ok so i was asked to make this extravagant 4 tier wedding cake, i never have done this but i thought i could do it. everything was ok til i delivered it and stacked it. once i stacked it i noticed the fondant on the bottom tier started to crack then within 20 min it started to get this smushed look to it! why could this have happened? the tiers were 6,8,10 and 12. i put 9 plastic dowels in the bottom tier and some in the others that needed it. being such a perfectionist i am so disappointed.

did this happen to just the bottom? How many supports did you use ? sounds like two things cake was to heavy not enough supports . Possible to much BC under the fondant the weight may have squished it down cause that is the only way it could go

i used 9 plastic tube dowels. im thinking it was just too heavy as well. as for the butter cream i used a good amount not too much. how much should you use?

It could have been that your dowels were cut a hair too short and the tier above put too much pressure on the fondant? 9 dowels should have been plenty, I would have used 7. What type of buttercream did you use? It might have gotten too hot and started slumping under the fondant?

Can you post a picture?

i actually didnt get a pic because i forgot to put the battery in the camera! ugghh! i used a american buttercream with hi ratio shortening no butter. i probably did cut the dowels too short. should they be sticking out a bit?

I agree that you may have had some dowels that were a bit short, but I really feel that you had TOO MANY dowels in the cake.

My rule of thumb is one Wilton plastic dowel/tube for each 2 inches of the tier above, so you only needed 5 in the 12 inch, 4 in the 10 inch, and 3 in the 8 inch. When using the plastic dowels, you don't need near as many as when you use the wooden ones. A hollow tube is much stronger than a thin wooden spike.

Too many dowels degrade the integrity of the cake--it gets "swiss-cheesed" and instead of being stronger, it's actually made weaker.

HTH
Rae

thanks everyone for your advice. i just talked to the bride and she said she barely noticed it. but the cake was a hit otherwise so i feel alot better. i realize i am my own worst critic and i notice everything thats wrong with my cakes. it wasn't completely samashed it was a section about 3" wide. now i have all these tips for next time!

sounds like the dowels were too short.