The top layer BROKE and now the cake is a mess and the frosting is melting off. I need advice FAST PLEASE!

Oh no!! Sorry no advise but I sure hope someone can help you VERY SOON!!! I can only imagine how frustrating thats got to be

Oy. Is that a whipped cream icing or buttercream? Will this be covered in fondant, or just buttercream? It's hard to say what will help without being there. I'm guessing you don't have time to re-bake.

I would say, carefully scrape off some of the icing and try to salvage as much of the cake as possible. Chill everything in the fridge for a while, then try spackling it back together with stiffer icing, then back into the fridge for it to set some more. Putting it back together may require skewers or toothpicks to hold it together.

I hope someone else has better advise, too!

Scrape off the icing near the break. Put the cake in the freezer if possible or frig for 1/2hour. Then the cake will be firmer and use a screwer stick sideways to peice it together. Putting it this way will help hold it up. Make sure the person getting the cake know its there. Then reice.

It is buttercream and YES I am covering in fondant (THANK GOODNESS). This cake is waaaay too big to fit in my fridge so chilling is out of the question.

What does everyone do when the filling is oozing out?

I am using skewers to hold it together and a chunk the size of my fist fell out so I just filled in with frosting (mmmm mouthful of frosting ) But they ordered a 12, 10, 8, 6 cake (square round square round)

Math lesson for those of you who are as dumb as me (and I AM a math teacher, how sad is this). An 8 inch square cake has an 11+ inch diagonal making the 8 inch square BIGGER than the 10 inch round!!!!!!!! So I had to redo all my sizes. The bottom is 15 inches square, then a 12 inch round and then an 8 inch square and then a 6 inch round. So that is a looot more cake than they paid for (but it was my stupid math error!) so I figure the chunks of frosting are the part they didn't pay for

Try to scrape the icing off. Freeze the cake and use cake scraps + some icing to make SPACKLE PASTE (it should be paste like consistency) and cover the cake like you were crumb coating. The boken piece could be glue with some icing, none will notice that the cake was broken once they cut it. I don't know if I would try skewers all over the cake. It can be dangreous and doesn't look to professional. The best is rebake. Hope you can solve this fast.
Good luck.

Here is where I am at so far. These are the same two views.... You'll notice part is coming off again... grrr.

Making progress though. I think this is the ugliest cake EVER! Once I get the fondant and ribbon hopefully it won't be this bad (hopefully)

I should take this as a sign.......... some sort of omen that I am not a cake decorator!!!!!!! So, I kinda fixed it, at least I wasn't crying anymore, rolled out the fondant too soon and let it sit there while I fixed and fussed with the cake... then it was a little too small........... aaaaaarrrrrrgggggggghhhhh

Here is my lesson: 12 inch cakes yes - 14-16 inch cakes - NO more!

Okay, so now looking at my current situation... now what do I do? Since the fondant came up short I had to put a patch onto it! How do I make a patch blend in?

aside from peeling it off and redoing the fondant you could cover it with decorations,or rearrange your decoating plan so the mishaps are hidden!!!I had to do this recently,I covered a cake in fondant,one side was patched then it looked crappy,SOOOOO I said the heck with it, and cut all the fondant off(money down the drain )and started again.good luck

I usually wet my finger and rub a join in a circular motion til it smooths out. HTH

I think you did a heck of a job piecing that back together. I think it's very impressive with the fondant on it, knowing what it looked like before. What kind of decorations are you doing? Is there anyway you can do a very wide fondant ribbon around that bottom tier? Or a very deep buttercream swag and ruffle? I would say flowers, but you would need a lot, then you would have to do them on all four sides. Yuck, way too much work.

Just use a VERY LARGE pink ribbon!

