I am a self-taught baker. I have made several tiered birthday cakes, but I made my first wedding cake this past weekend. It was a three tier cake with 6,” 9,” and 12” tiers. Each tier was three layers. I used American buttercream between the layers and Swiss buttercream on the outside. I used three dowels and threw bubble tea straws in the bottom and middle layers and cardboard cake rounds underneath the top and middle layers. I used a Cakesafe to transport the cake. The cake looked perfect upon delivery. I delivered the cake at 10:30 am and the wedding was at 4 pm. It was in an air conditioned barn. I just received an email from the bride, telling me that the top tier of the cake collapsed. I’m looking for advice. Should I refund the bride? Also, I have another wedding cake this weekend, and I don’t want to repeat this disaster. I have attached both the picture of the cake after I delivered it and the picture that the bride sent me. 
Reread your post and see you did use a board so ignore my 1st reply:) I see only 1pic w/no damage That is a long time for a cake to be left unattended Someone could have bumped it or otherwise fussed with it It sounds like you did most everything right In any case a full refund is NOT required Maybe offer to make a new top tier for their anniversary The only other thing that might have caused problems would be if you placed all the support/straws in the cake cutting them flush What needs to be done is to place one then use it to cut all the others that same size
5-1/2 hours in a barn is probably what happened to it. Even air conditioned, it was probably still pretty warm. When I hear the word "barn", it give me hives! And, as kakeladi said, it is likely the table was bumped very hard or some other physical contact. Your cake appears to be perfectly straight, so I cannot believe this was any fault of yours. I agree, a refund is not necessary. At the most, again as kakeladi said, offer a small anniversary cake.
idk — i’m sorry that happened — I tried to deliver two hours before the reception — and while idk what happened to your lovely work — I want to encourage you to use more dowel — if one of those three gets askew something’s going down — not the case using one or two more — and I am Not saying that’s what happened here ‘cause I don’t know what happened— but going forward a couple extra dowel won’t hurt a thing —
i would refund something between 25 to 50% — or like $100 something substantial —
Is that the same spot you left it in? It doesn't look the same. Maybe it's because it's a different angle but to me it looks like the barrell it is sitting on has been moved.
what happened? you can start a new thread if the system prevents you from posting --
How heavy was the cake topper? Did you put it on, or someone else? It's not on your original picture, and I can't tell what kind of weight it is, but if it's heavy and sat there so many hours, and/or someone shoved it in there with force maybe?
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%