I tried my first sugar beer bottle bucket cake. I finished it late Friday night/early Saturday morning(2:00 am). I really was not happy with the turn out of the cake but I figured it will do. The customer was picking up the cake Saturday morning @ 10am. I woke up about 9am Saturday morning and the first thing I did was go to check on the cake to see if I would like it better after a good nights sleep. To my surprise I would hate the cake even more.........it had collapsed and was all over my kitchen counter. The customer was coming in one hour......OMG!!!! I had to call her and I am pretty sure that I ruined their party. It was obviously too late to start another project for her because their party was starting soon. I did offer her another cake for free up to $100 dollars. Was that generous enough and how do you over come something like this. I was devastated.

Cynita

I'll try to attach the pictures on this thread. If not check out my photos in a minute.

Oh...I am sooooo sorry! What a disapppointment. I think you handled it beautifully and the compensation was very fair. I am sure it didn't ruin the party. Having the fantastic cake might have enhanced it, but this certainly didn't ruin it. I'm sure the party was fun and they'll look forward to one of your delicious masterpieces at their next party.

ok first of all the finshed product was fan -freakin- tastic!! Seriously I just loved it, your bottles were just amazing! Truly really nice work. I am so so so so so sorry to see what became of it, seeing those pics was sort of like watching a really great old building burn to the ground, very heart breaking. I think you handled it very well and I feel very sorry that the clents were not able to see the awesome cake you created for them! I hope you feel better about this as you really did a great job all around.

All your cakes are very beautiful in your gallery. I did a dinosaur theme cake for the 2yr old son of a old high school friend and delivered it. Somewhere between my house and the destination (appx 18 miles) the icing on the sides began drooping and sliding down. (the new crisco) I could not fix it. I felt so horrible, so I know what you were going through. He was gracious and still wanted to pay me. It was close to Easter so I made them a free Easter cake. All we can do is try and make it right and pray it doesn't happen again.

OH, my goodness, how awful! I don't even want to imagine how you felt when you walked in and saw that!
Better luck in the future!!!

Sooo sorry that happened to you-- the cake was great and so realistic. Do you know what could have caused the collapse?

That is awful.. I am sending you a huge hug...

You did a GREAT job on that cake, was it the weight of the bottles that made it collapse? What are the bottles made from? Keep looking up you do good work!!!!

As a customer I would think that'd be fair.... way to roll with the punches!

Wow, I'm so sorry this happened to you, it was a beautiful cake!! Did you figure out what caused it to collapse? Amazing sugar bottles BTW!
((((hug))))

I am so sorry to hear of this! I feel your pain, I really do. I do hope you showed her the finished pic just so that she understood that you could and did make her a fantastic cake. Plus she should see again what beautiful work you can do.

I doubt you ruined their event, she may have been disappointed but if you showed her the collapsed cake she probably would have found it to be an interesting tragic tale to tell the partygoers. No doubt she appreciates your work and she felt bad for you too!

Still, all that work... big hugs to you.

I didn't realize that I had all of the nice comments given to me after my disaster. Just dropping a line to say, "Thank you.....I really appreciate the love and concerns"

Cynita

Sorry about your cake gone awry. I'm sure she understood. Sometimes cakes self-destruct for fun - those crafty little sugar monsters! Trying to ruin our day! We can't let them know we are upset. Eventually they will get bored and behave like good cakes

were your bottles solid sugar?
your cake did look fantastic.

I am so sorry about your cake, and i know nothing I can say can make it better but your finished cake was really good, great beer bottles!

What a disaster. I feel bad for you. Have any idea what may have caused this?

Yes, the bottle were solid sugar, but the labels were non-edible. They were printed from my printer.

Cynita

I am so sorry. I had a cake come apart as well. There is nothing worse then having to call the customer and let them know what happened. Hopefully they were understanding!

I am so so sorry this happened to you! The cake looked great and I loved those bottles, I am going to have to find out how to do those. I am wondering about something that might help if you try this again. It looked to me like you had at least 4 layers of cake but I didn't see a board between any of the layers. I think (and mind you I'm no expert by any means) that a board in the middle of the layers with dowel rods (i.e. 2 layers, w/dowel rods, board and then the other 2 layers) may help.
Again, I am so sorry this happened. You do great work!!!

The cake started to collapse from the edges. Before I placed the cake boards between the layers, I trimmed the cake boards so that they did not extend to the edges of the cake. So, the cake edges extended away from the cake boards about 1 1/4 inch. So, that left the edges of the cake with no support; I trimmed the cake boards in fear of running into the cake boards when I begin carving the cake. I didn't realize that I didn't need to trim the cake boards that much because I didn't have to carve that much cake to get the shape of the bucket. When the cake was in it's final stages of it's fall, I saw that the center of the cake remained perfectly stable on the cake boards but everything around the boards that had no support fell. I was thinking maybe next time to just stack as usual and use an electric knife to do the carving, and maybe that would just cut through the cake boards if I happen to run into them while carving. Heck, I don't know. Any advice for this, 'cause I'm sure as heck gonna have to try it again.

Cynita


Cynita

Dogwood, yes, it was 4 layers. I stacked two layers then placed dowels into those layers. I then placed a cake board on top of those two layers. I then stacked the other two layers on top. The top two layers were supported with dowel rods and the cake board. I also placed one long dowel rod down the center of the entire stacked cake.

Cynita

Cynita, sorry I didn't see the boards in the picture and thought that might help but it sounds like you did everything possible to keep it stable. I wonder if you only trimmed the board about a 1/4"-1/2" in if that would work. Seems like it might be kinda hard trying to cut through the board while trimming. I don't have a clue as to what to tell you at this point except to keep trying. Best of luck on the next one!

It was kinda hard to see the cake board because I sawed off one side of the cake and was going to try to save it but realized quickly that it was going to continue it's fall. Maybe trimming about 1/4"-1/2" may work, it sounds right to me. You're right, carving through cake boards may not be the easiest thing and also the board shavings may get into the cake.

Thanks,
Cynita

I am sorry. The finished cake was so nice.

it really looked good though, before the great fall!!!!
Don't give up!
It is covered in MMF right? You will do even better next time.
good luck !

I had the exact same thing happen with the same cake. I made the beer bottle cake and it made it to the bachelor party in tact and then right before cutting the cake collasped. It was completely unsavable. It looked as if I had but a bomb inside the cake! I can laugh about it now but then it was so embarrasing! I truly feel for you and I wish I could offer some advice! But I myself will never be trying that cake again!! Big hug!!

Ladyfly, I used satin ice.

Let this be a lesson for all.......See what alcohol causes? Your cake was drunk! Beer causes strange behavior, for cakes as well obviously. Now in all seriousness, you did a fantastic job on this, it would have killed me to wake up to that. I'm so sorry this happened, all that work! I'm sure your customer will come back to you. I'm waiting for the day that this happens to me when I don't have time to salvage it. You poor thing.
"cheers" to you.
Amy

Or maybe you could go ahead and stack the cake without any boards, just to shape it, then once you have it carved the way you want, you can cut the boards to the right size, then put it all together with fillings, etc. Might be messier, but that would take out the guess-work when it comes to sizing the boards.