I am doing a carved cake next week - the practice run I did fell over - I think too soft of a cake and too thin of a filling....

Does anyone have a good doctored mix recipe for chocolate cake that will hold under carving and fondant? Also, any good strong fillings besides buttercream would be appreciated as well - that go with chocolate cake....I don't want this whole thing to fall apart on me - I would be mortified....

HELP!

Lisanne

Your first fell over?!? was it from a lack of structural supports?

I've been able to carve chiffon to sourcream chocolate cakes without a problem with a number of fillings. I use mousse the most since when its frozen its supper firm to solid but on the occasion lemon curd but its one that is pretty firm (made that way with cornstarch) oh and cream cheese filling too.
I do tend to make sure that the cake has at least 24 hours in the fridge but its best if its been frozen for 5 hours or more as well. I've found that learning to carve on a frozen cake is easier then going into soft cake. Since when your learning it tends to take you longer to do it then you will allow yourself more time to stand back and look at where your going with your cake sculpture.

Just make sure you have plenty of inner support and you seperate every 3-5 layers with boards and supports for the best stability.

Good luck and keep practicing because this type of art is ALL trial and error, the only way to learn is to make mistakes and learn from em. We all go through it so dont get discouraged and if the cake falls again just take your Chef Knife and attack it to get your anger out . Then start fresh.

3Ds are my specialty, a frozen cake helps (I don't do it much though) but what works better is the right cake, the denser the cake the better. for example: an angle food cake is to light and airy to support a structure or the weight of figurines or heavy frosting. A heavy dense cake can support a lot of weight thereby allow you to achieve height with weight and not using the aids of dowels. Examine this cake of mine:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=mommykicksbutt&cat=0&pos=10

ZERO supports!!!! NO dowels or anything else for support! The "pour" is in an "S" shape flowing out of the bowl. Actually the bowl is setting on top of the S and lots of royal is in the bowl smoothed into the flow. The bowl is a very large french lace sugar cookie, it weighed about 2 pounds and the point of the cake for the S was able to support the weight. I used the right cake. When I do cakes like this I always add extra protein to the batter. The proteins toughen the cake but make the cake stronger by having more protein strains binding between the sugars thereby making a strong, dense, supporting cake.

If you are doing a lower style of a 3D and just a carved cake then just freeze it and carve away but if you are "sky scraping" a cake, then you want the cake strong and dense.

Have fun and don't forget to post a picture!!!

wow, this place is great...I have a question along the lines of this thread - if you freeze a cake to carve it, or just freeze in general, do you have to thaw it out before covering it in buttercream and fondant? I'm wondering about a condensation problem...

thanks and happy to be here!

crystal