I am so horribly upset!! I just made my first ever "official" groom's cake. It was SOOOO beautiful!! I dripped dark chocolate over the lighter chocolate buttercream and it had a basketball on top. I was so proud I swear I beamed rays of light.

Well, my mom transported the cake to the client to help the client (who is a co-worker) because she lives an HOUR AWAY! On the way she hit the brakes and the cake shifted forward and the layers have now shifted.

I spent HOURS on this cake!!!!! 4 hours decorating it..... not to mention baking it. I used 2 springform cakes and one 1/2 sportsball cake. 3 mixes total. I used dowel rods and a cake plate for the ball to make sure the weight wasn't too great. I couldn't package it separately because the separator plate needed to be covered with a border not to show white so I assembled it. Maybe this is what caused the problem??? HOW DO YOU TRANSPORT OVERSIZED CAKES WITHOUT DISASTER?????????????

The wedding is Saturday. Should I try to re-do it? It will take hours and lots of money. I charged $35. I have actually gone in the hole on this one. SO MAD, WANT TO CRY!!!

First sorry that happened. It always stinks to lose something you worked so hard on.

Is it fixable? If not, you have an obligation to deliver a quality product that the customer is expecting. Can you remove the basketball and re-ice the bottom tier? At least you wouldn't have to re-bake. Try placing the basketball on a covered cardboard round with dowels in the bottom tier and then a sharpened dowel pounded thru the the cakes/cardboard to help prevent the layers from shifting enroute.

Good luck!

Apparently the cake SPLIT in HALF in the middle.

I used 6 wilton dowel rods and put the cake separator plate with a 1/2 sports pan basketball on top.

Anyone know why this must have happened? Weight maybe?

I thought this is how wedding cakes with mutliple tiers were made?

What did I do wrong?...Trying to learn.... maybe I'm not cut out for doing weddings after all! ? : (

So sorry this happened. I recently did a basketball hoop cake that consisted of 6", 7",8" and 9" layers all stacked on top of one another with supports after the first two layers. On top I placed a half basketball cake---same as what you used if it was a wilton sports ball pan which also had supports. You questioned whether it was the weight of the 1/2 basketball cake that was to blame. I would have to say that wasn't your problem if you had six dowels. I only used four normal sized wooden dowels to support my 1/2 basket ball which was just fine. I have lost many of my first tiered cakes that I made for my sister's kids. They live about 2 1/2 hours away which include interstate and a very very very tore up raggedy highway that just seriously shakes the poor cakes to death. There isn't much else you can do in this circumstance where traveling more than a couple miles is in order. I suggest that if the cake you made is not in a condition that you yourself would be happy receiving and paying for you should redo it and deliver it yourself. It will cost you more in the long run if your name is tarnished for a bad cake. Also, when you drive the cake that YOU spend hours and lot of money on YOU know that you have to take it slow in the car. Accidents happen and brakes do have to be applied hard sometimes but even though you told who transported that cake for you to "Go Slow and brake early" doesn't mean your instuctions where followed as good as you would have done yourself. In other words. "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself." Also, I'm confused as to why you used a seperator plate. Wasn't your b-ball cake stacked on top of the other cake? If it is stacked, I only use a one layer piece of cardboard cut to fit the cake when it is a small cake- double layer if it is heavier. Dodibug is right in saying to use cardboard and drive a sharpened dowel thought the whole height of the cake when finished. But it does leave a small hole at the top of your basketball which you will have to patch up. This will keep everything from shifting TO A POINT--no driving around crazy.

****light bulb turning on*** idea forming***

I just re-read your post and I'm going out on a lim here but maybe you used too many supports. The cake that you are sticking the supports though might lose its stregth to hold together because the cake has been poked too many times. Common sense says that if someting already has holes in it, it will rip faster than without holes in it when pressure is applied. I hope this helps--- hang in there. IF you have the passion for it, it IS for you.

It also could be your cake. You need a cake that is more on the dense side. Doesn't have to be as dense as a pound cake but a very soft cake will rip like that.

If she hit the brakes hard that would have done it.

I went to order the sign for the car on CC and they are sold out.

I drive very cautiously (sp) come to complete stops at railroad tracks.

I see Ace drive his cakes and don't know how they survive.

Argg! How upset you must be. Just remember - it could always be worse. Always.

I have to ask something though, and I really am sorry - I hate to barge in on your post - buy I know you'll have the answer I'm looking for...

What is a groom's cake? When would it be served? At a stag and doe? I have never seen or heard of a groom's cake until I joined this site.

A groom's cake is traditionally a southern US thing but it is spreading to other parts of the country in the last few years. It typically reflects the groom's hobbies, profession or interests or it might just be a really handsome chocolate cake with some chocolate dipped strawberries for decoration. It's also a fun thing to have since it can be whimsical or funny and not as "serious" as the typical wedding cake. I'm doing one next month that is actually a stack of donuts since the groom is a donut nut!

It's placed on it's own table at the wedding reception and usually served about the same time as the wedding cake.

My son loves Hockey so his was a Hockey theme

Ok... I have figured out some things from this experience. Thank you so much!! Luckily my mother started me in cake decorating. I have continued further than her, but she was able to "fix" the cake by rebaking just the bottom layers and refrosting/bordering it without me driving over an hour. Thank GOD FOR MOMS!!!!

I think a few things happened that I have learned from. First...

I agree... I used a DH Butter Fudge mix... it was SOOO yummy BUT it is also very moist. Any suggestions for solidifying this mix because it is ultra tasty!!!?

Also, my chocolate icing began to run a bit... I used the Buttercream Dream recipe and added cocoa and a bit of Hershey's syrup (which I think made it slick...) It piped WONDERFULLY and it dried on top but not in the middle. Maybe it helped with the slippage?

Lastly.. maybe TOO many dowel rods made the cake weak. I thought extra rods would stabilize better, but ahhhh..maybe not.

Lastly, the b-ball on top was pretty heavy... I wonder if there was a way to make it lighter.


If anyone has any ideas/thoughts to "advance me to level 2" in this cake decorating adventure, please do share!!

THIS SITE IS AWESOME BTW!!! Love it & have learned TONS here!

For the cake you can experiment with trying 1/2c of oil, 3 whole eggs and a small box of instant pudding and the water the box calls for.

This happened because she "hit the brakes". Cakes do not typically slide or split in half just from a car ride. Any sudden jolts will definitely cause this. I entrusted a cake delivery (just a simple cake in a box) to a friend. She too "hit the brakes" and the cake forcefully slid into the side of the box and got all squished.

When I was delivering wedding cakes (I always stacked before delivery) my husband knew to drive SLOWLY so that if anyone did anything in front of him, he could react without slamming on the brakes. We had a sign in our window apologizing for driving slowly because of a wedding cake on board.

If anyone delivers a cake for you in the future, you need to stress how they MUST drive - or you have to deliver them yourself.

So sorry this happened. I would look into the stress free supports if you will be transporting assembled cakes. They are pricy, but worth it!

It's funny... I grew up in the South and found out on CC recently that they weren't everywhere. I'v never been to a wedding without one.