So this forum category makes me feel a lot better that i'm not the only one that experiences this horror...

things I learned from this cake experience... im such a newb! (any added advice would be appreciated!)
* I read somewhere that serving buttercreamed cakes in room temp is best to help for taste. I can't help but to think this was a factor that caused the smooshing.
* Summer humidity sucks for cake, even with full blast of AC during a car ride.
* I've heard that people don't recommend fondant to be refridgerated, but if there's buttercream underneath, I would rather have sweating and spots on my fondant, than for what happened to my grad cake...
* Dam the buttercream filling
* Too much syrup maybe also caused the smooshing?
* anything else....? ( i had dowels, base boards, & center dowel...)

Im sorry this happened to you! But it made me laugh because smashing my books is exactly how I feel when i finish a subject at university! The individual cakes looked good and I love the pencil and extra details.

Before stacking cakes I put them in the fridge again to harden a bit. If I can, I also put it in the fridge after stacking. - but Im not living in a really hot location. Hopefully someone else can give you a few tips.

Good luck and dont let this discourage you.

Nel

Wow, sorry that happened to you. Did it happen in transport or just after setting it up?

* sigh... =]

Yeah.. I have a lot more respect now for a cake that looks well made... i didnt realize how much skill/experience is involved!

nelikate - Yes, I am going to chill the heck out of my next cakes... =] I heard somewhere else that fridging/freezing takes away some moisture from the cakes..? i dont know if that's true, but if so, i will take that over smooshing

mustang 1964 - Well after assembling, some pieces of the fondant weren't holding up as well, but definitely the cake was still presentable. But while on the drive to deliver, by the time I reached the entrance, the cake itself turned into mush... which i didnt think could happen with the dowels and stuff....

i'm learning a lot!! haha

I don't see any cardboard supports... you need cardboard between every 2 layer cake.

I used foam boards for every book & the cap...

maybe i did it wrong...?

so where are they? I still don't see them?? or any dowels poking out???

Yeah, it looks like you didn't have support between EACH layer...if you did, I appologize. Also, when you stack your cakes, do you put a dowel at each corner and one in the middle when stacking a cake like this? I mean, a dowel on each corner and then ran down the middle of the entire cake? I would much rather over dowel then have a cake collapse on me. I just kinda decide on a cake by cake basis. HTH

I make gluten free cakes which are known for being dry but if I refrigerate or freeze they become more moist for some reason. I havent refrigerated fondant before - I too would be curious about peoples opinions on freezing and refigerating fondant.

N.

It also doesn't look like you had good support to the right (of your picture). Also, you say you used "foam". Was it possible that the cake was too heavy and therefor the dowels went through the "foam board"?

Unlimited - Yeah you cant really see from the pic. But you can kinda tell if you look at the bottom of the yellow book on top. You can kind of see the foam board on the left side... It also looks like a really straight edge.. that i dont think cake by itself would look like...

The center dowel I'm guessing leaned over with the cake...
Maybe I didnt put it through the bottom base board which I should make sure to do next time...

umgrzfn - i did have a support for each layer =( I made measurements for each one and cut them out...
I did noT put dowels on each corner! Maybe that was part of the problem?
I put them near the middle of each book, because i wasn't exactly where each book would be on top of each other because i wanted them to look kind of angled...
I will remember that for next time though, to have more rather than less dowels..

umgrzfn - Yeah you're right.. it doEs look like the right side had less support.
maybe the cake was too heavy? but the dowels i used were bubble tea straws.. so i dont think they could go through the foam....? maybe?

I appreciate everyone's responses.... i definitely don't want this to happen again..

okay, so it's not a foam core board with white on both sides, but rather a waxed top cardboard with plain brown color on the bottom - right? And, I still can't see any board under the next book. You can get away with using a board every three layers, but not in this design because the books are staggered and not three layers tall to begin with. hope this info is helpful... better luck the next time.

Hmm......


* I used Elmer's foam board underneath each book... they were 1/2 centimeter thick. Maybe that was too thin. I used the cardboard bases under each book & base just for during decorating and stuff...

