Here is my first attempt at a wedding cake. I tried to keep it simple and everything went fine until I got to the reception place and after I stacked the tiers, I put the topper on and had trouble from there. The topper was long and did not have a good base. So I pushed on it a little thinking that would help it stand. Well the fondant started cracking right away. I had some buttercream and filled in the cracks and tried to stop what I knew was coming. Eventually the whole back side of the top tier fell off. I rushed out to a local grocery store and purchased several 5" rounds and had them put white buttercream on them for me. I took them back and put some decorations on it and put it on the cake after I took off the original one. No one ever knew the difference, but me.

The picture's so small I can't see anyhting. But it looks nice to me.

That looks like the same topper that my DIL used. It was big and heavy! The cake I made was all buttercream, but I don't think that helped much.

nice save

Sorry for the trouble, but great that you could save it!

I've never made such a cake, but from what I've read, if you put on a heavy topper, you must put supports just like you would put under another tier.

ETA: the cake looks beautiful, and great that you could think under stress to save it llike that!

This is the same topper DH and I used....I knew nothing about caking then when I choose it....luckily we had no disaster with the cake...Maybe our cake lady put a support under it. (We did loose our marriage license though and spent most of the reception hunting it down....

NICE SAVE!! That is the way to think!! I have had trouble with toppers before too so I use the same support system on them as I do on my cake layers, cardboard and dowel rods underneath the topper. dont let this get you down!! Keep on cakin'!!!

Thanks everyone for the positive comments. I learned some valuable lessons from this experience. When I replaced the top tier, I did put a small circle of cardboard on top and covered it with white buttercream before I put the topper back on. It held up nicely the rest of the night. By the way, the topper was purchased by the bride so I felt obligated to use it. Not a very good one either.

Great thinking under pressure. Congrats to you and you cake looks lovely.

Good SAVE!!!

Never push a top into the cake.... if that is the top I think it is.... I put just a few straws under it for support. That usually does the trick with any heavy toppers.

Jen