Sorry...I should have been a little more clear. The cake was served and raved about...but my SIL wasn't the one that cut and served it (another friend did that). It's the first time I've ever had any issue with a cake so I wanted to make sure that I didn't do something (or forget to do something, lol)

Thanks for all of the input.... They had folded down the back seat of a Pontiac Sunfire and placed it on that. It was on an angle and the seat bounces when travelling (i used to drive one of those cars so I know) so things could have moved I guess I will never really know...just upsetting when you do a cake that you are proud of....and then see the after pictures.

I think I know what happened. They drove for two hours with it in the car with the a/c on. Then they parked it for a few minutes before going to the shower and left it in the car thinking that a few minutes wouldn't hurt it (not!). When they got back in the car the fondant looked fine even though the car was warmer than it probably should have been. What they didn't see was that the buttercream filling had gotten too warm and started to melt. When they drove to the shower, the cake spun on the center dowel. I've heard of this happening and I'm grateful I've never experienced it.

I doubt that they will admit leaving it in the car for any length of time so you will probably never know for sure but I bet that's what happened.


Someone on one of the forums (I'm sorry, I don't remember who it was) said that they put in two dowels through the entire cake. That keeps it from "spinning". I think I would do this from now on when you aren't making the delivery yourself.

They wrapped something around it to *support* it and stop it from moving on the folded down seat -
Well that is what it looks like to me - and of course somewhere along the lines of their 5 min trip they had to break and whatever they wrapped around it - dug into the cake.
Because it seems strange that it was damaged at the same height all the way around the cake.

All that beautiful work - and they decided to plonk it onto a folded down seat -
Glory knows why they just didn't place it firmly on the floor in a box and then supported the box instead of letting it bounce around on a folded down seat.

Hmmm - yes, they probably just wrapped a few towells around it - oh and then the safety belt.

So disheartening for you -

Bluehue.

She's not telling you the whole truth.

In doing a side-by-side comparison of the before and after photos, it looks like the cake settled a bit, too. You can see the after picture is shorter than the before picture. I think the bouncy car ride might have caused a disturbance of the support system. I could be wrong but look at the pictures side by side.

I think after two hours the day before, they gave into the temptation and munched on it- then blamed the car-ride. I bet you don´t get that picture.. ha ha
the cake looks awesome!

Mrs. Wendell,
When you look at the photo showing the back of the cake, on the left side, is that a flower leaning against the cake or a wooden dowel sticking out?

I am so sorry this happened to your cake. It was a wonderful work of art.

-Debbie B.