AHi all, I'm totally an entry level baker. Love it but not very experienced and I had the bright idea to try and make a fondant cake for my kids bday in 3 weeks. I tried a test tiered cake but my cake doesn't come out super clean. Any pointers? I sprayed with Pam, floured and lined bottom with parchment. cake cooks through and I let cool for 15 min, ran a knife through and flipped. Some of my sides crumbled! Help please!! I read a previous post with similar issues and people said to make sure the cake was cooked all the way and cake pulls from sides. Mine doesn't pull but comes out clean when I do the poke test. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!! Also, any pointers on how to salvage crumbly edges/sides?

AHi there. Yes, the clean toothpick test works great. I normally grease pan with shortening and stick parchment on the bottom (and sides sometimes). Let it cool, flip it over and don't touch, CUT or wrap until it completely cooled. Otherwise you end up crumbling it. You can't cut/ carve a cake which isn't rested. I make mine the day before I need them to be decorated. That gives it plenty of time. Good luck!

AHi [@]julia1812[/@]. Thanks for your tips! Do you flour dust it after you grease with shortening? and just to clarify do you wrap it while in the pan or you you take it out of the pan? When I take it out of the pan after cooling for 15 min that's when my sides crumble. Do you crumb coat the next day? Sorry for all the questions!

AI take it out of the pan before I wrap it. If your sides are crumbly, trim them before you crumb coat the next day. I don't flour dust. If I have time, I grease bottom and sides of the pan and then cut my parchment paper to exact size for the bottom and exact night for the side and stick it in (it stays on like glued to the pan when you grease it. After baking I let the cake rest for about 5mins in the pan. Then, depending on pan, I release the ring and flip cake onto cling film covered board (makes it easier to wrap when cooled), or I place a cling film covered board over pan and flip the whole cake with the board as a cover over onto the board. When I pull the parchment off, the sides and bottom are smooth and not crumbly at all. When I'm in a rush, I just grease bottom and place parchment in there. But all my cake pans are Teflon, maybe that's why I don't have problems... What pans do you use? It could also be your cake recipe, but maybe try the tips first.

I don't grease or flour the pans at all, I just line the bottoms with waxed paper or parchment and leave the sides alone. I cool everything off in the pans and don't touch them until the next day like @julia1812 does. Some recipes still have crumblier sides than others, it depends on the cake. If a cake is particularly crumbly I'll brush the loose crumbs off, but if you're talking about having giant chunks falling off the cake that's different. That probably means you just need to leave them to cool longer before messing with them. Let them get good and cool  and you probably won't have as much of a problem.