Ok, this has been happening to me very often lately. I put a thick dam, filled with buttercream dream, crumb coat and let set overnight. Then I make any adjustments, and cover with fondant. The fondant looks great, nice and smooth but a few hours later it looks sagged and baggy like this pic (I know its not the best LV cake you've seen but bare with me, I'm trying to learn how to solve one problem at a time ).

If anyone knows why this is happening to me please let me know! I thought it was a settling issue but isn't 12 hours or so enough time? I know this one settled because the dowels stuck out after it settled and I trimmed them down more and covered the holes with a bit of buttercream before covering with fondant.

SOOO FRUSTRATING!!!

Are you chilling the cake overnight while letting it settle? If so, maybe the filling gets softer as it warms up after you take it out of the fridge, thus causing the cake to settle even more.

That cake looks awesome! I can understand why you're frustrated tho!

Thanks for the compliment, but no I am not chilling it. I used to freeze it a few minutes in a deep freezer after crumb coating before covering with fondant but I even stopped doing that because I thought the same thing. I thought maybe the buttercream filling was firming up and then after I had covered it with fondant and it defrosted/softened again, it was moving down.

I can't call it but it's driving me nuts!

one reason this happens is because the fondant settles over time. the cake looks great at first but then it starts to sag after the fondant stretches and bundles up at the bottom. i always cut the fondant a bit shorter to compensate.

You can try forcing it to settle after you fill it--push down fairly firmly on all parts of the cake after it is filled, before you crumbcoat. Hopefully, then most of the settling will have taken place already.

I chill my cakes all the way through so the fondant chills too and suspends itself in the frige. Even then I have to do like Dailey says & cut the fondant a little short and it still compresses the cake even if it's stone cold when I apply the fondant.

So sorry that happened--but, dude, what a realistic purse cake!!!

Have you tried using ganache instead of icing it's got a wonderfully firm surface, bet that might fix your problem? What brand of fondant are you using?

No, I haven't tried ganache yet but I was thinking about it. I use Pettinice fondant because I used to use Satin Ice but it used to give me problems with drying and losing elasticity. The Pettinice has worked beautifully in the past but lately for some reason I am having this issue. I would've thought it was maybe a bad batch of fondant but I've bought more fondant in between cakes.

you can always say it represents a much-loved much-used, filled to the brim cake.

I love it and would have it in a heartbeat

LOL. Thanks! My husband said the same thing because I was near tears. Thanks again for the support!

What type of cake are you using? It may be the cake itself that is compressing under the weight of the fondant.

I used the WASC recipe.

How thick are you rolling the fondant? I don't chill my cakes, and I don't roll the fondant real thick either - never (knock on wood) have any issues with the settling.

Another thing I do - after the cakes have cooled, I wrap them with plastic wrap and then STACK them however they will be on the finished cake. I then make sure that when I am assembling the final cake that they are still stacked in the same position as they were with the plastic on them. I have not once had an issue with settling cakes since doing it this way. (and again, I never put them in the frig. either)

Fondant is very heavy, so even though you are letting the cake and cream settle overnight, you are later adding a lot more weight to it. What I have done and hear many other people do is the following. Crumb coat the cake, put a piece of wax paper on top and put a BOX OF FONDANT ON TOP! or even a heavy floor ceramic tile! Yes, you are reading this right! That will approximate the weight that you are expecting the cake to hold once it is covered in fondant. That should eliminate your problem! Let sit 12 hours, remove the weight, decorate, a voila! no more sagging. best of luck. (btw, you have a very sweet husband!)

Thank you all! I am definitely going to try the weight method. It does make sense. Hopefully it will work for me. I am so glad I have all of you that I can run to with these issues! If I can ever help anyone with any other issues or questions, please do not hesitate to PM or email me!!!

Thank you for the post and the possible solution. I've had the same problem, lately. Hopefully, now, the mystery is solved.

How tall is the cake? Do you maybe need a cardboard separator in there with dowels in the bottom part? I don't know if that would help or if it's even necessary, but it's a thought.

I don't really work in fondant. But buttercream dream is my fav as well and I know it's half shortening and half butter so could the butter be getting soft under the fondant? Love the way dream tastes...