Well, I'm really glad that I decided to do a 'practice' topsy turvy on my family. Because it turned out to be a disaster. The cake was basically a disaster from the start so when it fell over and then we nearly set the house on fire I was not at all surprised. Here's what I learned:

1. Don't use a brand new, super moist chocolate WASC recipe for carving if you have never actually covered it in fondant before. The bottom layer of the cake was so moist and delicious but it could not even support the weight of fondant. I had fondanted it and it was bulging and sliding a day before I even stacked it.

2. Homemade lemon curd filling is slippery! In retrospect I should have put a double rim of frosting around the edge of the cake before filling. By the time I started trimming the cake the filling was dripping out and the layers were slidding apart. So I took 2 skewers and jammed them through the cake and into the cardboard seperator. This is when I knew the end was near and nearly aborted the whole cake. But I had promised my family a cake and they were going to get cake!

3. Even the slightest tilt will eventually turn into a disaster! The cake stood for 5 hours. I saw it slowly tilting and a new bulge and tear in the fondant form on the top tier. I had asked my mother repeatedly to cut the cake already but she wanted to wait and wait and wait. And then an hour later I heard her tell someone to get me because there was a problem with the cake. She swears she didnt go near it but the top tier was on the floor at that point. A 6th dowel supporting the tier may have prevented this since it was clearly tilting in one direction all day.

And to finish the whole event off, she wanted me to move the remaining crushed bottom tier in front of my grandmother because she was afraid to touch it. When I was trying to put it down I knocked over candles on the table spilling wax all over myself and the table. Plus the still lit candle wick managed to land standing straight up on a paper plate! Wow was it an exciting cake day! Thank god I wasnt emotionally attached to this cake and it was practice in my mind for just this reason, even before I made it.

(oh! any my 89 year old grandmother caught that I put two of the same number on her bingo card even though I hadn't!)

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1877859

that cake looks a lot better then mine did thats for sure i had to get rid of the whole thing the bottom layer just would t hold it drove me nuts cant tell u what it put me throu so i had to go with a whole dif. cake idea (will post pic later} but u know what i was very happy with the second cake so i did t feel so bad after. i dont even no if i will ever temp another topsy turvy AGAIN sorry u had to go throu all that but ur cake did look that bad

I really enjoyed your sad story, and I saw the pics, it made me laugh in a sad way, but I happy it was a practice cake, at least you know what NOT to do for the next time. thanks for the comic relief

The cake looks really nice! too bad that had to happen. Believe it or not I was going to make one for Saturday but chickened out! . I noticed I won`t be having enough cake to start building it (not high enough) and don`t have much time left
But I do applaud for trying!!! I will eventually do it but for no one in particular.

It looks awesome... I've decided after doing my first topsy turvy that it is NOT fun... lol...

I think the reason she noticed is that with bingo the b's all are low numbers ( like 1-10 but not sure of the numbers in reality ) The i's would be like higher then that but lower then the N's .....

I bet you don't play bingo

Nope! I don't play bingo. I was going to look up the rules of the cards but I didn't have time, nor did I think she would notice!!

I also forgot to add in the midst of all of the structural problems.... I accidently put one of the dogs in an oven that was still warm and the fondant/gumpaste melted into a puddle. So I named the dog Puddle (bottom left corner of the cake board).

My uncle did appropriately name the tier on the floor Lemon Drop Cake. So at least everyone got a good laugh out of it!

What a shame, and thats a lot of hard work for it to fall over for ya,....sorry that happened.....better luck next time.....

lol dont stress. you should see my first tt.. it was also a disaster! ive been to frightened to re attempt one...

I'm so sorry your cake fell over From your description I was imagining bulges and dents and crumbs all over, but your cake looked great! Chin up!

Sorry! But Lemon Drop Cake has me giggling over here. At least it was for family, you know? I'm dreading my first topsy turvy cake.

Sorry! But Lemon Drop Cake has me giggling over here. At least it was for family, you know? I'm dreading my first topsy turvy cake.

I don't see the point in the topsy turvy cake. I think it is a fad that needs to say goodbye!

Your cake was super cute. Sorry that happened, and I hope your next one goes smoothly.

Your cake was super cute. Sorry that happened, and I hope your next one goes smoothly.

Your design was adorable! TT is challenging, but so fun! You can do it

Firstly I admire your desire to try - lets just say, I havent found the guts or the patience as of yet. Heaven knows I would like to try, but I really dont understand it very well and no one has asked. Until then, I will continue to learn from nice people on here the do's and the dont's!

Sorry that you had a bad experience, but again good for you for trying and putting in 100+ percent!

T

Did you let the cake settle at least 24 hours after filling it? Sharon Zambito has a wonderful DVD dedicated to the TT design. She uses ganaches under the fondant instead of BC for more support also. Your cake was cute and wasn't what I expected....it wasn't a total disaster!

It was so cute! I think it was great! So sorry it fell!
Wondering...did you put a lot of supports between the two tiers? I think that would have kept the bottom from squishing over.
Although I definitely understand.... I used tons of support between each tier and a dowel down all three tiers, and while it never took a complete dive, it continued to lean a little bit more all the time before it was finally cut up. (I've only done one topsy turvy so far.)

So sorry that happened to you! It's always a huge bummer when you put your heart & soul into a cake and then SPLAT! It crashes!! : )

I noticed in your post that you said the cake kept sliding... did you put the second tier on top of the first tier that was cut at an angle? Just wondering because I made my first topsy turvey cake a few weeks ago - I followed the tutorial on CC, and the best way to do them (so I've read anyway...) is to cut your tier at an angle, and then cut a circle out of that tier, big enough for the next tier to fit into. Make it flat so the tier sits flat inside that cut out circle. As long as you use cake rounds under each tier, and dowels for support it should be just fine

I think you can find the tutorial under the ARTICLES section here on CC, I just searched for Topsy & it came right up!

HTH!