I delivered a wedding cake on Wednesday and had my first ever cake disaster. Everything with this cake went perfectly (which is rare - usually I am in high stress freak out cake mode....) No trouble baking or decorating. The MMF didn't even stick when I rolled it out. I was so proud of myself when the cake was done that I told my DH, "I must be getting better - I didn't freak out once!" So my DH carries the cake to the car and decides to hold it in his lap while I drive. (We have done it this way before - it has worked fine...) Anyway, we had to drive about 30 minutes to the site and were within BLOCKS of the reception when my DH lookes down at the cake and says "Where are all these dots coming from?" I freaked. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" was my first reaction (poor guy) and he said "I didn't touch it!" So we get to the house and take the cake to the table to have a good look. The top layer of the bottom cake had shifted forward about 1/2 inch. I have made this cake 3 times and never had this happen!! When it shifted though, it knocked off some of the dots around the ribbon and I could not get them back on because there was now a "lip" from where the cake had shifted. The MMF on the side had ripples in it and the dots around the ribbon there were hanging off the cake like a string of pearls. ?!?! I had to place the flowers differently than I had planned to cover as best I could. I felt so bad!! The bride was fine when I showed her - and I have since recieved many compliments from people who went to the reception. (They didn't seem to notice) I just can't figure out why this happened and I am making the same cake right now for delivery tomorrow....UGH wish me luck!!

Here are pictures of the cake - you can see the damage on the right side of the cake.....

Maybe YOU can see the damage, I certainly can't!! Well, I can see the fondant rippled a little, but what a GORGEOUS cake!! It's beautiful! I never would have seen a thing wrong with it if you hadn't pointed it out.

NOpe....I can' t see anything wrong with it at all....Looks great!
fabulous job!

Was there skewers or anything running through the cake to hold it all together?

Simple but very pretty - I like it.

I'm glad the guests didn't seem to notice and for the record neither do I but regardless it's a very cute cake and you did a fabulous job mending it. I guess that's just another part of baking cakes... how to repair one in need of medical assistance. Great cake and I'm happy it worked out in the end.

Thanks everyone... I guess this could have been much worse. I did dowel this cake. There are support dowels in the bottom two cakes and then one larger dowel running through the whole thing. This is the way I have always done it...something just went haywire this time.

What a beautiful cake BeckySue, I can't see anything wrong with this cake, it is beautiful!!! I love the dots!!!!

I can't see any problems either but I too wanted to add that the cake is gorgeous! My daughter (5 yr old) was looking at my computer when I pulled this up and she says I have to make this for her

i dont see the damage either. but i do put 2 bamboo skewers in my stacked cakes for stabilization. i find with one in the center there can be shifting, but when i use 2 approx 3 to 4inches apart i dont have the shifting problem. i like the bamboo skewers because of the point on the end and they are slim.

I was really searching, and couldn't see the damage! Your cake looks great, I wish my "disasters" looked so good!

Just plain beautiful!!!!

I cant really see it in the photos, but the cake is darling!

This is a gorgeous cake!! Sorry about your shifting problem, but believe me - it isn't enough to detract from the "wow" factor of this beautiful cake!!
I love it!!!

Your cake looks just fine to me. Very pretty design.

I just got NEW GLASSES and can't see a problem. Do I need to go back and have myself re-evaluated? LOL

Seriously, YOU know all the damage. Others? Not so much. If the bride was happy and you received compliments on the cake then obviously it wasn't THAT bad!

I LOVE the cake by the way!

Beth in KY

Beautiful cake! The "damage" is really not noticable at all to me and I'm sure it wasn't to the guests.

Great job!!

I didn't see any damage in the top photo but I did see a slight ripple like a skirt on the side of the second photo.... Not very noticable in the photos so I'm sure it wasn't that noticable at the reception.

It's a beautiful cake hun don't count this as a disaster

I have to agree, your cake looks perfectly wonderful! Kudos to you for keeping your cool!
FWIW, I decorated for a large catering company that would send our cakes to the events with the waitstaff. You wouldn't believe what they did with our cakes, sometimes! (No, you cannot place crates of liquor and rentals higher than and right next to the cake! What if you have to slam on the brakes?!?!) And it DID happen...
We had to make our cakes completely stable, and completely stacked for delivery, since we didn't actually set up the cakes ourselves. We only had one driver who could do any setup for the decorators, but did no decorating. Long story short, I know, too late, but we would use Coast plates and pillars, but you can use any plain cake plates and push-in pillars. With a drill, cut a 1 1/2" hole in the center of all of your plates. With the plate and four pillars, we'd make a sturdy "table" for each cake to sit upon which was pushed into the cake below it.
After your cakes are stacked, sharpen a 3/8" dowel with a clean pencil sharpener or paring knife and cut to height of the cake. Pound that through all of the cake tiers, through the center holes. I have never had a cake slip with that system, except for one top tier, and it took a near-car accident to do it!

Wow that is a great idea!! Thanks for the advice FrostinGal - I actually have another wedding cake this weekend and I haven't been able to sleep the last couple of nights because I sit up thinking of everything that could possibly go wrong..... hopefully this idea will help me sleep

Where's the damage????

I'm sorry hun! When that happens it gets really stressfull and all ya wanna do is dig a hole to china n jump in.
(PSSST!) I think next time ya might want to put the cake in the back. I know, I know, the sweetie is being extremely supportive and wants to help (he can carry the stuff out to the car for ya if he wants to) but cakes need to be on non-wiggly surfaces, specially ones that large. I bet his poor knees were numb by the time ya got there LOL!
My hubbiness is the same way, he wants to help me carry stuff to the car n all that stuff. So to avoid him feeling like he's being replaced by cake, them puppies ride in the back!
As for your cake hun, the damage is hardly noticeable at all unless you point it out to us and then it's still hard to spot. It's an adorable cake.
Speaking of driving long distances with cake. I have to take one to Cheyenne WY this weekend, along with about 4-5 other people, AND luggage, etc, etc, etc. I live in Northeast CO and that's gonna be a drive. OI VEH!!!

I can't see the damage. You did a great job on the cake and the "cover up". Well done - you can feel proud of it.

I agree the cake looks very pretty....good recovery.

Having the cake in the back of the car on a flat surface is best. Place a bath towel or the dollar store roll of weblike mat down first then the cakes.

If more than 2 layers...add the top layer on at the recption.

Nice job on the decorating!!!!!!!!

Wish my disasters looked so good. Even with you pointing it out it was still hard to see! I am sure everyone loved it at the wedding. Remember we are used to looking at cakes all the time and see things others may not! For non-bakers even our disasters are amazing!

I don't see the DISASTER you are talking about. your cake looked beautiful, don't be so hard on yourself.

this exact thing happened to me - my brother was holding the cake on his lap when I was driving and he had it tilted - I was sooo mad. I forget who said this, but I saw it here on CC - if you think there is something wrong with your cake, set it down, take three big steps back and take another look. You probably won't even notice it and that is about the closest look anyone is going to give the cake (besides you).

I'm with coreen - I wish my cake disasters were this good. It's a very pretty cake - I love the colors, and you should be proud of it. I think the flower placement is really nice too - looks great! I know you can see the flaws, we all do that with our own stuff, but I'm sure the wedding guests thought it was just a beautiful cake, because it IS!

I agree - let the hubby take stuff out to the car, but leave the cake in the back.

Ok, my face is inches away from the screen & I'm looking...looking....looking..( what disaster is she talking about ?! )...looking...I see a beautifully decorated cake...looking...oh !! couple of little ripples - is that all ??!!! It's terrific

I certainly can not see the damage. Is a very pretty cake and the colors are really nice