AHi, Just delivered this cake. I brought it in separate tiers, I used the SPS system, and also I doweled the bottom two layers, as they were over the 4 inch columns I had ordered. It got there fine, stacked beautifully, stayed perfectly level, which was my huge fear. But the bottom buttercream layer started cracking. It was not pushing out thank goodness! And with his style cake, I was able to hide it with more details, but if this was a smooth cake, it would have been a disaster! . (And the places where it cracked were the smooth parts)

I did ice it with SMBC after torting, crumb coating and freezing again, about 15 minutes out of the freezer. It was 14 inches, so I know it was still frozen. I thought it was best to ice the cake when cold? And then last night it was on my porch, in the mid to upper 30s.

Ideas of why this happened? I don't want this to ever happen again!

Thank you! [IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3216246/width/350/height/700[/IMG] Nancy

IDK nancylee but you did a great job!

AThanks, Enga! It only took me about 40 hours! Nancy

Lol, I've only done two real tiered cakes and was nervous as a tick both times. I think I'm going to look more into SPS system and bring the tiers to the venues separately like you did.

AThe SPS was very easy to use and really stabilized the cake. I will never make a three tier or above without it!

Anyone have any suggestions? Ideas? Thanks!

Nancy

That is a big, heavy cake!  The bottom board may not have been strong enough to hold the cake without flexing which can lead to cracking.  I always put a second wood board (at least 1/2" thick) underneath for support for a cake this large.

You may want to up the fat content slightly in your SMBC this helps with cracking I have found.  Since I've done this I've had less problems.

Also, you have to be careful with temperature shocking an smbc cake and causing cracking. If you freeze a frosted cake you have to gradually defrost by moving the cake to the refrigerator to defrost, not bringing it straight out to room temp.

HTH

Thank you! I am not sure how to up the fat content of my SMBC without messing it up. Do you mean add more butter?

And yes, I moved it from almost freezing to room temp, and then into my car on bumpy, winter-torn country roads, which is why I didn't stack it until I got there. Thank goodness!! Thank you for your help!

Nancy

AStacking it when you got there probably did the damage then. You're putting internal pressure into those tiers that are really cold. It has to go somewhere, probably out towards the edges of the cake, causing some fractures.

AThank you! So this can happen even with the SPS system? I thought that alleviated a lot of the stacking problems?