Hello there,

Going to try to make this as short as possible. I'm making a friend's wedding cake. Four tiers. I was going to try Sugarshack's bubble straw method, but everyone says SPS. I bought SPS. However, I also read you should make sure your cakes are exactly four inches so you don't have to cut the stands. SO....I always use DH cake mixes. When I did the cake tasting I used that too so she likes that cake.

Someone here on CC said she tortes her cakes and fills them, this way she has exactly four inches. But last night I did a practice cake for the largest one I'm doing, which is twelve inch. I used my Agbar to torte and it came out fine. Only thing was that when I stacked them, the middles sunk. I think they were too soft. Maybe I made my damns too high. I def baked them until they were done.

I'm thinking I need a more sturdy cake recipe like a scratch, but I don't want to change that right now for this cake. Should I just do the bubble straw method and not torte like I wanted? I am going to transport two tiers and two tiers and then stack onsite.

What do you think? Thank you.

Michele

Just thinking outside the box here, could you put some of the "dam" icing in the middle of the cake as well for support? Does anyone know if this would work?

I have the same issues sometimes, and usually, it is because the cake isn't baked long enough (sometimes they take much longer than the directions) - I know you said you def baked them long enough... but I wouldn't rule that out completely.

Another issue some people say that cause the middle to sink, is over beating the batter... ?

HTH and good luck with the cake

I agree with POoh's mama Put an extra dam in the middle of large tiers. I saw it once on a cake decorating show and it helps support the middle in large tiers.