Hi everyone,
I haven't posted here before, but I've been browsing the forums for a little while.

I've made a few cakes, and I'm never totally satisfied with them.

The main problem I have is they always end up "Slouchy". I can't figure out why...I normally use a box cake mix, and add a boxed pudding mix. Then I use Dowels in the cake, with a cardboard round on top of the tier. But they still slouch.

I have to make my Son's cake this weekend, and I'm going to try to make a pound cake. It will be two tier's with a boy made out of cake and covered in fondant (To look like a ghost) on top.
The tiers are 10", 8" and the little boy is going to be 5".

Any help is apprieciated. Thanks!

Sorry, not sure what you mean by "slouchy". Can you post pics?

Do you have any pictures of your slouchy cakes that you could post? It would be a big help in figuring out why they're doing that to you, if it's a structural thing, or fondant sagging or what.

Lol, That would be helpful.

This is the last one I did.....Maybe it's not so much Slouchy...as I can't get them straight...

And I'm definetly not a professional...This is only my 3rd cake.

Hi there.
You said that you are using dowels and cardboard....you didn't mention anything about leveling the cakes before you assemble them....could this be part of the problem?

It's very cute!

Are your cake pans straight on the sides or a little bit flared? The cheaper pans are usually flared so that they can be nested for storage. I could never figure out why I hated making 8" cakes until I measured the cheap pans I was using and realized they were 8" at the bottom and 9" at the top. My 10" cakes would come out pretty, but the 8" were always off, and that was why.

Other than that, a slightly bigger size difference between tiers might be more pleasing to your eye and look straighter to you. Your cake doesn't really look crooked.

It looks as though the bottom tier isn't level making the cake lean. When cutting the dowels do you cut them all the same length?

If you're using dowel rods and cardboard for support it shouldn't slouch over, there could be 2 things that can cuase you this problem... 1} the dowel rods could be uneven. 2} when you cut the top off your cake to level... make sure you cut staright (cut off top of cake in the cake pan, using the sides of pan to guide your staight cut accross) Hope this helps!

SANDY

looks to me like you might not be getting the icing even around the sides of the cake. I use a bench scraper to go around the sides of my cake. It gets my icing smooth and also evens out the icing on the side to create a nice line (up and down). Make sense??

Also.. make sure you have nice pans. I use Wilton and Magic Line both.....

The camera angle is making the cake look like it is leaning a lot. But when you account for this, there is really only a slight tilt. Which I *think* is caused by the pan sizes being to close together (you want at least a 2-inch difference in pan size), the top tier (not the helicopter) being slightly off-center, and the icing on the sides not being straight (thicker at the bottom).

Thanks everyone for the help,

Cakesdelight: Maybe I'm not cutting the dowels all the same length, I normally stick them all the the cake and cut them so that they are even with that section of cake (If that makes sense) So, while they're level to each section, they're not level with eachother.

Mcdonald: I just bought a scraper! I was looking through tutorials on youtube (I believe they were by "Edna") and they used one. Hopefully that will help.

pterrell: the bottom tier of that cake was 10", and the next tier was 9". This time I'll definetly try to use a 10" and an 8", Thanks for the advice.


Thank you so much everyone, Hopefully the next cake will come out better.

I would highly recommend sugarshacks BC and Stacking DVDs. You will be amazed at the difference it will make in your cakes. Her website is www.sugaredproductions.com

Pardon me if this is a dumb question, but I have to ask it anyway. You aren't putting a cardboard on top of your cake under the fondant, are you? It almost looks that way and I wasn't sure if that was a buildup of icing on the top edge or if it was possible that you misunderstood where to put the cardboard.

A quick tip to get your dowels all the same length. stick one in the cake and measure the top of the cake. then tape together all of the dowels in a row using tape at teh top and bottom make sure the straight edeges are even then cut along the line you marked on the first dowel hope that makes sence

That one does have a cardboard round on top covered in fondant, but it also has them between the layers.

The only reason there s one on top is because the helicopter was pretty heavy, So I put one on top to help even out the weight. Normally I wouldn't put one there.

ScrummyMummy, That makes sense! Thanks for the Tip!

I was delighted the first time I used a cake mix extender recipe that used pudding, buttermilk and egg whites. The cake was so much firmer and easy to handle, but yet moist. There are several recipes for carvable and extenders here at CC!

Here is how I ice my cakes.

Hi Edna,

That is the video I used, And It helped me out a lot, I can't wait to try it tomorrow.

Thank you!

You welcome..just remember, icing skills grow with practice..
Have fun with it.
Edna