For Sunday I have an order for a baby belly cake and 40 cupcakes.
The cupcakes are to be vanilla, carrot, red velvet and chai. The belly is to be placed on an 11x15 vanilla cake filled with bavarian cream and strawberries. Problem # 1. I received 3 new cookbooks for mother's day and couldn't resist trying a new recipe for vanilla cake that the author praised as his most popular. I decided to try it for the belly and cupcakes and if I was happy go ahead with the 11x15. Ugh, the texture was like cornmeal and the belly took forever to cook. I tossed the belly and froze the cupcakes(will not use for order) Problem # 2. Chai cupcakes from Martha Stewart cupcakes came out heavy and with tunnels, will not use for order.
So far my day is turning out for #%&**#. Problem # 3. For my 11x15, I took my husband's advice and used my favorite recipe. It came out of the oven looking beautiful, slight dome, no problem I thought. I set my timer for 15 min. and then flipped it onto my rack. Disaster, my cake cracked almost a crater. I flipped it back into the pan, let it cool and then double wrapped and froze the cake in the pan. My question is can I save this cake considering that I need to level, tort and fill. The finished cake is to be iced with buttercream and only the belly covered in fondant. Money is tight and I'm certain that I'm undercharging for this order. Considering the cupcake loss, I'm hoping to make this cake work but not at the cost of my sanity or possible customer dissatisfaction. Any advice welcome.

While the cake is still frozen, if you haven't already done so, put it bottom-side down on a cake base. If you push the broken pieces together, does it have the shape of the original cake or is it seriously deformed? If it still basically looks like an 11 x 15, you're in business. Once it's crumbcoated and iced/fondanted, you won't be able to tell the difference. You might want to put the belly part on a cake circle cut to size and put some support under it in the form of a few short straws just as extra insurance. If the cake won't go back together while it's frozen, let it thaw and see if you can get it to look like the original shape, then go from there. Hope it works out!