Help!!!  I did a cake for a baby shower that's in 3 hours and the fondant has cracked. How can I fix this? I was thinking I could pipe some royal icing on it, let it dry, then somehow sand it flat?? Any other ideas? Thanks!

Thank you - what do you mean by "sludge"? Just mix enough water to make it sticky?

Amazing!!! I didn't know I could do that!!! Thank you SO much! I can breathe now

AJust wanted to thank you again! Worked like a charm! I really owe you big time, thank you so so much!!!

Now to figure out why this happened in the first place so it doesn't happen again. What causes fondant to crack? Air bubbles? The cake settling? It had dowels all in it but still looked settled after sitting overnight.

Ok, I'll walk you through the process. Sorry this will probably get lengthy!

The recipe I used calls for: all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, coffee, chocolate, sour cream, oil, vanilla. I made 2 8" tiers (so 4 8" cakes total - I wanted the bottom to be really tall) and stored them in the freezer this past week. I made american buttercream (1c butter, 1/2c milk, 2lb ps, 2tsp vanilla) and filled them after taking them out of the freezer and leveling. I always make sure not to overfill so that there won't be a bulge. After the 2nd 8" layer I put in 4 wooden dowels and put a board on top. Then filled and stacked the remaining two 8" layers. After all four layers were filled and stacked I crumb coated the entire thing and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set up. Once set, I covered doweled the top 8" tier (I used 4 wooden dowels again) and covered the cake in fondant (I used pettinice) and decorated. I do think I rolled the fondant too thin (because I needed it to be so big) which I'm sure contributed to my problem. After I decorated the bottom, I repeated the process with the 6" tier (which was two 6" cakes). I put royal icing  under the 6" tier to secure it to the bottom tiers and then stacked it.

I did not refrigerate the cake after I finished it. I don't do that with any of my cakes, and coincidentally ALL of my cakes look settled the next day regardless of if I'm using fondant or buttercream, or what type of dowels I'm using or how many dowels I used. My cakes are always cute but I really want them to have the clean polished professional look and they never do. They always just look slightly settled, or sunken in, the next day. I thought dowels would prevent this!

Also, the main location of the crack was around the middle of the bottom tier where the board was. There were a few minor cracks on the top of the bottom tier around the edge, but the really bad cracks were right by the board. If there's a way to post a picture to this thread I will but not sure if there is?

Thanks again for your help, I don't know what I'd do without everyone here! Being self-taught is so frustrating sometimes because every cake seems to be a big learning experience!

AI can't open your pic on my phone, but from what you describe, it sounds like you need to settle your cake before you crumb coat. After you fill the cake, wrap lightly in plastic and put a book (I use a 6" ceramic tile recommended by leah_s) on top &I let sit a couple hours. Then you can crumb coat & cover w fondant. Your dowels won't help the cake from settling, they only help transfer the additional weight from the top tier from crushing the bottom tier. Maybe someone else will add on to this, but I think settling is the cause.

AExcellent. I'll start doing that. Does it need to be refrigerated while its settling? Also, do you think the fact that I haven't been refrigerating after its finished has anything to do with it?

AYour cake will not settle while its refrigerated. Also, did you say that you stack tiers *before* crumbcoating?

leah_s, sorry if I was confusing - normally NO i would never stack before crumbcoating! That'd be pretty difficult! But for the cake this past weekend since it was double barreled I filled and stacked, and once it was was completely stacked then I crumbcoated (just the double-barreled bottom tier). I crumbcoated the 6" tier separately and stacked after it was decorated.

AYes, the fridge won't settle your cake. I leave mine overnight or use Leah's tile method if I'm in a hurry, for at least 6hrs (maybe some do it for less time).

It doesn't really need to go in the fridge (unless the filling is perishable). I will pull mine in and out if I'm trying to get my icing to setup.

Depending on the fondant you use and the decorations when doing a double barrel or extended tier cake you can wrap the fondant around and blend the seems, if that's easier (this has nothing to do with settling just a tip). I wouldn't have thought to 'spackle' it, clever. Other then that you pretty much have to rip the fondant off and redo to fix it.

ASo can I refrigerate a cake that's covered in fondant? I've heard yes and no. I live in a very humid climate and want to be sure the cake won't sweat.

A

ALike AZ, every cake every time. I'm in humid Charleston, SC.

Aliving on the gulf coast I never refrigerate fondant of any kind....the humidity here destroys it once its pulled out...but I have heard some brands of fondant hold up better than others...I use mmf and it just doesn't work out for me