Hi, First, I do not know how to post a picture on the site. I tried and it did not work.

I had a cake disaster a few weeks ago. I am making a cake in September and I want to be prepared. If it is hot and humid, should I not use IMB? I plan to use the SPS instead of dowels this time. I am using fondant. I just made a fondant cake for my daughter's b-day and the icing squished out of the bottom when i was smoothing it. It was a rush job, so the icing may not have been firm enough.

This is my plan. Bake the cake tiers in advance and freeze them. I usually use a cake mix because I like that it does not get stale. i have made a few cakes from Warren Brown's book, Cake Love. They were great, but does anyone know if they freeze well and would last under the fondant for a couple days? The cakes will be 12 in, 8 or 9in, and 6 inch.
On Wednesday before wedding, thaw cakes, level fill and crumbcoat. Should I store them in the fridge after this? Or just in very cold airconditioning? On Thursday i would like to add a little more frosting then cover with fondant. Should I bring the cakes to room temp? Should i mist the buttercream with water? I seem to have trouble getting the fondant to stick. It is very humid where I live, though. Finally, I am making gumpaste flowers. Can I attach them with RI if I need to? I will have them attached to wire.

Thanks for any advice. I have made successful layer cakes before, but I am so worried after my disaster!!!

Have you tried Indydebi's buttercream recipe? http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-6992-Indydebis-Crisco-Based-Buttercream-Icing.html It's very humid here and I have much better luck with her recipe than I have with other buttercreams. Even though it's all crisco and no butter, it doesn't taste greasy.

For the gumpaste flowers, what part were you going to attach with royal? The wire to the flower or the wire to the cake? You can use drinking straws or posy pics to insert the wires in the cake. To attach the flower to the wire, I usually just bend the wire into a hook, moisten it with gum glue and then stick it into the gumpaste...if it's a rose, let that part dry before adding the petals.

Oh, and about the cake mixes...I like using cake mixes too because of how reliable they are...the few times I've tried a scratch cake it just hasn't come out like I wanted. I use the mix extender recipe that lots of people here use: http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2322-White-Almond-Sour-Cream-Cake-WASC.html It comes out really good...moist and dense and doesn't taste like a cake mix.

THANK YOU!!

i will also recommend indydebis bc, its great! imbc just cant stand up to the heat.

i dont mist my crumb coat, but if its well crusted a very light spray will help.

i dont know what the recipes in that book are, but my usual scratch cakes last a while. the longest i have left a cake before eating was 5 days, then it got finished a couple after that.

i dont see any reason to refridgerate cakes, unless the filling demands it, but equally a lot of people do it. then again, i dont have heat and humidity to deal with! but id say ac is fine.

why add more frosting? its just making more work for your self, you could just do a thicker crumb coat. always bring your cake to room temp, otherwise you risk problems (not everyone gets them, it depends) like air bubbles.

as to using ri with the flowers, it depends on the look and how the flowers are arranged. if they are on the wires, id assume that sticking the wires inside straws would be the way to go, or an arrangement to sit on top of the cake.

im sure you will be problem free, after a dissaster its usual to worry more, but im sure you have done plenty of problem free cakes before too!
xx

SO you put a straw into the cake first then put the wired flower into that? I attached the wire to the flower and let it dry, then stick it into the cake. i read somewhere that ri will break down on the fondant, but then I see it being piped directly onto fondant in tyhe books I read. I thought I might need some ri for extra support if I want the flowers to stay in a certain spot.

The straws are because the wire is not food safe. I was reading on here that someone (can't remember who, but it was a brilliant idea) fills the drinking straw with candy melts so that they will harden and hold the wire in place. When I've done it, I used those white plastic flower holders that Wilton sells, the cheap ones, and didn't have any trouble getting the wire to stay in place inside of it, maybe because it was wrapped in floral tape.

I've used royal icing on fondant and it didn't break down. I think maybe if someone used a lot of crisco to roll the fondant they might have issues, but you're right, in the cake books (especially the British ones) they use royal on top of fondant all the time.

Thanks. I try to use a decent amount of imb because people do not like the fondant. I will try to use less and maybe add more to the filling. Thanks!!! I think my cake flopped because of the dowels!!! Thanks again for all of the advice!!