Ugghh...my First Craptastic Cake!

Decorating By mimi4bye Updated 25 Jul 2013 , 12:41pm by mimi4bye

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mimi4bye Posted 16 Jun 2013 , 4:04pm
post #1 of 17

I really was excited to try this wonkie cake. This was my first Topsy Turvy type cake. Let me start  by saying that I hate them. It just goes against everything I like. Straight, even, neat...I don't know maybe its just me, but that may be part of the problem. I went in hating it. Anyway, it was humid and the fondant was giving me issues like it never had. It fought me the whole way through. I delivered it (down a 2 mile washboard dirt road incidentally) and set it up without a problem. Customer loved it. An hour later she called and said it fell. I freaked. She then sent me this pic...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any thoughts on this? I'm not sure if it was the construction that got me? The heat? The delivery? A combo? 

 

And no it didn't fall! Looks like the fondant is slipping off?

 

I feel awful and don't want to go through this feeling again. I really feel like selling my stuff and giving up. 

Sorry for the incoherent rambling. Just frustrated :(

16 replies
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mimi4bye Posted 16 Jun 2013 , 4:07pm
post #2 of 17

And this is the pic I took at the home I delivered to. 

 

 

 

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CWR41 Posted 16 Jun 2013 , 6:39pm
post #3 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by mimi4bye 


 I'm not sure if it was the construction that got me?

What support system did you use?

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mimi4bye Posted 16 Jun 2013 , 10:43pm
post #4 of 17

Doubled up my cardboard cake boards, Wilton plastic dowels between tiers and a solid dowel running down the center of the cake. 

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CWR41 Posted 16 Jun 2013 , 11:54pm
post #5 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by mimi4bye 

Doubled up my cardboard cake boards, Wilton plastic dowels between tiers and a solid dowel running down the center of the cake. 


If you used Wilton hollow plastic dowels, I don't believe they could have slipped.  What concerns about the construction do you think got you?  Would you like to tell us more about that, for a possible diagnosis?

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mimi4bye Posted 17 Jun 2013 , 2:41am
post #6 of 17

AI did use the hollow dowels. I am fairly certain there isn't anything else I could have done. I didn't cut or carve into the bottom tier to set the subsequent tiers level. In other worlds I let the second and third tiers sit at an angle. It didn't look so sever that it would be a problem. Especially with the dowel running through all three. I don't know... I'm just rambling

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ApplegumPam Posted 17 Jun 2013 , 2:49am
post #7 of 17

Is there a way to view these pics without having to save them to your PC to open them?

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cakefat Posted 17 Jun 2013 , 7:09am
post #8 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by ApplegumPam 

Is there a way to view these pics without having to save them to your PC to open them?

 

yes- I wonder this too. how come some posters can post photos embedded in their emails and others don't- meaning you have to open it and download to your computer? I don't like that either.

 

OP- haven't a clue as to why your cake fell. Sorry about that though.

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mcaulir Posted 17 Jun 2013 , 8:58am
post #9 of 17

So you cut the dowels all different lengths and sat the bases of the top two tiers on them at an angle?

 

That would be your problem.

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Evoir Posted 17 Jun 2013 , 10:11am
post #10 of 17

ASo...you were really excited to try it, or you had a negative feeling about it from the start? Your first post says both? :-). Regardless, the problem was simply that you did not set each tier upon a level surface, ie carved a flat, level surface into the tops of you bottom and middle tiers, to place your middle and top tiers respectively.

There are some great tutorials and DVDs out there to take you step by step through the process.

In a nutshell though: It is vital you create level surfaces, and only the illusion of wonkiness!

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mimi4bye Posted 17 Jun 2013 , 10:15am
post #11 of 17

AAhhhhh! Then that was the problem. Lesson learned. Next time I will cut it out and make it level. Thanks so much

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kathypq Posted 13 Jul 2013 , 3:20am
post #12 of 17

I'm reading your blog and now laughing to myself, my cake is doing that right now, I have to trash the whole thing and start again, it's like my fondant is melting off the cake and it hasn't left the house.  The birthday party is tomorrow at 5 and I have to have another alien cake made.  Its now 11:15 here and Im now taking the cakes out of the oven, letting them cool over night and starting again tomorrow.  I just wish I knew what I did wrong, was my fondant to heavy, was the shape of the cake, was it the filling I used in the middle.  This cake was a egg shape standing on end, only thing I can think is that is was to heavy.  I used supports, I just don't know.

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letthemeatcake1 Posted 16 Jul 2013 , 3:35pm
post #13 of 17

ok, so I have made the last three cakes and they have done the same thing. The first one was a 2 tiered Minnie cake. it was just fine until I put top layer on it. this I did without dowels or any support. so I figured I needed that duh. next one was a hat box cake and I doweled it with five dowels in middle added fondant flowers and fondant wrapping paper with pearls and added top lid only to wake up next morning to find it collapsing down on one side. I make a new one which held mostly but found it to slightly collapsing on one side,( the side with gum paste flowers ). then I made a purse cake only to have it do the same thing. pulling away from the dowels and collapsing. my work  is impeccable and beautiful but, if I can't find out why it is doing this I am going to quit. please help I have a wedding cake to do at the end of this month.

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Cakechick123 Posted 16 Jul 2013 , 5:23pm
post #14 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by letthemeatcake1 

ok, so I have made the last three cakes and they have done the same thing. The first one was a 2 tiered Minnie cake. it was just fine until I put top layer on it. this I did without dowels or any support. so I figured I needed that duh. next one was a hat box cake and I doweled it with five dowels in middle added fondant flowers and fondant wrapping paper with pearls and added top lid only to wake up next morning to find it collapsing down on one side. I make a new one which held mostly but found it to slightly collapsing on one side,( the side with gum paste flowers ). then I made a purse cake only to have it do the same thing. pulling away from the dowels and collapsing. my work  is impeccable and beautiful but, if I can't find out why it is doing this I am going to quit. please help I have a wedding cake to do at the end of this month.


when you dowel the bottom cake, do you use a board underneath the top cake? This seems to be one of the most common mistakes people make. You need dowels AND a board for a proper support structure.

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letthemeatcake1 Posted 16 Jul 2013 , 5:47pm
post #15 of 17

yes i used board and dowels, but where the flowers sat on the cake it settled down. i was told to settle it first on my terms so next time i will do this. should i leave cake out of fridge and covered with weight then  later decorate?

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Smckinney07 Posted 16 Jul 2013 , 6:51pm
post #16 of 17

Ahttp://cakecentral.com/a/how-to-make-a-topsy-turvy-whimsical-cake

For settling the cake you can just stack and cover in fridge overnight. I only use a small weight (like a large tile-but make sure the weight is evenly dispersed over the entire cake) if I'm in a hurry to decorate. You don't want something too heavy or it will crush your cake, this just speeds up the settling. And as stated above it just needs to appear wonky or tilted, it's an illusion, you still need a flat surface for each tier to sit on.

The link is to a great tutorial it should help

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mimi4bye Posted 25 Jul 2013 , 12:41pm
post #17 of 17

AThinking back on my cake, I think this may have been the issue. Normally I bake two days ahead, wrapping and storing in fridge. The day before decorating I crumb coat, chill then final ice all my tiers and then back in the fridge. The last day I stack an decorate. Everything else aside I think it would have been okay had it had time to settle. I actually made my cakes ahead of time and chilled. Then iced an decorated all the same day. Time was an issue. I think it was just a perfect storm of mishaps. Lessons learned. Had two sucessful cakes after this and no issues.

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