Well, I'm really glad that I decided to do a 'practice' topsy turvy on my family. Because it turned out to be a disaster. The cake was basically a disaster from the start so when it fell over and then we nearly set the house on fire I was not at all surprised. Here's what I learned:
1. Don't use a brand new, super moist chocolate WASC recipe for carving if you have never actually covered it in fondant before. The bottom layer of the cake was so moist and delicious but it could not even support the weight of fondant. I had fondanted it and it was bulging and sliding a day before I even stacked it.
2. Homemade lemon curd filling is slippery! In retrospect I should have put a double rim of frosting around the edge of the cake before filling. By the time I started trimming the cake the filling was dripping out and the layers were slidding apart. So I took 2 skewers and jammed them through the cake and into the cardboard seperator. This is when I knew the end was near and nearly aborted the whole cake. But I had promised my family a cake and they were going to get cake!
3. Even the slightest tilt will eventually turn into a disaster! The cake stood for 5 hours. I saw it slowly tilting and a new bulge and tear in the fondant form on the top tier. I had asked my mother repeatedly to cut the cake already but she wanted to wait and wait and wait. And then an hour later I heard her tell someone to get me because there was a problem with the cake. She swears she didnt go near it but the top tier was on the floor at that point. A 6th dowel supporting the tier may have prevented this since it was clearly tilting in one direction all day.
And to finish the whole event off, she wanted me to move the remaining crushed bottom tier in front of my grandmother because she was afraid to touch it. When I was trying to put it down I knocked over candles on the table spilling wax all over myself and the table. Plus the still lit candle wick managed to land standing straight up on a paper plate! Wow was it an exciting cake day! Thank god I wasnt emotionally attached to this cake and it was practice in my mind for just this reason, even before I made it.
(oh! any my 89 year old grandmother caught that I put two of the same number on her bingo card even though I hadn't!)
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1877859
1. Don't use a brand new, super moist chocolate WASC recipe for carving if you have never actually covered it in fondant before. The bottom layer of the cake was so moist and delicious but it could not even support the weight of fondant. I had fondanted it and it was bulging and sliding a day before I even stacked it.
2. Homemade lemon curd filling is slippery! In retrospect I should have put a double rim of frosting around the edge of the cake before filling. By the time I started trimming the cake the filling was dripping out and the layers were slidding apart. So I took 2 skewers and jammed them through the cake and into the cardboard seperator. This is when I knew the end was near and nearly aborted the whole cake. But I had promised my family a cake and they were going to get cake!
3. Even the slightest tilt will eventually turn into a disaster! The cake stood for 5 hours. I saw it slowly tilting and a new bulge and tear in the fondant form on the top tier. I had asked my mother repeatedly to cut the cake already but she wanted to wait and wait and wait. And then an hour later I heard her tell someone to get me because there was a problem with the cake. She swears she didnt go near it but the top tier was on the floor at that point. A 6th dowel supporting the tier may have prevented this since it was clearly tilting in one direction all day.
And to finish the whole event off, she wanted me to move the remaining crushed bottom tier in front of my grandmother because she was afraid to touch it. When I was trying to put it down I knocked over candles on the table spilling wax all over myself and the table. Plus the still lit candle wick managed to land standing straight up on a paper plate! Wow was it an exciting cake day! Thank god I wasnt emotionally attached to this cake and it was practice in my mind for just this reason, even before I made it.
(oh! any my 89 year old grandmother caught that I put two of the same number on her bingo card even though I hadn't!)
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1877859
If I'd known physics and color mixing were going to be on the final exam I might have paid more attention in school!
If I'd known physics and color mixing were going to be on the final exam I might have paid more attention in school!
From your description I was imagining bulges and dents and crumbs all over, but your cake looked great! Chin up! 
