Yesterday I had a cake (3-tier) that was going to have fresh flowers cascading down the side. When I arrived to set up the cake the flowers were not there yet. No big deal, I just finished assembling then I waited,and waited...

The flowers were over an hour late and the cake stood for that long in 85 degree heat (I know, I know that not hot but it is for us here ). Then when I was putting the flower spikes in I noticed that the cake was starting to slide. I manages to pull the top two tiers off and salvage as best I could and had a wonderful understanding bride, but my question is was my pushing the spikes in causing it to shift or was it my dowling, or a combo of both or none of the above?

I've attatched a photo where you can see the visible slant to the bottom tier and the bulging that wasn't there before I started adding flowers. Any and all comments, suggestions, ideas would be helpful. I've never had this happen before

How many spikes were you adding? too many would certainly weaken the structure of the cake. The bulge is probably from the filling getting too soft.

How tall is the bottom tier? It looks like it might be a double tall? If so was it supported properly? Did you do a dam around the filling? A dowel pushed from the top through all tiers helps to stop sliding/shifting as well.

I feel for you on this one, thank goodness you had an understanding bride! It's amazing how some people react vs. others (bridezillas)

They were sitting in the sun.

I used 3 spikes on the top tier, 4 in the middle, none in the bottom because I didn't get that far. The bottom tier was the same hight as the others (just dosn't look it because I had to "camoflage" the bottom of the others). Yep I used a dam and no they weren't sitting in the sun...I wouldn't allow that. The glare is just my stupid camera. Thanks for all the help, I think I'm just going to chaulk it up to bad luck and our unseasonable heat.

Thanks!