I had just finish making a cake and I was waiting on my friend to pick up the cake. The cake looked perfect so I went to watch tv while waiting on the customer. The customer arrives and then I can down stairs to see that the cap on the top of the cake fell off and messed up the top cake. I was so upset, I had to take extra time to fix the cake when I thought I was going to be able to go to sleep early. Along with having issues with getting the butter cream to be smooth. I really do love buttercream, but there are so many issues that come along with working with butter cream. I should have dowel the butter graduation cap, but it was so small. You can see the cake before it crashed in my photos. It's the graduation cake. All suggestions are welcomed.

I forgot to say that my husband turned the air off in the house. Maybe the butter cream melted

It looks like it's sitting at an angle. My guess is that's the problem. I would dowel it, though. It's going to be moved and that might cause it to fall off.

Buttercream cakes should be very cold (not frozen!) when delivered. You need that solidness to survive bumpy roads and situations such as yours. I always deliver cakes at least 30 minutes before an event starts. Unless it's to be served right away, the cake will have time to warm to room temp and soften a bit. Your husband did you no favors when he turned the air off! When I drive a cake I have the air conditioning blasting as cold as I can get it. When it comes to buttercream, cold is your friend.

I know now.... I should have put the cake back the fridge, but I wanted it to be ready for her. For now on I am putting a dowel through everything and the smallest piece. This was truly a learning experience. Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't refrigerate any of my cakes, and most of them are buttercream. You need to make sure you have the correct consistency - that is the first thing. You also need to make sure each part of the cake has a sturdy structure to hold the next tier. That cap should have been on it's own board, and have support (dowels, straws, sps etc.) under it.

Smoothing your buttercream takes practice....the more you use it, the more comfortable you will be with it. I personally use the VIVA paper towel method, and if you check my pics, you can see they are pretty smooth!

You can practice on dummies or even cake pans if you don't want to make cakes all the time!

You hate buttercream because your air was off and it melted? What do you expect it to when it gets hot?

I did read the whole post as well as the title so which one do I believe. Didn't mean to get your panties in a bunch.

Are you talking butter cream made with butter or with shortening. I learn from everybody's post, so I want to make sure I am understanding this correctly.

The subject/ title was selected because that was how I was feeling at the moment. I felt like you came with negative energy so I was just telling you to read the whole post. I do love butter cream, just had a bad butter cream day.

I use the half butter and half shortening recipe. It tastes great, but maybe I used too much milk. Toneda suggested (from youtube) to use less liquid because I was not able to use the paper towel method without it sticking. I have to put it in the fridge and then I would be able to use a paper towel on the cake. It's all a learning experience. Thanks for the suggestions.

sberryp I don't have any suggestions but I looked at the picture and it looks AMAZING!!

I love the colors and the hat is adorable!!

Also in the first picture your ring is in it and that is a NICE ring!!! Which reminds me I took mine off before I did dishes....I need to go put them back on....

I'm totally with carmijok on the buttercream/cold thing.

I frost my cakes, let them crust, smooth with the Melvira method, then Viva, and refrigerate overnight if possible.

When I am ready to decorate I pull the cake out and attach my decorations while the icing is still cold and hard. It helps to keep letters and flowers and such from pressing into the icing and causing bulges.

Then I put the cake back in the fridge and keep it there until right before I am ready to travel with it. It has made a huge difference in the stability of my cakes.

HTH.

I don't have room for cakes in my fridge unless I take them down to the basement, which would be a pain, so I just have to threaten my DH so that he doesn't turn the air up when I have cakes out.

Not saying that it's the wrong thing to do, but why put the cake in the fridge? I make bc cakes all the time, and don't put them in the fridge unless they have a perishable filling. I would think that the cake would not stay firm very long once out of the fridge? If it's hot or humid, could you use a greater shortening ratio?

Already told the hubby off. lol He knows not to turn the air off again.

Maybe I should try a different shortening. I used Crisco, it does not say no transfat on it. I got it from costco. It taste great![/quote]

Don't use the Crisco! It no longer has transfat in it which has caused a lot of problems in buttercream recipes. You can get hi ratio shortening or an off store brand shortening with transfat.
However, I have read on here that people have wonderful results with Indydebi's buttercream recipe. If I'm not mistaken, she still uses Crisco. I think it may have something to do with the Dream Whip in the recipe?

I put bc cakes in the fridge because I prefer not to watch them wobble during transport. I don't use perishable fillings (not permitted in my state) so they are in the fridge to make them sturdier.

Required? No.

Preferred? Yes.