Hi fellow cakers! So back in November I had a 4 tier cake that was filled with caramel (holes poked and caramel poured on right out of the oven) and while in route to the venue (1/2 a mile away from it actually) my cake fell. Thank the good lord I was able to disassemble it and fix it but it became a 3 tier instead of 4 as the bottom tier had caved in. I am assuming it was due to too much filling since the bride wanted "tons of caramel filling", or maybe it was just my caramel that didn't work. To this day I am a nervous psycho wreck when driving with 3+ tiers, and this weekend I have two  3 tiered cakes with the caramel filling due. I wanted to know if anyone has any tried and true caramel they have used in tiered cakes that hasn't resulted in something like this. Any other tips would help! Thank you so much in advance, I know it'll alleviate a lot of stress and provide peace of mind! <3

I think your issue was the caramel poured into holes in the cake, just made the cake too unstable.  Can you just use a caramel filling between the layers or a caramel buttercream?

I used a caramel filling I found on youtube by the vegetarian baker. It was a simple homemade recipe and was firm enough to not slide around.

If you really have to use that particular method, maybe a support system like sps would be helpful.

I put caramel into Italian meringue buttercream. It gives the flavor but has the stability that a regular caramel doesn't have. I agree with @Jinkies  that if you pour caramel onto a cake and let it sink into holes in the cake it will make it soft and smooshy, and that won't end up well.

thanks for your response ladies. Granted I was poking tooth pick holes, but obviously it still fell! I was trying to achieve tunnels of delicious caramel, which I probably just did too much. Thank you again! <3