Hi All,

So, I did this cake for my SIL for a friends baby shower. They picked it up last night, drove 2 hours with it, got it home fine. Put it in the car to go to the shower and drove for 5 minutes (according to SIL) when the top cake slid off. I have no idea how this could have happened.

It was set up - 3 layers of chocolate cake with choc b/c filling, 6 dowels, topped with another 3 layer chocolate cake with choc/strawberry filling on a cardboard round. Then a dowel all the way through the raccoon, the top cake, cake board, bottom cake into the base.

She said the top cake and cardboard slid right off (but didn't tear the fondant?). I asked if they had slammed on the brakes, but they say no. They had the cake on the back seat (folded down) so it wasn't completely level....but I don't see how it made it on a 2 hour drive yesterday and then not last 5 minutes. She is going to send me pictures so I can see if I can figure it out, but that they were going to try to fix it because now you couldn't read the baby's name on the front?

Any input on how this may have happened?

Maybe when we see the pictures she sends you we can help more, but I have to say the cake is just amazing!! You did a great work of art on that one

Seems impossible if you had the dowel through the top and bottom cakes. Did the dowel shear off? Huh? Was it REALLY skinny dowel? Are you sue it went through the cardboard all the way to the bottom?

First.... what a CUTE cake! Second, It sounds to me like you constructed it right. I would have done the same thing. And it doesn't look top heavy at all. You never know what really happened in the car or how others drive. And the fact it wasn't sitting leve probably had something to do with it. I bet the slammed on breaks or were on two wheels in a curve! Seems like the racoon would have to be torn apart to fall off if it had a center dowel. How did he look?

So they're saying it slipped off but the center dowel stayed? That would have ripped the cake in 2, no? Sounds strange...

Thank you for the compliments! I was really happy with how it turned out...until the phone call. The dowel was all the way through, it wasn't a huge dowel but definitely wasn't skinny (I've used them for bigger cakes as well) She said that the fondant wasn't torn, the raccoon was still in place, but that now you couldn't read the name "Taylor-Lynn". I don't know if she meant that the fondant had stretched so it was illegible or what? She said "the top cake on the board slid right off" but I just don't know how that could happen.....unless the center dowel broke exactly in half where the cardboard was?? but how would that happen?? I am waiting for the pictures to see if I can figure it out.

wow. that is a really beautiful cake! awesome job!

What a sweet cake...sorry it happened.

I am wondering if maybe they jammed on the brakes and the car has *lurched* forward thus making the actual cake shift - and that would cause the outter layer to bulge....and then tear.
Or maybe they hit a gutter/curb and that again would make the same thing happen
Like when someone gets whip lash - you are forced forward then jerked back -
Otherwise how could the actual cake move inside the fondant - very strange.
Because to dowell it all the way through would certainly prevent the cake from sliding out.
Will be interesting to see their snaps.
You made a Beautiful...... cake thats for sure.

Bluehue.

That is a very cute cake!

what if it didn't actually slide...but as a pp stated about the braking/lurching or even a speed bump...threw the raccoon forward forcing him kind of up and off the dowel, causing damage to the front of the cake where the name is and because the cake was resting on an incline, the raccoon portion righted itself (kind of like a weeble..."weebles wobble but they don't fall down") giving one the impression that it slid off. but it couldn't have slid off(barring the broken dowel scenario) without ripping through the cake board and the raccoon too...(a david copperfield trick?)

The cake is so cute you are very talented.
Confused about what actually happened to the cake maybe the pics will help.

That doesn't make much sense. Either she isn't telling you everything or she isn't explaining the damage to the cake correctly. I think there is more to the 5 min trip than she is saying. Like they hit the brakes and the cake lurker forward. That would make more sense. I am interested to see or hear more from her about the cake. It doesn't sound like to me you did anything wrong. I think there is more to the story in the 5 min trip today.

Oh I forgot!!!!.....Your cake is beautiful....it is a shame that something happened to it. Great work of art!!

Hi all,

so, here are the pics that my SIL sent me. She said that the center dowel was still upright and intact. She didn't serve the cake so she didn't notice if the support dowels were still upright. She said it looked like the top cake just slid off. What do you guys think?

Looks like the cake twisted, not slid off.

Why didn't she serve it? It looks perfectly edible.

WOW! really strange Phenomenon. Really no way to explain. Your cake was beautiful by the way. I don't understand why she wouldn't have served it to her guests either. Sounds weird to me unless she knows what happened to it and didn't want to eat it??? I wonder!

oh...see...I was thinking when you said she said the top cake slid off with the board that the top cake was the raccoon. I have no ideas. If it slid off from where that line is, unless they jumped a ramp or dove off into a ravine, I can't imagine how it could've come off the dowel from that point on the cake.

It looks to me like the cake was twisted as emrldsky said. And then like they tried to fix it in the back. Not sure...that sure is strange though.

Yeah it twisted, definitly. You can see where the words are they are twisted and the back looks like someone tried to smoosh it back together. I would definity wonder why she didn't serve it as well. It sounds like she knows what happed too and is not wanting to say.

But it was a beautiful cake! You did an amazing job!

I still think there is more to the story. I don't understand why she didn't serve the cake ......it looks to me like someone tried to fix it, it looks smeared where it twisted..just like patticakesnc said. I think she know more than she is telling.

I assume there were dowels in the very bottom layer and a board about halfway up the trunk, right? If the dowels in the bottom layer shifted, the weight of the cake would have pushed it all down and caused it all to shift in whatever direction the dowels shifted (or maybe the opposite direction) even if the dowel down the middle of all of it stayed intact. Kind of a spiraling action around that middle dowel.

That's what it looks like to me.

I just don't understand why she didn't serve it. For heavens sake, it was mostly intact and still really cute. People understand that these things happen sometimes. It still would have been tasty. What a shame she didn't share it.

I think Ruth is my sister. I always agree with her.

Thats a beautiful beautiful cake btw.

My long lost sister! I wondered where you were. I think you live in a more exciting place than I do!!

what if...the whole cake turned over onto its' side (being on an unlevel seat/inclined area) and when they tried to upright it, they were only uprighted the bottom portion causing the dowel to slide out of the rest of it. They then took the top portion and reseated it as best they could onto the dowel. The reason she decided not to serve it was 'cause there were 'questionables' surrounding the area onto which it overturned.

It twisted for some reason, but when you say she didn't know if dowels were upright because she didn't serve it, Do you mean someone else did the cutting & serving and not her?

Was it really hot that day? It looks like it has melted. I only ask because I had this happen for a cake I did in July. Just a thought. Cute cake!