* the brown you see I think is from the chocolate buttercream


I think theyre sooo many good reasons y i failed in this cake... but i dont think not having bases is one of them.. unless they were too thin?.... but everything you said does teach me I need to make sure to have a really good support system...

Yes, I use the thick straws, too. I put one every 3 inches directly under the corners, edges, and then fill in the center of those with more straws. I've had soft BC cakes with far away deliveries, but with enough good supports, they are fine. So sorry this happened

sweeties - my cake did noT have that many dowels like you're mentioning =T

i will definitely remember to do that as well next time.
thanks so much for sharing that advice! =)

Thanks Unlimited for taking the time to help me out...

But for the foam base boards, I did nOt remove them when stacking. The foam boards were all there.
I diD remove the cardboard base boards though. (the big bases you see from the before picture. i had the cakes with the foam bases, on top of the cardboard bases during decorating).

The center dowel i used went through all the foam bases, but I think I did not make it go through the very bottom base board. Like, it hit it, because I could hear the sound being different when it touched the bottom base board; but I'm not sure if next time I should make sure for it to also go through the base board a little, as well, for more support?

Thank you so much for the tip about over doweling..
I can see how that could weaken the cake.
=)

Just to add to all the above - when I dowel a cake, (using the bubble tea straws on a cake like this) I always use the amount of straws for the cake that is going to be on top of that particular layer (if it is an 8" cake going on top, I use 8 straws) All but 2 of those will be on the outside edges of where that top layer will be setting - then those remaining 2 off set in towards the center. I then would put the center dowel through all layers INTO the 1/2" foamcore base. If the center dowel isn't through the base, it doesn't do any good IMO. Make sure all dowels are in there straight - if any of them are crooked, it compromises the structure too.

I am by no means a professional and I am probably wrong but........

How long did you let those cakes sit before you covered them?

One of the first fondant cakes I made got really soft and almost liquified on me too. I figured out that it was because I didn't let the cakes cool off enough and kind of dry out a bit before I covered them. It is almost like once you put that fondant on there it seals in the cake and it gets even more moist, especially if it is still warm and all that steam gets trapped under there. I always let my cakes sit in the fridge overnight now before I put fondant on them. I think humidity could prob do it to a cooled cake too though. Think of the steam that gets in a greenhouse. Maybe that is the same thing that is happening under that fondant?

Just from my personal experience, I have never put any kind of syrup on a cake. My cakes are always so moist that I would be afraid of something like this happening. I also would like to add that if you are using a box mix you can add a half packet of instant pudding to the batter to firm it up a bit for better stacking/carving. It makes it taste better too. I never make a cake now without adding some kind of pudding to it.

I am so sorry that this happened to you. It looked great before it collapsed! Keep your head up and work on the next one!

Was your foam the stiff kind or the crafty type that is flimsy? The foam must be super stiff (like cardboard).

Also, to what height did you cut your dowels? Were they all cut to the same height for each book and cut slightly above the cake? If you make the dowels even, you are smashing the cake underneath and forcing it to smoosh out. No amount of doweling would keep the cakes together if that happens.

Beautiful cake. Sorry that happened. It wasn't the foam board. It almost looks like the cake was canted(hanging over) too much. Also, the top book was right over that. If you can imagine, all of the weight was on that back edge of the lower book. I wouldn't trust that to straws or dowelling. In the future, the SPS system attaches the columns to the base that supports each layer. The cake and its support becomeone structural unit. In this case, The boards are basically balancing on the ends of straws. This is OK in very limited circumstances. Canted designs are engineering nightmares and require extreme support. If your books were simply stacked, it would have worked well.

I loved all of the original work! Beautiful.

BTW, you did a BEAUTIFUL job on decorating them!!

OH dear!! I'm so sorry!!! They looked so great before the collapse!! I'm very sorry!! Hopefully though, it will be a lesson for next time...since thats usually the ONLY good that we can get from these terrible cake mishaps!!!