Hi

I made a vanilla maderia cake, applied vanilla syrup before filling with SMBC and rasberry jam, i then crumb coated with SMBC chilled the cake for half an hour. I then put a very small amount of vanilla syrup on the crumb coating and covered the cake with fondant.

At my nephew's party i began to cut the cake, the fondant in parts of the cake started to peel off and the top layer of the cake fell away from the bottom layer. Why did this happen?
I was so embarrassed everyone said it tasted nice though thankfully but the presentation of the pieces made me so

no ideas anyone??

Was the cake chilled when it was served? If so, that may have been the culprit. The filling may have been too stiff for the layers to stick to.

If the cake was served at room temp, then I'm just as stumped as you are!

Ok, I am really new to fondant but I thought you applied the fondant as soon as you frosted so the frosting was nice and wet and the fondant would stick? Then you use the smoother to set the edges, corners and shape and then go forward. Could it be the refridgerated cake wasn't "wet" enugh for the fondant to stick?

I also have never heard of applying syrup on top of icing so maybe that created a slippery cake that the fondant also wouldn't stick too? I'm sorry...I am not of much help. As for the cake falling apart when it was cut, I have several recipes that are too fragile for fondant or stacking so maybe it was a lighter, less dense cake.

no cake was kept at room temperature weird hey?

I

I don't understand the need for/use of the syrup when you're using smbc and a jam for filling, then using it again over your crumb coat. Is this just to add more moisture to the cake? I'm not criticizing your using the syrup, many do, just wondering why you need. I'm sorry it happened but I'm not surprised that your fondant fell off or that the layers slipped apart with all that syrup. It sounds like too much of a good thing to me.

My guess is that your cake was too wet.
If you baked a moist cake you really don't need the syrup wash. I also agree with the poster who was concerned about the additional syrup on top of the buttercream....that's a no-no . Add in the weight of the fondant and you've got a potential disaster. Any time you're using fondant remember that your cake needs to be sturdy enough to handle the weight. Use only a crumb coating of frosting beneath the fondant. And watch the addition of washes. If you wrap your cakes in plastic wrap shortly after removing them from the oven, they will retain the moisture that usually escapes in the steam. A wash won't be necessary.
HTH

Hi
Thanks for all the advice, all your advice makes sense, i only put on the extra syrup as the BC seemed dry once it had been in the fridge (i have never chilled my cakes prior to covering them before)

i will lay off th syrup in future!

I always chill my cake before putting the fondant on. It helps keep it smooth. Once the buttercream warms up it sticks to the fondant.

The syrup on the cake itself shouldn't be a problem. Only the additional syrup over the crumb coat. I would think that this prevented proper adhesion of the fondant and ultimately caused its slippage off of the cake.