i am makeing the witches cauldron cake for my husbands work party tomorrow. i used a pyrex bowl for the bottom layer and 2 9 in rounds on the top. i filled the layers last night and used a center dowl rod for support, i stepped away to get my cutters for the dowl rod and one side of the bottom layer began to crack and a whole chunk of the side collapsed. i took the top tiers off to save them. now how should i redo the bottom layer? do i dare try the pyrx bowl again or use anthor 9in round and just carve it? this cake is for tommorw so i dont have a lot of time i should be decorating today not filling and dirty icing. thanks

Soo sorry!! I would rebake the bottom layer (dense cake works best for carving) cool, fill and stack then place either a tile or book on it and let it settle for a couple hours. Pop it in the freezer for an hour then begin carving. It makes it easier if the cake is really cold. HTH

thank you, ive decided not to rebake in the pyrex bowl and to use anthor 9 in round and carve it, going to use the layers from last night for the bottom and the new one for the top and follow your directions from there. it wont be as round as i wanted but i can cover that mistake with decorations, plus my hubby made a great stand and board that will help disguise it!

Did you freeze it? warm cake will not stand up to that.

did not freeze it, ive carved before at room temp with no problems. i think it was a combination of 2 things, 1 ive used this particular size bowl b4 and had the same problem with it (dont know why i thought it would be different this time) and 2 the filling for this layer was a little to moist.

Depending on how tapered the angle is, gravity will continue to win.

It's best to use styrofoam for the carved away base portion, and start stacking real cake on top at the widest section to prevent the cake from falling off where there isn't anything underneath it for support.

What sort of support are you putting inside this cake? Rule of thumb is boards and dowels for every 4" of vertical cake (just like a tiered cake). You can still ice and decorate as one.

I know this is too late, but with the way the bottom of the cake is shaped, I'd actually put dowels and a board between the bowl shape and the rounds. I think with the rounds on top of the bowl, gravity is pushing the sides of the cakes down. Much like what happens to a cake layer that has a hump and you flip it out on the cooling rack hump side down then come back an hour later to see the cake split in half.

Probably way too late to help this project, but the other solution is to use rice cereal treats for the most tapered part on the bottom. I have been using them in some of my cakes, and people like them mixed with some cake flavors. I used cereal treats for the first layer of my severed head cake. You can see the cake and a cross section in my gallery.

I think the added weight is causing problems. If you look in the gallery there are many cakes in a bowl shape that are still in one piece. Also think about all the topsy turvy cakes with slanted sides.

Maybe the OP needs to use a firmer cake, but in my head, I think if I was going to dowel that cake, I would dowel it between the bowl layer and the other layers.

I just made this cauldron cake

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2192240

I was worried about the stability as I used two 9 inch pans and the wilton sports ball pan for the bottom. I did as suggested and put a cake board between the shaped section and the rounds on top, I also put dowels in that section (4) and anchored them in the fondant "feet" of the cauldron if that makes sense.. this traveled 40 minutes in the car on country roads and there was no shifting at all. Best of luck

Looks good! Glad to see it can work out!

Thanks TexasSugar! You all are a great help with all the tips and ideas! I still have not figured out how to make the sugar plate in such a way it can withstand being on top of the lights without melting some.. maybe a deeper gully under the sugar plate so the lights are further down and don't have a chance to touch the plate? Someone also suggested lights that do not emit any heat. I almost want to make another to get that part figured out...lol maybe I will figure out another type of design to use it on and try that
Happy Caking