Hi,

I made a 3-D coffee cup (first MFF 3-D) and it sunk and shifted and the icing underneath puckered/buckled and the the fondant tore in several places. I think the things I did wrong were: I rolled my MMF too thin and probably put a bit too much icing underneath ( I used a tiny bit more than usual). Oh, and I didn't use support. I stuck a couple of straws in for support after the fact, but probably too late (after I noticed it was sinking)

Could anyone tell me what else may have gone wrong and what I can do with a 3-D MMF cake in the future so this doesn't happen? Should I have used some supports? Do I need supports in a cake that size (I baked it in a large Raviolli can - approx 36 oz) - smaller than a lg tom juice can, but bigger than a veggie can.

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

What recipe did you use for your cake? Sounds like your cake wasn't dense enough to hold up the weight of the fondant.

I have never baked a cake in a can before however, I don't think a cake that size would collapse due to lack of support. I would look into the type of cake you baked. Fondant is much heavier than most realize. If your cake is too moist and airy the fondant will weight it down and tear. I would suggest trying a denser cake, like a pound cake / butter cake.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the feedback! I usually use a cake mix because it is fast AND moist and it carves pretty well when frozen. I will have to use a denser (probably homemade) cake next time....

I had the same trouble, I baked three mini round cakes,filled, stacked and crumb coated them in buttercream. I then covered with fondant. First mistake I think was using a box cake, not dense enough. Second mistake was freezing them and not letting them get to room temp before I applied the fondant. My cake buckled, shrunk wrinkled and I lost 2 inches from the height and it leaned...sad because I worked so hard on the flowers and sea animals I attached to it...

This is not intended to start the whole "box vs scratch" discussion, since that discussion has been beaten beyond it's life. That being said, I have always used box mixes and have never had any problems covering cakes in fondant. I think the problem was not letting them thaw properly before covering them.

~Chelle

I put a cake seperator and dowels every 4-6"".

Also did you let the cake settle before you decorated?
I let my cakes rest overnight in the fridge ,covered in plastic wrap.
If you decorated a fresh cake it may have settled after you put the fondant on.

I roll my mmf super thin, about 1/8" thick if not thinner so I don't think the thin mmf was the problem either.

Just sounds like soft cake to me.
If you bake from a mix try adding a box of instant pudding to it to make a firmer cake.

I agree, your problems are you don't let the cake settle first. I never refrigerate/freeze cakes, and I use dr'd mixes for 99% of my cakes and never have a problem. It is very important that you let the cakes rest and settle before stacking them. I wrap my cooled cakes, then I actually stack the saran wrapped cakes how they will be when the cake would be finished. Leave them for at least 6 - 8 hours, then take them down, unwrap and finish the cake.....making sure to restack them how they were when they were wrapped.

This may be a silly question, but do you fill the cakes before you saran wrap them and let them rest/settle?