Cake Filling - how much to use?

Pasted from our Facebook page:

“Personally I wouldn’t use a really stiff buttercream because it ends up too dry and the cake doesn’t stick to it, then when it’s cut it just falls apart. To be honest, so long as your tiers are dowelled correctly there shouldn’t be any added pressure from the top tiers to make it bulge excessively. Is she wanting thick layers of buttercream because she wants more buttercream in the cake? You could torte the layers thinner and add your usual layer of buttercream in between as this would give the extra buttercream without your bulging worry. Or, I have also seen some cake decorators use a dam of stiff buttercream around the edge of the layers before filling it with normal buttercream, this also prevents bulges (apparently). BUT, at the end of the day if you’re not happy to do thicker layers then let the bride know and tell her it is out of concern for the overall look of the cake when it is finished and that you can’t be held accountable for bulges and lumps if she insists on thicker layers as she has been warned! You are the cake decorator and she should heed your professional opinion”

Jenny Gibson

“You need to settle the cake, this works wonders to prevent bulging….each tier is filled and then settled, I use a 1 pound bag of dried pasta on top of my cake to settle it”

Josie Bidwell

Thank you so much for your response. I normally use 1/4" buttercream in between layers, but this client wants more.

After giving this much thought, I decided to cut a circle within the layer and spoon out some of the cake – leaving about 1/2 inch all around – then filling in the middle with my regular buttercream – since I have the 1/2 inch wall all around, that will definitely keep my cake from bulging and I can control the thickness of the frosting. I’m hoping that will work – there’s no worse feeling than covering a cake with fondant only to discover the “dreaded” bulge – yikes!!!