Ok so I am in a state of panic! I have two issues brewing here! Yesterday I used a convection oven to bake the layers of two wedding cakes I have for tomorrow, the oven sort of over brown the layers a little more than I am used to having them. Is there any way to soften the sides a little bit? I have read here that some people brush their cakes with some sort of a flavored syrup or liquid, what does this do to the cake? Would this help soften the sides? If so what kind of syrup or liquid is used and how is it made?

Now my second issue? One of my cakes stuck a little to the bottom of the pan again nothing major but I have never had this happen before. The tier that stuck cracked a little. The tier this happened to was the bottom layer of the bottom tier (if that makes sense) should I just remake that layer or would it be ok since it will be at the bottom? The cake Im doing will be a 3 tier (16-12-8 ) wedding cake iced in buttercream with filling! Please help any suggestions would be appreciated!

I used simple syrup for this - I had a chocolate cake and instead of doing the standard simple syrup of one cup water and one cup sugar, I sub'd a cup of coffee for the water - then I brushed it on the cake surface and it helped a lot besides being absolutely YUMMY!

i second simple syrup - its a 1:1 ratio, i do a tablespoon. it just adds more moistness. although if its that crispy, you might want to shave the cake.

as to the cracked layer, use some bc to stick it back together, and you are fine!
xx

Hello.....
I am not sure if the simple syrup would soften the cake. I would use caution in doing so. Simple syrup is intended to make the cake more moist, but that's when it's applied to the top, and allowed to soak in, or brushed on all over. Using too much to soften it could spell disaster, and the whole thing could fall apart.
As for the crack in the cake, unless it's a major one, it should do ok being used on the bottom. Filling it, crumb coating, then icing it should be all it needs. I'm sure like a lot of us, we have repaired bad spots, and went on with it.....
Are you familiar with using a convection oven? With the one I had, I had to cut the temp some, and cut the baking time, so things wouldn't over bake. HTH you!

Simple syrup; adds moisture and can add flavor. I usually use Davinci's coffee syrups because they have tons of fantastic flavors and it's one less thing for me to do.

For the cracked layer I would say it depends on your support system. I use SPS and wouldn't have any concerns using a cracked cake provided I could patch it back together so it looked right. I don't know that I'd do it using just dowels or straws though as those use the cake itself as part of the support.

Hopefully someone who knows more than me will jump in to help!