I attempted to make a diaper bag cake and failed. I baked in two square nine inch pans. I cut each cake in three and attempted to stack and carve but it fell apart. The filling was cream cheese and the cake was carrot. I got frustrated and threw it in the garbage.

Carrot cake is notorious for being crumbly and moist so I can see how it fell apart...The weight of the fondant didn't help it either.Try using a heavier cake like a pound cake etc...I just made a purse cake with a chocolate pound cake and it was great..nice and sturdy.Also try doweling the layers once you stack them for more stability.HTH

When you get a request for a carved cake.... in the future... you have to reccomend a heavier cake as stated above ^^^ a pound cake would have been perfect for this... you have to have a sturdy cake for carving...

Sorry about what you went through... I know all too well how one can take the whole thing and just DUMP it in the trash.... I have gone through that too lol

Good Luck next time sweetie...

thanks I will not give up hope. Next time I will choose a pound cake. thanks for your support after this morning frustration I was going to give up baking

I've successfully carved carrot cake into simple shapes (e.g. bag, box, slanted, half moon) but with a few caveats:

1. No nuts - they tend to break chunks of cake when you carve into one
2. Recipe uses butter instead of oil - more stable and sturdy cake
3. MOST IMPORTANT - freeze and carve frozen. If I'm cutting into a cake, I only let the cake thaw enough for the knife to go through.

Hope that helps

Moist cakes or cakes with pieces of things in them don't alway do so well for carving. Nuts and coconut are in my I won't carve list. If you use cake mixes, I have found that DH butter recipe made too soft of a cake, but haven't had any problems with other mixes (even using oil), doctored mixes or the extender recipe. I've never made a pound cake, nore have I frozen, for a carved cake.