I will start by saying, I am very new to this and learn as I go. I recently had a friend wanting a 3d sitting Dora cake. I have made turkeys, rabbits, and santa with no issues, so I agreed.

Round 1- 5 10in rounds buttercreamed and covered in fondant with RKT arms and legs. Dora ended up looking like a linebacker so I decided to pull off fondant and shave her down.

Round 2- Dora's body is portioned well and all is great

Round 3- put the head on..I had taken a round plastic dowel and super glued it (covered that area with foil) and ran in all through the cake. It stuck out about an inch. Placed appox. 4 wooden dowels in head and through cake as well as the inch plastic rod.

Within 20 minutes the head had fallen back taking 1/2 the cake with it. Ended up quickly icing a 4 layer cake and giving that, along with Doras head and 1/2 of body intact ,to my friend with a sincere apology.

I am in culinary school for baking and pastry and this is making me question my career path decision...Just seems like I can't figure out support at all. Sorry to be so long winded. Any help with this or any other support tips would be great!

I'm not quite sure what happened, did your wooden dowels go all the way through the cake and the head? Sometimes things just go wrong, but that is how we learn (it stinks, but coming here to seek help is good!!) I am sure someone will have great advice for your next 3D cake.

Don't start questioning your career path after one situation. It is part of the journey..there will be more and you will learn to handle/prepare for them better with time

Chin Up!!

Jenny

Yes, the dowels went all the way through....I think another problem is that I have been freezing my crumb coated cakes, pulling them out and placing fondant immediately and then stacking as needed. Would that make the cakes not as stable until they reach room temperature? Just a guess=)....also have problems with leaning cakes. Like I said, me and support are NOT friends at all

sorry that happened. I just had to laugh reading your title though, totally reminded me of the movie "Dumb and Dumber", "our pets heads are falling off!"

Don't question anything. Just learn the right way to do it and the next time you'll be beaming with confidence. It's not the way you handled your cakes it was assuming the "cake" could hold the weight of the RKT. RKT are HEAVY and the sponge couldn't hold it. You just left out some components that would have helped.

Here is what would have worked (and WILL work in the future):

First: use 1/2" foam core as your cake boards and as your base board for the entire cake. This will give your dowels something to sink their teeth into other than your cake sponge and an unyielding material that won't give.

Second: after inserting that plastic dowel down the center of your cake. Take a dowel similar in size (use a 1/2" wooden dowel if it'll fit) sharpen one end and shove that down the center of the plastic dowel and into the foam core. If you aren't sure this will hold you can double up your foam core base or use pieces to create "legs" to your "cake stand" and use a scrap piece dead center for that wooden dowel to go through. Now the center wooden dowel is sticking through 1 1/2" of foam core and isn't going anywhere (one piece used as your bottom tier's cake board and two pieces in the cake base board/cake stand)! You could even pour melted chocolate down the center of the plastic after inserting that wooden dowel to ensure the it is adhered to the dowel and cake board inside at the bottom. I'm like Mc Guiver with finding ways to make cakes like this hold (see my gallery! haahahaa!).

So, you sharpen the top end of the dowel and shove Dora's refrigerated head right down on top. Use dowels to support it's weight on the top tier so it doesn't crush it, if needed. Or, if your comfy with PVC and flanges you could build a really solid support like I did with my mad hatter and turtle cakes.

Man, this was long but I really want you to know that you had the right idea but you were just missing a couple steps that would have made the difference. RKT are misleadingly heavy and your cake's sponge and cake boards alone couldn't hold it in place. Hope it all helps!

I should probably add that I would actually freeze Dora's head for at least 30 mins then pre drill/dig a hole for that dowel. I'd then fill that hole with melted chocolate before placing it on the dowel. But move fast. If the head is frozen that chocolate will set FAST. It won't go anywhere!! Chocolate is the best glue ever!!! I even used melted chocolate to secure my Mad Hatter's hat to the steel flange it was sitting on.

RKT's do not like alot of dowels shoved in them unless you are molding them around the dowels. Once you start cracking a RKT it will definitely fall apart....

Sorry this happened! We all have more we can learn, and support is definitely something we have to learn.

cake diosa...You are awesome! Thank you so much! It is so nice knowing there is a place people can come to and find answers from people that know what they are doing and are kind enough to share that knowledge. Thanks everyone for your help

If you look at my Elmo cake in my pics, its 3d........I shaped elmo out of rkt put a pencil thin dowel thru him and then put it in the fridge until I was ready to work on i again. It was covered with bc.

I have also made trees out of rkt and then put same kind of dowel thru and then covered it with fondant and really mold it to the tree. I don't know if this will help, if I can help more, message me. Happy caking
Yhere is a tree pm top pf the jungle baby shower cake in my pics too