I'm having the same problem! EXCEPT that I don't have big chunks falling off, two whole sides just crumbled. I rebaked that tier, thinking it was an issue with the baking, the second one has done the same thing! I've never had anything happen this bad before. The cakes have to be set up by 4 p.m. tomorrow. I'm going to bed now & hope I dream up a quick & easy fix!!!!! (This is the bottom tier for an Aggie Bonfire cake for the groom. )

It's been raining off & on here for about 3 weeks. Normally, we are a very dry climate. Could it be a humidity issue? Any ideas?....

TIA!
Brenda

Alice- I am watching this to see what happens with the finished cake! Hope it is good!


BTW- Still hoping to hear you found a site for self help bakery!

Alice, I am using DH mix. I can't imagine that 6 mixes, bought at 2 separate times, stores, would be bad. I'm sure I didn't make any mistakes or have any baking problems yesterday on the replacement cake, but it did the same thing as the first one. I tried cutting away the edge, thinking it was just the edge, but it's like a mud slide. Even if I get it to stay, I'm afraid to stack the tiers, for fear of it collapsing totally.

I'll try the cake ball idea & see if it helps.

Thanks,
Brenda

bkdcakes, I'm confused, how does CAKE "mud slide"? I'm having that problem with the filling but that was my fault because my icing for my icing dam was too thin.

Just got a call from the bride, quote "I LOVED IT, it was so beautiful, perfect"

Really?

I know we are our own worst critic, but really it was my worst cake ever. So God is good, I didn't freak out when the disasters started (normally I would sit on the floor and have a good cry, and considering I am 5 weeks from giving birth it is amazing I kept it under control)

My camera even knew it was an ugly cake, several of the pics corrupted so I am attaching a pic of the backside of the cake... bride said she would send me a better one

On the bright side I had another wedding cake this afternoon and I feel like it was my best ever! So I'm feeling pretty good!

alice - the "mudslide" was just that, I put the icing on, the cake began to crumble under it, cake & icing slid down to the plate - whole sections of it. What a PITA! I finally got it presentable & took it, I sat there for over 2 1/2 hours looking at it, to make sure it didn't collapse before the guests arrived!

Your cakes turned out great! You did an excellent job of hiding the problems you had. I can't even imagine doing this stuff when I was pregnant! You are amazing! You need a break before that baby gets here, take a nap, watch Food Network & rest!!!!

I just uploaded the pics from both the bride's & groom's cakes I did today. The Aggie Bonfire is the "mudslide" cake & the Octagon with maroon circles & swirls is the bride's.

Thanks for your help! And to anyone else who helped me over the past few weeks with this cake. A SPECIAL THANKS to Doug, for his outhouse template!!! It was sooooooo easy!

Brenda

You cakes look awesome! Great recovery ! Are those fresh flowers on the first cake? It is really lovely.

YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE A WEDDING CAKE less than 2 weeks after the baby????????? Are you mad? OMG - I bow down to you!!!! After my 3rd, I was back at work in 10 days, but just sitting in a chair - & I worked for my dad, so I just did payroll & went home. The only reason I did that was because Daddy had cancer & was not doing well, no one else knew how to run the payroll. But making a wedding cake, no way!!!! (Of course, maybe you are young & healthy, I was 37 with #3 & had a 3 & 4 yr. old at home, too.)

Anyway, bless your heart, you are my hero!

Brenda

I went back to work 3 weeks after I had my first, would have returned sooner but that 3rd week was finals week and i figured a sub could give a test just as good as I could.

Yes, fresh flowers on the first cake. I think all cakes should have flowers! (gives you tools to hide the mistakes, LOL)

My friend who attended sent me a better picture. The bride called me that day to tell me how much she LOVED the cake and that it was PERFECT. Really? My friend who was in attendance said the same thing. Really? Can't believe I pulled it off.

Alice- I just read your other thread about the turtle! You had one heck of a weekend! If it had been me a month before baby #3 was due I so would have been in tears! In fact I probably was! And I didn't even do cakes then!! I was having tears of frustration last week cuz my writing didn't look right on a cake! Dang perfectionist bend! Anyway--- (I just wrote anyways and then went back and corrected it because of another thread) You did a great job and all three of the cakes turned out great!!