I spent hours on a 3 tier cake that ended in disaster! Help me learn why!

Bottom tier was 10" round WASC with peanut butter mousse filling, covered in buttercream. 3 poly-dowels supported the 2nd tier (8"), & 3 wooden dowels supported the top (6"). Wooden dowel through middle of whole cake.

Cake was finished Saturday & boxed. Still looked great Sunday morning. I didn't check it right before delivery Sunday afternoon but when I got to the dinner, the bottom tier had partially collapsed &, since one whole side was flattened, the top two tiers had slid off. Help!

Did the mousse filling make the bottom tier too shifty? Were the 3 poly-dowels not enough support? Should I have used wooden dowels instead? I really never want to be that mortified again!

Um, no, three dowels were not enough.

Sorry you had this happen, next time try sps never fails!

Anytime there's a collapse it's structural integrity. You need to make sure your dowels are spaced right (in correct quantity) to evenly distribute weight AND make sure your cakes are level. Sorry there was a disaster. Hope you were able to salvage it.

To support an 8" cake I use 6 cake straws, not enough support. So sorry:/

I am sorry! I have to agree, 3 should have been 5 to 6 - OR the SPS is a great system for tiered cakes!

If the "3 poly" dowels that you used were the Wilton plastic dowels, then that should have been plenty to support an 8". I use about 1 of those dowels per 2 inches of cake, but an equilateral triangle of 3 is great for stability.

Using the wooden dowels, I would have used about 1/inch of cake to be supported, so 5-6.

Since the bottom cake had partially collapsed, I'd guess that your dowels in it weren't evenly cut and may have been too short, allowing weight from the top tiers to press down on it, breaking it. Also, if the cakes weren't centered on each other and/or if the dowels were all lined up throughout the tiers, that could have contributed to the problem.

Rae