How To Prevent Air Bubbles and Bulges In Your Cakes! 

My pleasure Natoya! Thank you for watching! :)

You're very welcome Traci! We've used the non-slip shelf liners and unfortunately they are not strong enough. Our icing is very thick in consistency and it requires quite a bit of elbow grease to ice a cake well. The liner isn't strong enough and doesn't stay put. The only thing we've found works perfectly without any hassle is the strong packaging tape. It does make sense however to use the non-slip liner if the icing is very thin and creamy. No elbow strength required there. :) Thanks for watching our tutorial. Glad you enjoyed it! :)

@Traci Storm love this idea!

My pleasure! Thank you! :)

I appreciate that! Thank you very much! It's our pleasure and thank you for watching our videos! God bless! :)

That's awesome Sanosh! You're VERY welcome! :)

Thank you so much! I appreciate you watching! :)

You're very welcome Cynthia! Thank you for watching! :)

Thank you! :)

Okay

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you found this video helpful. Thank you for watching! :)

I'm so glad you found this useful Laura! Yes, good idea to watch all of our videos! Haha! Miss you friend! :)

@@krazykoolcakes Starting to watch all of your videos!!! miss you too! wish we could live closer!!!

Thank you my friend! :)

You're very welcome! Thank you for watching our video. :)

That's wonderful Juqetta! You're very welcome. We appreciate you watching. :)

You're very welcome! :) Thank you for watching.

Thank you Andrea! I hope you and your family had a beautiful Christmas! Happy New Year to you too! Let me know if you'd like to do a collab in the new year! :)

Yes for sure sweetie ; ) Am going to take about a week off but will be back with thinking caps on when I get back! It's new years eve tonight in Sydney Australia so am heading out to welcome in the new year! Take care and say hi to Arnie ; )

mackandnorm Sounds wonderful my friend! Be safe, enjoy yourself and Happy New Year once again! :)

Thank you so much Marjory! That's very kind of you! Thank you for watching and God bless you! :)

So happy to hear! Thank you for watching! :)

In particular, the American buttercream we use. Please check out our Perfect Icing Consistencies tutorial. Thanks for watching! :)

Hi Joey! Yes, if you put it in the fridge it will firm up, but even with the cakes firm, gravity still plays its role and causes them to settle, wether firm or soft. ;)

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed the tutorial! :)

Thank you Leng! It sounds like your icing is probably dropping underneath your fondant. If you are using the exact same recipe (the pure solid shortening recipe for the outside) I don't see why this should be happening. Are you using the exact same recipe? If so, are you letting your cakes settle already forted before your ice them?

Glad you liked it! Thank you! God bless you too! :)

Hi! Yes we certainly do! No it doesn't dry out the cakes at all. We ice not too much after that so they're really not left with an open hole for a long time. Just enough time to let the air escape. Glad you enjoy the videos! Thank you so much! :)

You're very welcome! Thank you for watching! :)

Hi Hazel! Thank you for your question. I actually don’t use that tool anymore. This video was made many years ago. Now I just use a regular bench scraper. I hope that helps! 💕

You're very welcome! Thanks for watching! :)

Thank you! :)

Hi! Yes, always refrigerate. :)

That's wonderful to hear Heather! Thank you so much for watching! :)

Thank you! The icing acts as insulation. My cakes are always very fresh and moist when kept in the fridge iced. Attempt to not have them in your possession no more than 3 days from baking.

I don't recommend every making and decorating a cake on the same day. You need to give the cake time to "settle" and allow gravity to do what it's gotta do it before you even layer and ice. This is my advice for avoiding bulging and other disasters.

Great!

Muchisimas gracias Hector! :)

Hi Katie, There's really no point in poking a hole while cooling. The air is not trapped inside the cake (breading) itself, rather in between the layers of cake. We do use sugar syrup from time to time depending on the recipe.

Hi Sheela! Definitely ice while your cake is still cold. You don't want it to be room temp when you ice or you'll disturb the first coat. :)

Hi Maria, Thank you for your question. We never freeze our cakes. However, if you need to freeze cakes for some reason, I would recommend a day or two before you ice them to transfer them from the freezer to the refrigerator and then when they have completely defrosted and are only cold from being in the fridge, then you can bring them out and ice them. You definitely don't want to freeze a cake that has already been iced (to avoid disasters). I hope that helps! :)

You're very welcome! :)

Thank you Lee! :)

You're very welcome! Thank you for watching! :)

If the actual cake (the breading part) is bulging, then that means your cake is way to soft or way too moist. You may want to switch recipes to something with a bit more body and strength. Thanks for watching!

