I am seriously considering not making anymore tiered cakes. Last week I made a 2 tiered Pooh themed cake. I spent a lot of time making the chocolate transfers and chocolate lollypops as well as the cake,filling and frosting. I took care in the structure of it using the required dowels,etc. I even placed a piece of shelf liner to keep it from shifting. Well a few hours after it had been picked up,I get the dreaded call. "The cake fell apart in the car." How on earth did this happen? Can someone PLEASE,PLEASE tell me how to keep this from happening again?
It was just a 30 min. drive!!! This happened once before but I don't want to risk this happeing again. HELP!!!
is it possible that their driving caused the cake to fall apart? i think i would insist (when possible) on delivering the cakes myself, but if they absolutely insist on picking up, i'd make them sign a waiver than once they leave you are no longer responsible for the condition of the cake.
**edited to add: i just looked at your cakes and they are wonderful! the pooh cake is so cute and from the picture there doesn't appear to be any structural issues. so i think it was their driving that caused the crash, not your construction.
Butterflywings: My husband said the same thing about the signing of a waiver. Thanks, I will consider next time. I just felt so bad I actually returned her $60 deposit. But how do I prevent it from happening to me if I delivery it? Any suggestions? Thanks.
I read the description of your cake - you said strawberry and vanilla custard filling. Could this have caused your cake to slide if the driver took a sharp turn? Did you dowel the cake all the way through (I don't usually with a 2 tier, but then I don't use slippery fillings)? The filling you used might be a contributing factor, but I'd almost put money on it being down to the driving! Sorry that happened to your cake - it was very sweet!
Your cake was sure adorable, and it looked sturdy. Did you use a center dowel to keep it from shifting in movement? Some people really have no commen sense about handling that stuff so they may have been a little too careless with on the ride. I'm 100% for the waiver; I deliver everything possible myself also for these reasons, but you can't do it all the time.
wow leah i'm surprised you didn't mention sps! 
honestly lucy, i don't think you would have had this happen if you'd delivered it yourself. though.. since Leah didn't mention it, one sure fire way to prevent is to use sps. i just ordered some myself, since i've heard SOOO many good things. i can't wait to use it!
wow, that was really a cute cake. Too bad that happened. It could have been several different things. Do you think it was more the driving or more your structure? How did you do doweling?
This was a 12" vanilla custard filled, and an 8" with fresh strawberry filling.
I placed wooden dowels as per the Wilton method on the bottem teir and used a center dowel all the way through both cakes and into the bottom board. The fillings are ones I have used without slippage problems in the past. I believe the customer's husband said he was placing the cake on the car floor. Being a home baker without a car it is hard for me to deliver cakes. I depend on the availablity of my sister in law and she lives almost an hour away from me. I guess I will have to look into the SPS thing. Has anyone had a mishap using this?
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