what did i do wrong? the customer (who, fortunately, is a good friend) said the top tier collapsed into the bottom layer. I had the top supported with 6 dowels. did i not have enough? it was my first stacked cake and i thought i had done so well. it's the ernie & bert cake in my photos.
any comments would be appreciated.
Did it just collapse or were they cutting the cake. I don't see why it would collapse with 6 dowels and a seperate board for the top cake. I have never had a problem and have done bigger cakes than yours. I would wonder if they were cutting the cake and it collapsed.
Hi,
this might be a stupid question, did you put a board under it ?
How big was to top tier ? what kind of cake was it ? was it a dense cake ?
That's really onfusing 
hhhmmmm.. 
hmmmm.....i used a single board covered with foil. maybe it just wasn't strong enough. soooo disappointing. it Was a dense cake...chocolate scratch cake with a layer of buttercream and a layer of ganache.
the cake collapsed during transport. It never even made it to the party. They stopped an bought a cake at the grocery store ... ARRRGGGGHHHH!
That sounds really fishy to me.....a separater board AND 6 dowels....don't understand how it could have collapsed. Possibly the way they were driving, since you mentioned it never made it to the party. Folks that don't decorate/deliver cakes don't understand how careful you must be during transport.
I agree with Cambo. Not sure how that could have collapsed. Seems like it would have had to be almost on purpose. You mentioned that it was a friend of yours, so I doubt it, but rest assured... it sounds like you did all that you could.
The cake was really cute by the way. I hate that you did all that work, and then to have it collapse.
Everytime I read one of these posts about a cake collapsing, I am more determined to get a cake support system. I think that the (legs) dowels are going to have to be attached to the plates if a cake is to be moved with confidence. bkeith shows divided plates where the dowels are attached, but they are only sold to bakeries. Any advice??? from our professionals?
Your cake was so adorable! I am so sorry, so much work- ruined!
Ijust recently purchased the Stress Free support system and I LOVE it! I looked at it for about a year before I convinced myself that it would be worth the expense - but, now I'm looking at purchasing a second set. I do this for a living so I need to make absolutely certain that every cake I send out or set up will look great until the moment it is taken apart and served. The added bonus is that if for some reason one of the tiers did crack, with this support system, none of the other tiers would be affected. So, if you do enough cakes to justify the expense, I would say - ORDER IT! It has let me rest much easier since I have begun using it.
From what I've been reading they say you should use the same amount of dowels as per size of the cake eg: 8 inch cake...8 dowels.The top looks pretty heavy but would have to take alot of shifting ,pounding and abuse to completely cave in even with just 6 dowels.I tend to agree with Cambo..maybe they just didn't want to tell you that they wrecked the cake themselves perhaps by they way they drove etc...Who knows but I loved the design!! I'm gonna keep it in my favorites.
You mentioned that you covered the board. My question is, "did you fully cover the board (top and bottom) so that no cardboard was showing, or did you only cover the top portion and tape it to the underneath side so that the bottom of the cardboard was still showing?" If only the top side was covered and the bottom side touched the icing, it would eventually get soggy and still collapse.
If you had the cardboard completely covered (top and bottom) then I'm with Cambo ~ sounds like the driver .
If you used a standard thickness, corrugated cardboard, no matter what it was covered with, it probably just bent in the middle from the weight of the top tier. I
I highly recommend using 3/16th inch foamcore as your under-board for tiers. It can hold very heavy tiers and it is incredibly difficult to bend in your hands. It doesn't have to be covered, either.
Rae
I also recommend using the plastic tubes from Wilton that can be cut to size. If you used the wooden dowels, they are too small and any sharp turn or quick stop will make them shift and lean. This will cause the cake to collapse. I know this happened with a 4 tier.stcked wedding cake on the way to the reception 3 blocks away.
I was driving 20 MPH but a slow, sharp turn made them shift. I now use my stress-free support system or the plastic tubes, problem solved.
thank you all so much for all your help. I will definately keep all this info in mind when i attempt my second multi-tier (July 1
. wish me luck .....
What kind of supports did you use? I can't even imagine, though, why it would collapse through any fault of your own. I use the white sucker sticks as supports in my cakes (unless I put a dowel clean through all of the tiers and then I use wood). But I have even heard of people using plastic straws without any problems at all. Too bad your friend couldn't have showed you the cake (since they didn't eat it anyway) or have taken a picture of it so that you could determine the problem. I think I would ask to see the damage if it ever happens again. If you are to be able to guarantee any work that you do, you must be able to see the problem. Then you will know if it is workmanship related or carelessness on the part of the customer.
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