You're very welcome Maria! That's a great question. If the cake is not going to be covered in fondant, then what I do is after I stack my cakes (and by then the cake has had all the time it needs to release any air), and after I pierce all my cake tiers with the dowel that goes through, I just add a bit of icing over the hole and smooth it over. You can't see it. If it is covered in fondant, after I stack and add my dowel I do the same. Add a bit of fondant and just cover it up. All of our cakes have some sort of a topper though so I really don't bother covering it up as it'll never be seen. I hope that helps. :)

Thanks very much. I just wondered because recently I made a buttercream covered wedding cake. (I usually do fondant). The flowers on the top were to one side so most of the top of the cake was exposed. x

Hi Maria! The thickness of the icing really has nothing to do with bulging. It's just a matter of if you are damming and filling your cake properly. If you are, then no need to concern yourself with bulging, which is air being trapped between the layers. It can be trapped whether thinly applied or not. Just be sure to tort, dam, and fill properly. Be sure to watch my tutorial on that if you have any questions on how to do that. Be sure to keep your cakes refrigerated as much as possible. :)

Thank u x

Hi Bree! No I don't mean freezer, I mean refrigerate=refrigerator. We don't ever freeze our cakes. If I have to ice on the same day, I just chill it in the freezer for a few minutes. Hope that helps! :)

Yes, thank you so much!

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it. :) I would recommend instead of taking it straight out of the freezer and into room temp. that you would take it from the freezer the night before you crumb coat and let it be in the fridge all night so that the crumb can have time to settle at its own pace rather than rushing the temperature change by just leaving it out for 25-30 min. before you crumb coat. Once fridge temp (and I'm assuming you tort your cakes before you freeze them) you can crumb coat and make your hole. I chill my cakes in the freezer for 10 minutes before the final coat, or leave in the fridge for a few hours to allow the crumb coat to get hard before the final coat. That's enough time to allow any air to escape. Once the cake is finally iced I always put it back in the fridge and I take it out one hour before delivery so that the cake is not cold when they receive. I hope that helps and thank you for watching. :)

@@krazykoolcakes this helps SOOOO much!!! Thank you so much! I have a few cakes going out this weekend so I will try your method for sure! Thank you for taking the time out to respond to me!!! I am subscribing to your channel and on Instagram😉

You're very welcome Kristina! Thank you for watching! :)

Thank you for your question. I don't recommend icing or layering cakes when frozen. Only cold from having been in the refrigerator for several hours or chilled in the freezer for no more than 20 minutes. Reason being that when a frozen cake is taken out into room temperature, immediately condensation will begin to form on the outside of your cake and that can ruin your icing. Also, if you are freezing your cakes soon after they are baked and allowed to come to room temp., the cakes are not being given enough time to settle as they should. Gravity must be given its due time to do what it's going to do to the cake layers before they are layered and iced. But, if you follow the technique as I've shown in my tutorial, it will work perfectly on a non-frozen cake. I appreciate you watching. :)

It depends on how warm and humid your work area is. Be sure to work in a very cool and dry environment. Even in a cool environment you'll have a tiny bit of condensation form on the cake but that should dry quickly. In a matter of a few minutes. Hope that helps! :)

Yes, that definitely helps thank u x

Hi Samilca! I don't know if I'll be much help on this as I really never use Italian meringue. I much more prefer the consistency of buttercream so I don't know how the IM behaves on top of a buttercream crumb coat and how it holds up all together. You're very welcome. :)

+Sandy Maldonado Its best if you're using an 8" to have an 8" cardboard underneath at all times, even when stacking. Laura also puts a bigger cake board underneath for transfering.

Hi Kirara, Sorry about your mishap. I"m sure by now you fixed it, but if you'd like to avoid this in the future, be sure that you are properly torting, damming, and filling your cake layers before icing in order to avoid air wanting to escape out from in between your layers which is usually why this happens. Hope that helps a bit. :)

Krazy Kool Cakes & Designs thank you so much. I’ve since started poking a hole into my dirty iced cakes and I haven’t had a problem yet ☺️

Hello! After I make this hole in my crumb coat and I ice the final layer, I make another hole in the exact same place through the outer icing. Then I put back in the fridge and I don't cover in fondant until the next morning/day. The cake does not dry out because the icing serves as a film. The only way it can dry out is if you cut a giant slice or cut into it. I hope that helps and thanks for watching. :)

Thank you! :)

