So, my 2 year old son LOVES blues clues. I decided to make mailbox from blues clues because 1. it's an easy shape and 2. he always runs around and screams "MAAAIIILLL!" when mailbox comes on.

I made the cakes. Trimmed them. filled and stacked them.

Here's the bad part... and i think where my problem came from..

I crumb coated, but was in a hurry so I stuck the cake in the fridge cause I thought it would speed up the crusting process....then i took the cake out, and didn't let it come back up to room temp before I iced it again. So, my buttercream had this horrible cracking in it..

The cake eventually started to fall...but it lasted as long as it needed too thank god. Haha.

It's not too bad. The eyes, mouth, flag, and little grey pull things out of gum paste.

My son recognized it, and that was the whole point!

But, why did the BC crack? and how do you

I can't tell from the picture--

How tall is the cake/what kind of support did it have? If it was more than 4 or 5 inches tall, and you didn't have any kind of supports inside the cake, it may have shifted or settled from the weight, especially if you moved it around.

Was it on a cardboard cake board, or something more solid? If it was on cardboard, even a couple of pieces thick, if the cake was heavy, it could have flexed when you moved the cake. When the cake gets disturbed like that, the crusted BC can crack. I've had that happen with the top of half-sheet cakes when I didn't have a heavy enough board.

It was about 6 inches tall. It was iced on top of parchment paper that was on top of a cakeboard, but i had to lift it to get the parchment off....yeah the cake cracked more once i moved it, which is figured because it was really hard to move onto the platter we used. but it was cracked before, just as it dried.

I didn't know if it was the moisture from putting it in the fridge after the crumbcoat or not..

For your next cake - don't put it on parchment to ice it and then have to move it. Just use a clean paper towel to wipe up any mess you may make on the board- that way you don't mess the cake up moving it to get the parchment out from under it.

RachelPaige
I'm not sure why your BC cracked, wish I could help.
When I took Wilton classes the instructor made us use a crumb coat but after the classes I donât use one. I find that it adds more sugar and more mess. I use a large 16inch icing bag with an icier tip and will pip the icing on so that meet, then use an angled flat spatula to smooth. After that I will let the BC sit out under a fan or out in the open for about 20 to 30 minutes to crust and I will use a foam paint roller to smooth. I very rarely have crumbs. If you want to use a crumb coat I suggest putting it in front of a small oscillating fan that will speed up the crusting.
Your cake looks good, and too your son (the only one who matters) it was prefect.
Practice makes perfect, keep trying and you will succeed.
Good luck and Goodjob,
Mrcake01

It was probably from moving the cake. As Loucinda said don't use parchement under the cake when icing (I just wipe my board afterward if need be too). If you still want to put something under the cake what I've read is that some people use strips of wax/parchment paper under their cake and just slide it out and then put on any border etc they need.

It also could have been because the cakeboard was not sturdy enough as Redpanda mentioned but I think the #1 culprit was moving the cake when taking the parchement out.

Is adding to much sugar has to do with it?

It was huuumid here when i made the cake..I used Indydebi's recipe and haven't had any problems before...

So, yeah it was probably the cake board. It was cracked before i moved the cake to the platter, but i made the cake to different locations in the kitchen on the single cakeboard multiple times...that is probably what did it.

Thanks everyone for the input!

It seems so rational to put the cake onto the final resting place (haha, the only way i could think of saying that. So cakeboard,platter,mdf, etc..) and THEN icing. Duh Rachel.

but if i didn't ask, i wouldn't know! ;p Hopefully that rule of "There are no stupid questions" applies here. haha.