Help!! Wedding Saturday---Cake Falling Apart
Decorating By tcakes65 Updated 3 Oct 2007 , 5:39pm by woodthi32
I have a cake to do for a wedding this Saturday evening. I did a test run tonight, and the cake is falling apart. 
It is a yellow cake, and a recipe that I use consistently. It's always turned out perfect until today. The bride requested a yellow cake with bittersweet chocolate shavings. I added the shavings at the end after all the other ingredients were mixed well. It looked and tasted the same as always. The cake didn't rise as normal and crumbled when torted or handled. 
Could the chocolate have changed the consistency of the cake to cause it to fall apart? We've had heavy rains here in Florida the past two days. Could the humidity and weather play a part as well? The recipe is basic and calls for butter, sugar, sifted cake flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, eggs, and milk. If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I would appreciate it. I want to avoid a disaster come wedding day. The cakes will be placed an cascading acrylic stands so at least I don't have to worry about stacking it. Thanks!
I'm using a kahlua simple syrup and the filling is chocolate ganache. I may have to scratch the chocolate shavings if it's going to wreck havoc on the cake recipe. There's enough flavors going on that I don't think the chocolate shavings will be missed. Thanks for your input!
Chocolate will most certainly change the way your cakes come out. If you choose to use the shavings, the best way to handle this is to add a small package of vanilla pudding to your batter, and make sure the cake cools at least 20-25 minutes in the pan before flipping it out. This denses up the cake, and gives the chocolate a chance to set. One thing to watch for is chocolate which has adhered to the bottom of your pan - this will cause pieces of your cake to stick along with it when flipping. Best way to avoid this is to rest the bottom of your pan in hot water (after the cooling period) for a few minutes before flipping. Good luck!
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I would think that would definitely change the texture. I guess you are sure that is what she wanted, but it sounds like an odd request. Does anyone else see this request often?
Good luck. I am doing a crazy cake this weekend and the engineering is not going well!
I wouldn't do the shavings, personally. The Kahlua and ganache sounds FABULOUS! Good for you for doing a test run!
It's a Dede Wilson recipe and calls for the chocolate shavings. It's in her book so I didn't consider it an unusual request. I figured since it was from Dede Wilson that it would be good, but it's not that great of a cake. I'm not happy with the end product. I pride myself on great tasting cakes, and this isn't one I really want to put my name on. The bride or should I say the MOB wants this recipe because of the kahula. She's more interested in the liquor than anything so hopefully it won't be a big deal if I don't use the chocolate shavings. I would rather give them a great tasting cake than one that is mediocre and crumbly. Do you think it's okay to make an executive decision and alter the recipe a bit or ask the bride? I'm not sure she would really notice since the MOB was so excited about the kahlua. 
I appreciate all the input!!
Sorry
I am surprised it is not a good recipe either. Personally, in this situation, I would make the decision AND notify the bride (it's HER cake after all). Just say you pride yourself on a beautiful AND delicious cake, and on a test run, you weren't happy with the way the shavings held up...yada yada yada....... I find as long as you are emphasizing that you are proud of your work, acting in their best interest and want their wedding day to be totally yummy, people are very pleased and just go on their merry way
I am making a topsy turvy for the first time and I am scared to death.......I want to do the colette way. I have seen BethB's way on here, and it won't work on this style because the tiers have to be off center, flush, at some places, against the edge of the tier below it. Looks like Colette just puts a WHOLE BUNCH of dowels in, any tips?
Kathi
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