Ahhh.... It's over.
The wedding cake was delivered 2 hrs away so I had the bottom 2 tiers stacked on the plateau (10"12") and the top 2 tiers on my lap (6"8"). About 30 mins from arrival I looked down and the 8" had basically squashed in on itself! The 6" was in perfect shape, but I had no choice but to eliminate the 8" tier.
Thank goodness the bride was so nonchalant about ordering that we didn't even discuss whether it would 3 or 4 tiers (for 90 people) so I never even fessed up! I fixed it in the car before I brought it to the reception room to add the flowers.
I don't know what caused the cake to collapse, but I'm fairly sure that the heat from my lap softened the cheesecake filling too much--and it had raspberry on top of that. But the 10" tier that was on the plateau had the same cake and filling and it was fine, thank God!
Or I might've accidentally pushed one of the dowels when I inserted the straw for a flower. I just don't know. I may never do another wedding cake after all that!
SHOOT! I'm trying to add an attachment of the finished cake but can't, so I'll add it in a reply...
Wow!! Nice save! The cake looks amazing...no one would ever have known. I took a class once where I learned never never to carry a cake in the car on my lap, but I never knew exactly why. I wouldn't have dreamed it could have been body heat, but it makes sense. Congratulations for the beautiful cake and the excellent save!
Teresa
Beautiful cake, and very nice save!
The reason I never carry stuff in my lap, well, besides the fact that I'm driving, is that I am not still and secure like a seat or floor, or trunk. If the car stops short, I'm going to move, and I'll have little control on what I'm carrying will do.
That is a weird squoosh, but I doubt it was body heat. I think you're probably right that a dowel was not in straight and caused the 6" to shift and mash the 8".
This is an absolutely stunning cake!! It's very striking! Nice job, and nice save, too.
You'd never know it wasn't supposed to be that way. Nice save! Did you eat the runaway layer? 
Dowelling sounds like your problem. Have you got Sugarshack's DVD on Successful Stacking or have you considered SPS supports?
It really is a lovely cake even though those of us in the know know how horrible it really is. 
Just kidding. We all have cakes like this we just don't all confess to them! 
Your cake is truly gorgeous. I love the flowers you made for it.
It is impossible to tell that this cake had a hard start. It is beautiful and well done.
I'm sorry you had so much stress over it, but don't let this experience keep you from doing weddings in the future. You are very talented.
I think you just need a new way to support your tiers. 
Congratulations on a fantastic save,
-Debbie B.
Wow, you did a great save here, and in the car no less!! I'd never have guessed you'd had a mishap. My guess is it was a dowel shift. The cake is very striking and lovely. Those red flowers look wonderful against the white and black!
I've learned to put every cake in the back of my Expo on non skid matting not matter how near or far it's being transported. If it's on a seat it'll scoot or worse yet fly forward if you make a sudden/too fast stop (for the cake). Personally I don't even want it scooting sideways. Floor is best. Everything is in a box or carrier.
ugh... Live and learn!
I usally have cakes oin my lap that have figures or something that might shift and I can catch and hold in place, but there really was no nexcuse for this one.
I do think it was a dowel that must've gotten pushed in when I was placing a flower in the side, near the bottom, to see how it looked. It sat out in my 83 degree house for several hours before that and it was perfect.
From now on I will be hammering dowels into the foam core board and placing it on top of another foam core board (so the dowels obviously won't poke through).
I've been considering the SPS but most of my cakes are funky shapes, I don't do a whole lot of round stacked cakes.
Thanks for your positive comments!
You did a great save. The fact that you didn't have to tell the bride is wonderful.
The cake is really beautiful, no one would know there was a problem from the finished photo.
The cake is beautiful. I'm in love with the flowers (are those poppies?). You saved it wonderfully, I get so stressed out with most of my cakes because I want them to be perfect. I'm coming to the conclusion that there will always be imperfections (whether big or small) or that I'll never be 100% satisfied with what I do, but it keeps me humble.
Don't stop doing wedding cakes, you'll be depriving people of gorgeous creations like this one.
God bless you!
I loooooove your cake. OMG-it is beautiful.
I bet you anything it is the wooden dowels. I hate those suckers. I've had 2 diasters in 2 months and will never use them again!
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