I work part time at a local bakery in my hometown... VERY small hometown. The bakery just opened this year (in April) and I am pretty good friends with the owners. I am a college student who just decorates for fun... no formal training or anything...

I do have some, very BASIC, cake decorating skills, so I do cupcakes and carrot cakes and other various decorating at the bakery, when the regular decorator is gone. I have done some birthday cakes and I was starting to feel a little bit more confident with my skills, when I was informed that I would have to set up a wedding cake! YIKES!

The decorator had something going on the weekend of the wedding and insisted she would decorate if I could help the owner deliver it and set it up. I really didn't have much choice.

When she decorated the cake, I don't know if she even used a leveler, so the top tier looked a little off. I pointed it out to the other owner (it's a husband and wife) and he pointed it out the decorator. She said, I'll fix it... and didn't.

So, we go to deliver the cake and we are pretty nervous (the wife and myself). We are amateurs!!! We made it out to the reception and were feeling pretty good. When we got the cake set up, it was leaning... no doubt about it! We didn't know what to do except angle the lean towards the back... We tried everything to fix it and the tiers were centered, the top just made the rest of the cake lean. We told them, it will be fine, just make sure the kids aren't running around the table.

After finishing the piping and the last details, we headed back to the bakery, relieved it was done and we had made it.

About an hour and a half later, we get a call. You could tell by the owners face it wasn't good... I thought she was going to cry! She hangs up and says... the cake just fell over!!! We wanted to crawl in a hole and lock the doors on the bakery for good!

Luckily it was very casual reception, and they didn't mind... (they ACTUALLY laughed it off!) but the owners vowed they would never do another wedding cake

It was the WORST day EVER!

Live and learn. Glad to hear that they laughed it off.

Nice to know the recipients weren't too upset, but I can understand how the owners felt. The problem here was with the decorator -- why didn't she show you and the owners how to put it all together as a "dry run" at the shop since she was not able to attend to it herself? That would have alleviated all the problems you had and you may have seen the "lean" before taking it out of the shop.

That just seems to have been the way to go on this; since she made the cake, and she wasn't going to be available to set up, she should have made darn sure that the people who WERE going to take on the responsibility knew EXACTLY what to do. Doesn't mean the cake still wouldn't have come down, but may have warded off the problem in the first place.

Sorry you had such a rough time of it. Hang in there, it really does get easier with experience!!!

Odessa

Maybe the owners should put the decorator on notice for not following through. I would say that they should give it another shot and not give up because of one bad cake. Sounds like you knew there was something wrong and they should have listened to your advice.

Don't let this discourage you. My first wedding cake (pic in my profile) shifted in transit (which I fixed) and then started to lean during the reception. They had to move the cake cutting up to sooner...... than later. And to top things off, I found out later the bride and groom got into a fight and used the wedding cake to start a "food fight". Now who do you think was in tears??????

When I was a teenager I witnessed a 8 tier wedding cake tip over and fall to the floor. The bottom layer was the only cake to survive. I actually feel that it was a blessing to this day. Everyday I make a cake I think about that brides cries and remember to measure measure measure!!!!! I also always use a small levelor on top of the cake to make sure nothing goes wrong with the cake.Cheer up it was'nt your mistake. You've seen the worst and learn by it.
Andrea

you should also see if the table is level, taking a small leveler in your wedding cake kit is essential

a food fight at a wedding? Hilarious!

did they show you how to put a dowel through the entire cake top to bottom?