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Here are three reasons why cracks appear
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on your cakes and how to prevent them.
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When you frost or ice a cake with
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buttercream, the buttercream is soft and
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easy to spread and to smooth. But when
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buttercream sets in the fridge after
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about 30 minutes or at room temperature
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after a few hours, it gets really firm.
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This is called crusting. When it loses
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its soft stickiness and feels hard when
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you touch it. If you move the
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buttercream frosting now, it can crack.
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and it will move if the cakeboard bends
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or buckles under the weight of the cake.
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Like here when I'm taking dramatically
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big steps and the cake is bouncing up
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and down with the cake board. Look
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closely and you'll see little cracks
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around the bottom of the cake where the
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buttercream has shifted after it's set.
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To prevent cracks, if you're using a
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thin cakeboard, support it by holding
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one hand underneath in the middle to
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bear the weight of the cake. Or even
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better, use a thick, strong cakeboard
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that won't bend even with a heavy cake
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on top. The second reason for cracks in
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your cakes is a change in temperature.
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When cakes are in the fridge or freezer,
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the cake and the buttercream contract.
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When you move a cake from the freezer to
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room temperature or from a cold fridge
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to a warm room, the cake and buttercream
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both expand, but at different rates, and
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after a few hours, that causes the
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cracks in the buttercream. You can see
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here. The cake won't look as pretty, but
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it will still taste delicious. To
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prevent these cracks, move cakes from
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the fridge to a cool room to change
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temperature gradually before moving to a
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warmer place. Now, here's the third
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reason why buttercream cakes crack. To
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stack cakes on top of each other to make
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a tear cake, you need to support the
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weight of the top cake. It needs to be
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on a cake board the same size as the
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cake so it's invisible once you stack
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the cake. But you also need something to
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hold that board up. If you don't, when
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you transport the cake or while it's
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sitting on display at an event, the top
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cake will slowly sink down into the
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bottom cake, and that pressure on the
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buttercream frosting will cause cracks,
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which you can see down here. To prevent
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this from happening, use wooden dowels
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or boa straws as supports in the bottom
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cake, spacing four or five around
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underneath where the next tier will go.
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These supports will hold up the next
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cake on its cakeboard so it doesn't sink
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down into the cake below. I hope this
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tutorial has been useful. Ask me any
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questions in the comments and subscribe
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to my channel for a new cake decorating
2:19
tutorial every week. Visit my cake
2:21
school on britishgirlbakes.com to learn
2:23
hundreds of cake decorating techniques
2:25
and designs. See you there.
