I have a quick question any help would be appreciated:) I am making a 3d sitting Mike Wazowski cake, when I have done previous 3d cakes I always find they "sink" (for lack of better terms) how do I stop that from happening?

Thank you for your help

Caitlin

AIs be interested to hear about this one. The only solution I can think off the top of my head is to board and dowel it in the middle. I have a 6" ball pan but I don't know if that's the done thing? Hopefully someone more experienced might shed some light. I want to do a Death Star at some point and I hadn't even thought it might sink!

I had the same problem when I did a sphere cake.  It is pretty common apparently unless you board and dowel between the top half and the bottom half of the sphere.  Another bit of good advise, I read, was to fondant the halves separately.  My  fondant kept stretching as I put it all on in one piece (it was probably a bit thick as well).  Made for a few laughs during the day, especially as Australia disappeared from the world and sank in to Antarctica.

I have made a few of these cakes now and always use a mud cake recipe (or any other firm cake recipe will work) then, fill and covered the cake with ganache. I find using the ganache makes the cake more stable and firm, with a clean, smooth finish. There is no need for a cake card in the middle, or dowels. Give it a try! I hope this is helpful.

:)

I did a Soccer ball some time ago, and I used mud cake and ganache which certainly helps - i did also use a central board and dowel for support because it was a 10" round, so the pieces would have been too big!

Here's a link to the cake - https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/479770_547249168640328_1817366637_n.jpg

Wow! Awesome cake! I have never tried anything over a 6" yet! Thanks for the tip on the larger cakes!

ACrafty has a free tutorial on icing a sphere cake with ganache. Look it up.its great!

to reduce the shrink factor i fridge my freshly covered fondant sculptures so the fondant firms immediately and cannot relax--i'm also applying the fondant to a cold cake--then when it later gets to room temp it is kind of seasoned and it stays put--it dries a bit and sets up in there--

i know lots of people don't fridge their stuff--but it's an important tool in my repertoire--

cazza--i ♥ your story about australia slowly fading into anarctica! reminds me of the time...

30-ish years ago i made a royal icing bi-plane from wilton instructions -- and no one was more surprised than me that  it all came together -- oh so proud was i until the landing gear promptly disappeared into the freaking cloud--hahaha--

didn't never wanna land in australia anyhow