Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I have used ganache for the first time as a filling and coat, I have just covered it with sugarpaste and the paste is very sticky and damp since I put it on! The ganached cake had been in the fridge for its final set and I dampened it when it came from the fridge before covering. I an now very worried it is not going to dry off! Any thoughts please??? The cake is for a customer tomorrow! Thank you x

You are very welcome, I’m just so pleased that you didn’t have to re-do it. I had visons of the bulge expanding and cracking. Thankfully non of that happened. I remember doing the igloo cake a couple of Christmases ago which went the same as yours. I was up until 4 in the morning re-icing it. At least you’ve had a much better outcome. Relax now, put your feet up, cuppa tea and a biccy!! x

Hi mrsymo

Please firstly don’t touch the sugarpaste because it will mark. When you brought the cake out of the fridge the temperature difference from cold to room temperature caused the ganache surface to form dew, it’s like condensation. When this happens it’s best to leave the cake out until the dew disperses before icing. If you now leave it in a well ventilated room the icing will dry and the cake will be fine. A fan running close to the cake will help it dry out.
The cake looks ok apart from feeling wet?

Hi, thank you for replying so quickly! Its very much appreciated. The cake looks ok as far as I can tell, it does look like it may be bulging a little on the side in one spot. It has a sheen on it. I have it in my dining room at the moment and I can run a fan near to it for a while , I have to go out in an hour or so!

Hi mrsymo

If the cake is bulging on one side it may or it may not settle down. plus you now have a sheen on the icing. How would your customer feel about that? To be honest if it was my cake I would take the icing off and re-do it. The problem with bulges is they can get bigger and on drying start to form tiny cracks. It won’t look nice. Taking the icing off is not as bad as it sounds. All you do is run a sharp scalpel down one side, being careful not to cut into the cake and start peeling it off gently. It should come off without disturbing the ganache too much. If you have a light coloured icing it will be marked by the ganache. If it’s still soft it can be salvaged, coloured and used on another project. I know it’s not good news but believe me you’ll feel so much better if you re-ice the cake. Let me know how you feel about this, I’ll keep an eye out for you this evening.

Hi Madeitwithlove, just to bring you up to date! The cake settled, the sheen disappeared and the cake is now finished and awaiting collection! Phew!! I just wanted to thank you again for all of your help, another lesson learnt for me too! 🙂