diff --git a/gtsam/inference/BayesTree-inl.h b/gtsam/inference/BayesTree-inl.h
index dfefd721e..5cb2c34a9 100644
--- a/gtsam/inference/BayesTree-inl.h
+++ b/gtsam/inference/BayesTree-inl.h
@@ -575,9 +575,6 @@ namespace gtsam {
 	void BayesTree<CONDITIONAL,CLIQUE>::removeTop(const CONTAINER& keys,
   		BayesNet<CONDITIONAL>& bn, typename BayesTree<CONDITIONAL,CLIQUE>::Cliques& orphans) {
 
-		//TODO: Improve this
-		deleteCachedShorcuts(this->root_);
-
 		// process each key of the new factor
 	  BOOST_FOREACH(const Index& key, keys) {
 
@@ -590,6 +587,11 @@ namespace gtsam {
 	      }
 	    }
 	  }
+
+	  // Delete cachedShorcuts for each orphan subtree
+	  //TODO: Consider Improving
+	  BOOST_FOREACH(sharedClique& orphan, orphans)
+	  	deleteCachedShorcuts(orphan);
 	}
 
   /* ************************************************************************* */
diff --git a/gtsam/inference/BayesTreeCliqueBase.h b/gtsam/inference/BayesTreeCliqueBase.h
index fa0992fbd..675215904 100644
--- a/gtsam/inference/BayesTreeCliqueBase.h
+++ b/gtsam/inference/BayesTreeCliqueBase.h
@@ -75,14 +75,14 @@ namespace gtsam {
 
    	/// @}
 
+    /// This stores the Cached Shortcut value
+    mutable boost::optional<BayesNet<ConditionalType> > cachedShortcut_;
+
   public:
     sharedConditional conditional_;
     derived_weak_ptr parent_;
     std::list<derived_ptr> children_;
 
-    /// This stores the Cached Shortcut value
-    mutable boost::optional<BayesNet<ConditionalType> > cachedShortcut_;
-
   	/// @name Testable
   	/// @{
 
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ namespace gtsam {
     /** The arrow operator accesses the conditional */
     const ConditionalType* operator->() const { return conditional_.get(); }
 
-    ///TODO: comment
+    /** return the const reference of children */
     const std::list<derived_ptr>& children() const { return children_; }
 
   	/// @}
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ namespace gtsam {
     /** The arrow operator accesses the conditional */
     ConditionalType* operator->() { return conditional_.get(); }
 
-    /** return the const reference of children */
+    /** return the reference of children non-const version*/
     std::list<derived_ptr>& children() { return children_; }
 
     /** Construct shared_ptr from a conditional, leaving parent and child pointers uninitialized */