Ok after making my first practice cake (9 inch) I was feeling good, things turned out good, I learn't a lot.
I just finished my 2nd practice cake and now Im stressing out!!!!
Things started off bad from the beginning--- this time I was practicing on a 6 inch...
I put on the crumb coat... as I put it on, the top layer of the 2x 2inch deep cakes kept moving.... so it ended up tilted... the top moved off center, if you understand what Im trying to say...
The real trouble started with the buttercream... it worked perfectly last time, the same recipe this time and I was in hell... I had issues spreading it, and then the BC started moving to the bottom of the cake... when we were finally done, the buttercream was melting and falling off the sides.... I did the same as last time, I didnt have any of these issues??? Any advice help??? I have to frost the final cakes Friday and now Ive lost any confidence... I can't have the frosting melting off the final cake!!!
Anyway here it goes *sigh*-- Practice cake #2, and the second cake Ive ever made.
Has the weather changed at all? or did you use a different brand of anything when makin your BC?
Nope, I changed nothing in the BC... Im so frustrated.
The weather here is always 100+ LOL
The house may have been slightly warmer, but it's mostly a crisco based BC (The Crusting BC recipe), and last time I had no such issues...
I have a harder time getting my smaller cakes to cooperate. My advice...ditch the cakes smaller than 8 inches! 
I discovered one time a while back that if I put too much flour and grease on the cake pan, and it stuck on the sides of the cake, MY ICING WOULDN'T STICK TO THE CAKE! 
If that's not the problem, could your cake have been too warm? I'll bet it's whatever you treated your pans with--seriously.
Next time maybe try a different "pan coat."
Your cake is beautiful! Wish I could do fondant!
HTH,
--Knox--
WOW i know how it is with temps 100+ I had it happen with me on my first cake too, but i realized that i didn't anchor my frosting to the cake. So now I take the time to make sure my base frosting is well attached. I never crumb coat unless it is a choco. cake with white frosting. if I have that order I cover it with fondant. I also have a back up plan for all my cakes just incase it doesn't work. i hope this helps i haven't been doing this too long so i don't have a lot of ideas - sorry
Your cake looks very nice! I'm new at this too, so sorry I can't offer any advice if nothing has changed since you did the last cake. It's puzzling for sure. It's frustrating when the cake seems smarter than you, doesn't it?? GRRRRR. 
Hang in there. You'll do fine!
Suzanne
One thing you can do to prevent the top layer from shifting would be by using toothpicks. They act like a dowel, only not as large.
How long did you cool the cake?
Can you share the recipe that you used for the BC -perhaps someone may be able to pin point a possible reason for the sliding frosting.
I'm sorry that this is happening to you ... I still think your cake looks GREAT!!!
What did you put between the two layers? Filling or buttercream? Did you only use a thin layer? I have found that the thicker the layer of filling, the more likely the layers will shift. Also, were your cake layers frozen? I think it's a lot easier to ice a cake when it's frozen or just a bit thawed. It's much firmer and the icing sticks a lot better. That has been my experience.
I hope things get better. But like I said, I really like the cake you made. 
One of the things I do is put a non-skid pad on my turntable, the smaller cakes are harder to ice. Once you put your cake on a board, then put the board on top of the non-skid pad. A couple of things. Did you make a dam around the edge of your cake before you put the filling in? On a small cake you do not need alot of filling. When you put your cake on top of the layer with the filling press down slightly and let it sit for awhile. The gravity of the top cake will settle down some, helping to relieve that bulge. It also looks like you may have too much icing on the cake. Did you put a very thin layer on first as your crumb coat? Let it crust. Then put your next coat of icing on. The icing tip will help you get the icing on the cake, you will then smooth with a spatula, which will pull off excess icing. You then can use the paper towel method or hot knife method for your final smoothing. It also helps to chill your cakes. Icing fresh cakes can be a disaster sometimes. Don't despair, your cakes are looking good.
Did you possibly use an off brand of powdered sugar? Make sure your sugar is made with 100% sugar cane. I am new at this myself and currently in the Wilton 1 course. On the first day our instructor said that sometimes people have issues if they are not using 100% cane sugar. Hope this helps.
Your cake is really cute.
aliekitn99
Cakes were completely cooled.... they were baked the night before... so cooled for 30 hours or so...maybe for the final cake I'll try freezing them Thursday night for BCing on Friday this time.
The recipe was the Crusting BC (Viva method)-- it worked completely fine the first time I made it, thats why Im stumped.
I crumb coated, the crumb coat went on fine... it's when i started the BC layer things went to heck...
I use a wax paper round in the bottom of my cake pan, and a baking spray... same as I used on the first cake that had no issues *sigh*
I will use less filling on the reaal cake--- i just used BC inside cause it was a practice cake--- the real cake will have BC mixed with lime curd for the filling.
Thanks for the non-ski pad idea, Im deffinately going to do that--- it's in the list for Hubby to get for the transport too!
And the powdered sugar brand, while generic worked just fine the first time..
I just need this to NOT happen for the final cake!!!!!!!
Im so nervous now!!!!!!!
The cake is adorable. It looks in the picture as though there is a lot of filling in there. I would bet that was part of the problem. A lot of people put way too much filling between the layers....it doesn't take very much!
As far as the type of sugar, I have been decorating and making icing for a long time and it has never mattered whether it is cane or beet sugar to me, the icing works with either one. I use the cheapest powdered sugar I can get my hands on.
You might want to check into an icing stabilizer if you live where it is hot all the time. I have used Sta-Ice with successs here in the summertime.
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