Hello everyone! I need help! I decided to bake my daughters birthday cake and now I regret it. 

I baked her a chocolate cake yesterday in a 11x15 sheet pan. I let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 to 25 minutes (while I cleaned up). I then used a cooling rack to take the cake out of the pan and my Wilton cake lifters to place on saran wrap on my counter. The cake was fine, except one of the Wilton Lifters got stuck underneath and cracked the cake a bit in the center. No worries though, I can fix that with BC. 

I wrapped it up in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight. I took it out about 20 minutes ago and started cutting off the dome with my Fat Daddy 14" knife and the cake was crumbling. I cleaned the knife and continued and the cake continued to crumble. The cake is not dry! In fact, it's delicious and quite moist. So I am lost as to what happened. 

I managed to cut the cake in half to add a filling (Cookies n' cream  BC) and crumb coat the entire cake. The cake is now filled and crumb-coated in the refrigerator. My plan was to ice it tomorrow morning. I am just worried because the cake was pulling away and crumbling when I "crumb coated it." Do you think this is ok or should I bake another immediately??? I am worried people will be eating crumbs tomorrow vs cake. 

Aside from that, I have fondant decor on skewers that I need to place on top....will it hold since the cake is crumbling? I am panicking.

Finally, I have 3 Rice krispy treat (RKT) molds in the fridge, wrapped in saran wrap. They are hardened and ready to be covered with fondant. But now, I am freaking out about everything! It's crunch time and I still have to prepare 20 treat boxes. Can I decorate my RKT now with fondant? If so, where do I dry them? Do I leave them out?  

*Party is tomorrow at 3 pm (we will be leaving home around 2:15) * I used this recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17528/extreme-chocolate-cake/#  *I did buy 2 boxes of Betty Crocker Chocolate cake mix and sour cream(if i needed to make another cake I was going to try the "WASC Recipe."

Thank you in advance. I may not be able to reply because CC doesn't allow me to, but I will definitely private message you.

Chocolate cakes are the devil!  The filling should help hold it together.  It may not support the decor though.  The only chocolate cake recipe I will use is a cream cheese pound cake recipe.  It is the only one I have found that will actually hold up to decorating.  I feel for you because I have been there!  I actually refuse cake orders if they don't want the pound cake...not worth the effort when I know it is going to fall apart.

really? usually the only time i've had a cake crumble like that is when it's too fresh -- but yours should not be doing that now -- i'm sorry that happened and i know it's too late now to offer anything constructive but i'd love for you to update & say how it went and what you did-- start a new thread :)

did you mix it enough? this is why i don't like to whip egg whites separate and fold them in -- i like to mix my scratch cakes like a cake mix with two nice full minutes of mixing at the end -- sticks it all together better -- i need to check your recipe -- i hope it's not one of those egg white whippy ones

hmm, i don't know why that recipe would do that crumbly mess for you -- shoulda been fine 

?

well idk but it changes your emulsion with this  "mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand" 

That recipe looks like the Hershey's chocolate cake (but it's too late and I am too tired to cross check that right now sorry lol). The original recipe is very very soft and hard to work with. I actually use that hersheys recipe but altered slightly.

I add an extra 50% of the flour amount that the recipe calls for, I also add extra cocoa powder but off the top of my head I can't remember how much in percentages. I leave everything else the same.

Altering the recipe like that gives for a much sturdier cake but it is delicious either after freezing (which I usually do - it will give a denser cake) or fresh (use only after it has rested at room temp overnight, well wrapped, it will give you a beautiful fluffy, bouncy cake). The original recipe tends to fall apart at the drop of the hat. 

Fingers crossed for you that your cake turned out just fine.

both of these recipes call for adding hot water at the end after you make your emulsion -- so I think that can mess things up maybe -- the extra powdered items -- flour/cocoa -- are a great idea, bubsfirst