Hi Brady, Thank you for your question. I'm sure we can figure out why this happens. Are you by chance icing your cakes the same day you are baking them? If not, are you torting your cakes perfectly level? And are you also damming with a thick consistency icing in between your cake layers so that there's no icing being pushed down and out by the weight of the cake layers on top? This is what causes bulging. If the cake layers have not been allowed to "settle" for a good amount of time before torting and layering them, then gravity will begin to take over at the wrong time (after you've iced your cake). Also, if your cakes are not torted perfectly level, then once you've stacked everything they will start to lean and tilt in the direction of the lowest point. This will also cause bulging. A bulge is just an outer symptom of something not having been done properly on the inside. If you haven't yet, please be sure to watch our tutorials on how to tort, dam, and fill properly, and also be sure to watch our tutorials on perfect icing consistencies so that you're using strong icing, and then also watch our tutorials on how we ice cakes to make sure they are perfectly straight. I hope al this helps. I don't know if you're aware but I have an "ONLINE Icing Class" where I teach and demonstrate all of this. If you're interested in signing up, here is the link for you: www.krazykoolcakedesigns.ecwid.com

Hi Camillia! We don't cover in plastic since the icing itself acts as insulation. Our fridge is solely for cakes so if you have food odors in your fridge, it might be a good idea to cover. However, you don't want to ruin your icing job with plastic on it. If the fridge doesn't smell like other foods, it's okay to leave it uncovered.

If our cake is due on Saturday, we usually bake on Wed. afternoon/evening. Depending on the cake recipe, you can keep refrigerated even up to 5 days and it still taste its best. Our vanilla and chocolate cakes (tutorials here on RU-vid) are perfect on the 5th-7th day, although we hardly ever keep them around that long. Hope that helps! :)

Hi Melissa! For cakes 12" and up, we use a "heating core" so help bake the inside "almost" as well as the outside. For larger cakes, you'll always have a little bit of sinking which is why we fill a little more with batter than we would say cake pans 10" or smaller. Having said that, it will still sink a little so be sure to "tort" your cakes level. If you have a REALLY large sink hole, don't worry. Remember that after you tort, you can always fill a hole in the middle using some of the scraps you had left over after torting. If you pack it in there nice and tight, it won't even be noticeable when your client slices your cake. Sinking cakes is just one of the things we have to deal with constantly. :)

You're very welcome! :)

HI Zane, You can add the hole after the crumb coat or after the final icing. I cover in fondant and then make the hole again to let it breathe. :)

Thank you Laura! God bless!

Hi Bernadette! When you say you're having trouble "getting it smooth", does that mean that when you're scraping the sides of your cake the icing is bumpy? Please describe exactly how it looks. Thanks! :)

Hi Segheir! Depending on the recipe, some may do this more than others. When the cake starts to cool off and assumes room temp, all the hot air inside begins to escape. This makes the cake settle. If your recipe tends to do this a lot, tell your Mom to consider adding more batter than usual so that when the cake does settle, even though it may sink a bit, she can still tort it and basically level it off straight on top. I hope that makes sense and hope it helps. :)

Hi Tia! Thanks for watching! I only leave my crumb coated cake in the freezer to chill for about 15-20 minutes so you're fine if you ice your final coat after that time frame. However, you do want to make sure that you are not baking and icing on the same day. My advice is to bake the day prior and leave your cakes (after they've come to room temp of course) plastic wrapped in the fridge for an entire night before you ice the next day. You need to give your cakes time to settle and let gravity do it's thing so that they're not moving once they are iced, which is most of the time what causes air to "want" to escape out of a cake. The cake needs to be given time. I hope that makes sense. :)

Krazy Kool Cakes & Designs thank you for replying!! Yes I do bake a day before and leave it in the fridge just like you said. Will definitely try out the hole tip Thank you 😊

Hi Edna! The cake does not go dry. :)

ok. great. thank you so much God bless.

Yes. Only if they're more than one tier. :)

If I'm crumb coating late at night I do leave it like that overnight. But, if I'm icing early enough in the day, I'll just leave the hole open in the fridge for a few hours to give the air some time to escape. After icing it with the final coat I remake the hole at the top to continue to allow any other air to escape before covering it in fondant, if it will be covered. Hope that helps and thanks for watching. :)

@@krazykoolcakes yes that is helpful...thank you for a prompt reply

Red Velvet is pretty moist. You might see ridges on the sides of your cake if your cake "settles" due to gravity once you've layered it. You can prevent this by damming between your layers with a stiff icing. Please check out our Perfect Icing Consistencies tutorial. :)

We don't use SMBC. We use regular buttercream. You can check out our tutorial on it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oLmrJVRent8.html

HI! It's pretty impossible to fix it without completely taking it apart and icing it all over again. Please check out our tutorial on how to ice cakes with acrylics to avoid any/all bulging. Thank you for watching! :)

@@krazykoolcakes ty

+Theron Everage HI Theron! I apologize for never having replied to this. Just saw it! :) We don't do anything to the cakes until the following day that they've been baked. We like to keep them wrapped in plastic overnight to settle. :)

De nada Maria! Te deseo lo mismo! Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo! Dios te bendiga! :)