This was my first attempt at a two tier cake. The cake was the durable cake recipe found here with sour cream and pudding mix. I bought a local bakery's buttercream. The cake was frozen then filled then chilled again after the crumb coat. I did use dowel rods in the bottom layer. The fondant was reasonably thin-- probably less than 1/8".

So did the cake settle? Did the fondant sag off the buttercream? Did I use too much filling? The wrong filling? The wrong cake? Any thoughts?

best to let a cake settle at room temp.

chilling or freezing keeps BC and Filling firm

then they soften at room temp and settle causing the dreaded cake bulge.

some "force" the issue by putting a weight on the cake (ceramic tile according to Leah_s and IndyDebi) works great.

the more impatient among us (waves hand high) put a cookie sheet or similar on top and force the cake to settle by pushing until icing dam starts to push out the sides all the way around. We then have a little mercy on the cake and allow it to rest as long as it takes to fill the pastry bag with BC to put on the crumb coat.

That's a super cute cake!! Even with the bulge!

Great Cake!I agree with Doug I think your filling just oozed a little,I use a cake board and press.

Extremely cute cake first off and then I think the filling and icing got soft as the cake was coming to room temperature, causing the sagging appearance.

this happened to me too! exactly that on your bottom tier!

That's settling. We had this issue on the TOP tier of a wedding cake this weekend and ended up having to completely redo the top tier 2 hours before the reception! LOL! It was a *tense* couple of hours until the new perfect top was in place!

I personally think that all the condensation of a frozen cake coming to room temperature can cause havoc on your icing, filling, and fondant. We won't be using frozen cakes anymore for sure!

Your cake is still adorable - bulge and all!

What guage of wires did you use for those loops? (totally unrelated to your question.. I just want to get the right kind when I try to do those curls on my next cake

Great cake despite the buldging!!!

Love the cute cake even with the love handles on it - adds character

Looks like it settled under the weight of the top tier. Were the supports long enough to hold the top tier above the bottom? If not and they were under the surface level of the fondant then the natural pressure of gravity would cause the fillling to blow out. Cute cake!

Very cute cake! I really like the big loops of the bow!

I think a bulge is one of the hardest things to diagnose, but I think Doug has the best suggestion based on the fact that you mentioned chilling it after the crumb coat. After I crumb coat, I allow the cake to settle at room temp for a minimum of three hours and often overnight. Then I go in and smooth out the bulge, recoat the seam with a little more icing (I call it spackling the crack) and then chill for about 20 minutes before applying fondant. I've tried to rush the settling time before based on the suggestions of above mentioned, but I still find there is a trace of bulge that drives me nuts unless I let it settle for a longer period.

I have had this same issue. I suggest not freezing it, letting it settle at room temp for a half a day or more and making sure your dowels are high enough that the top tier actually rests on them and NOT the bottom cake. Also, make sure you allow each tier once you have placed the fondant on them, to harden and them assemble them. You're really lucky the fondant didn't crack! Beautiful cake though! Lots of hard work, I know!!!

I just had the same thing happen today, only one side of the bottom tier of my very first Topsy Turvy was laying over on my kitchen counter when I came down to my kitchen!!! The bottom tier of my cake was frozen after the fondant was put on and now it is ruined, and this cake was to be a donation to a sports radio show that I sponser, as the trivia game prize giveaway. Now the only one getting this prize is the trash can. I'am sick after the amount of money and time(8 hours) I put into this cake. It did look very nice for about 2 hours!!! Does anyone know if peeling fondant can be saved???? It seems to have A LOT of CONDENSATION on it. I thought the fondant would just dry out as it cam to room temperature. It is actually taking of some of the cake when it slides off the side, and I keep trying to push it back on the cake, but some of the buttercream is coming off with the fondant. Someone please tell me I can save this somehow!!!!!

PS
It was not my idea to freeze this cake after it was fondanted(is that a word?)

Anyone HELP???

I realize this "thread" is several years old, but it relates to problems I've been having.  I have heard some professionals in videos say that you should refrigerate the crumb coated cake and then put the fondant on soon after taking the cake out of the refrigerator, that it is easier that way.  That is what I have been doing but I get the sagging and/or cracking fondant like many here.  I made a two-tiered cake last night.  The bottom tier  (9") was a sour cream chocolate (very moist and delicious, but keep thinking it may be the problem) and it looked beautiful after I got the fondant on.  Then I put fondant on the 6" square top tier (combination of chocolate and WASC) and stacked it on the 9".  I used three poly dowels (could have used four maybe) and had my cake board under the top tier.  The finished cake looked great when finished, but then noticed this morning the fondant on bottom tier was sagging a bit, and by the time we got it to the party it was beginning to collapse and crack.

    By the way, I had colored the fondant for the bottom tier and wondered if that was the cause, that it had been too wet.  I know, a very long message, but I think this thread is an important one.  I believe I will now try to let the refrigerated crumb coated cake come to room temperature and see what happens.  Or maybe I need to find a different cake recipe.  Just very disappointing when all that work is done and you wake up to see drooping and cracking.
 

i think you really have to develop your own perfect pathway

there's so many different ways to do it

and i think you probably know them all you just need to settle on what's great for you

my observation is why do you think the previously chilled cake caused the next day's room temperature sagging?

one of the pitfalls with room temp cake to apply fondant to is the cake squashes a lot from the weight

so maybe try it with a firmer pound cake?

if you think your fondant is too wet--i knead in cornstarch* and then some shortening and you are kneading it a lot right before rolling it out?

and i always use at least four dowel--that coulda been it all by itself

you sure have a great spirit about it where you're actually diagnosing yourself

just a learning curve--you're almost there!

*cornstarch + fondant can be a controversial combination to some

Great cake!

I always crumb coat my cakes while they are frozen, let them settle overnight in the fridge, then frost and decorate and I've never had a problem with bulging.  My cakes are not at room temperature until they are delivered and no issues to date! 

I use SMBC which firms up beautifully in the fridge and I keep my cakes nice and cold until delivery as it makes delivery even easier.

Cake settles causing fondant to sag.  Chilled cake doesn't settle while firm in the fridge--only at room temp.  It's best to let it settle before working on it and while it's still in your possession so you can fix it rather than allowing it to settle when it comes to room temp while it's in possession of others.

When I fill a cake (doesn't matter what filling I use) I always let the cake settle 8-12 hours (usually over night) before I ice the cake.  I have never had a cake bulge or have a blow out and I feel it is because the cakes are fully settled.

Also, I refrigerate all my cakes - buttercream and fondant covered.  So they settle and get firm at the same time.

Edited to add:

I use white chocolate ganache as the icing on ALL my fondant covered cakes.  That has made a huge impact on the finish of my fondant covered cakes.

Thank you K8.  I appreciate your comments and help.
 

Thank you for the advice and comments!