on the cake so you can still see through to the cake. Adding too much buttercream to both layers can add too much weight to the exterior and cause the buttercream to sink/slump down when it starts getting to room temp.
  • To try and expel any air that is trapped in the layers and crumb coat, weigh it down in the fridge. By this, I mean take a clean cake board and place it on the top of your crumb coat cake, then add a cake tin to the top of that and then put some yoghurts, block butter or small tins/jars you have in the fridge in the tin to weigh it down. Not too much weight, but just enough to add pressure to the cake while it’s firming up, which will help expel the air pockets because you’re effectively adding gravity to the cake/pushing it down while it chills slightly so when you pull it out of the fridge, and it starts goes back to room temp it won't decompress further because you've effectively compressed the air out of it already. (So when it eventually warms up, you should have got rid of a lot of the air that could have potentially been trapped in there).
  • Over beating your buttercream can also add too much air, which will try and escape when the cake settles.
  • Don’t put too much of a heavy topper on Victoria sponge. It’s a light sponge cake and can dip or sag slightly due to it not being a dense cake.
I think I have kind of covered all your bases and hope I haven’t overloaded you with info.

Your cakes overall look amazing, and generally, the only people who spot faults is ourselves because we break them down into sections rather than looking at the overall thing.

It’s fantastic to see that you are perfecting your craft to make even more elaborate and beautiful bakes.

I hope the above helps and you make even more amazing cakes!

Best wishes


Angie x
 
Last edited:
Thank you again for such great advice, I always pipe a dam but i think maybe my crumb coat was a little to thick and i did have a couple of air bubbles, it's so hard isn't it to get it right, cake making isn't easy lol., I will definitely try the weight thing in the fridge, great idea.

Jane xx
 
You’re most welcome, honey. 😊

If people only knew how much skill was involved in making and decorating a cake, they’d give us a medal.

Many factors can go wrong when we make cakes, but as long as you know how to adapt, cover-up, or make the best of what you’ve baked on the day, then that’s all that matters.

You’re doing a grand job, so keep doing what you’re doing.
 

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