Hi there,

I wonder if you can all help me, urgently cause as we speak I have a cake that's falling apart and don't know what to do!

I'm an amatueur, love doing cakes but don't know the right or wrong way of doing things.

It's currently 35 degrees outside and I have the aircon on inside and it feels like 23-25 degrees inside.

I have 5 layers of heavy chocolate mud cake all about 1 inch thick to be stacked on top of eachother.

I got the first layer down, then around the edge I took buttercream and piped it all the way round quite thickly then filled in the middle of the cake with cooled chocolate ganache, put the next layer on and repeated the filling process, put the third layer on and the butter cream has not held in the ganache from the bottom layer, its oozin out in several places, the butter cream is definately softer but not melting stage.

I managed to take off one layer and salvage the cake and scraped off in places but now have 3 layers all sitting on the bench in 2 pieces and defiately worried about what to do next as these all have to be covered in fondant too...

aargh can someone please help me.

today is thursday the cake is to be picked up early saturday morning.

thank thanks

make your buttercream thicker

Thanks Cake Diva, I'm a bit worried that if I make it any thicker I will not be able to pipe it. It's rather thick now and does soften slightly after 10 mins but if I were to touch it, it sticks to my hand and doesn't slide off..

I've heard a stiffing agent may help. Is that true and is that cream of tatare or Wiltons Meringue powder?

Thanks

I use meringue powder. It's also important not to put too much filling in. I usually end up piping two rows of buttercream right next to each other to create a stiff dam. Good luck.

I use a stiff dam of buttercream, and my ganache is put in the frig and until its a thicker consistency, more like a frosting. It doesn't ooze at all. I'm thinking your ganache is too thin.

I used 1/2 cup cream to 200g eating chocolate and whilst it was cooled but not set I used it in the middle of one 1/2 tall piped buttercream, I thought it would be easier to use this way before it got much thicker and set. whoops that's wehere I've gone wrong.

I'll now go use some merigue powder inthe butter cream to help it from collapsing in some heat.

So do you think it will all hold together after I've put fondant on it or is the heat something to worry about when fondant is covering it too?

Ganache should be made in ratio of 2:1 for semi-sweet or dark chocolate to whipping cream

or

a ratio of 3:1 for milk chocolate or white chocolate to heavy cream by weight. (I use grams, more accurate)

When I used ganache, it's pretty stiff but still spreadable. I could see how a thinner ganache could cause the cake to slid over or ooze.

Do you have time to make more ganache in the correct ratio? I stick mine in the fridge to cool down faster when needed.

HTH!

Thanks for the tips, I just followed the recipe from the Woman's Weekly Cakes by colours book for the ganache.

I'll definately give your ratios a try - thanks for your help and thanks everyone, I really appreciate any and all hep I can get - back to it now

I would actually use a dam of ganache, instead of buttercream. Just make sure to somehow thicken your ganache (usually achieved by adding more melted chocolate).

Are you worried that the air in your home is too warm or cold? When you say it's 25 degrees inside, is that celcius?

Were you able to save your cake? It sounds delicious!

5 layers on top of each other with no supports in between sounds risky to me, esp if they are heavy. I would only stack 2 or maybe 3 then put dowels and a cake circle in between the next layer... good luck!

Five layers of one inch each plus buttercream in between is too high with no supports in between. Agree with SweetResults. Plus, it will give you a cake about 7 or 8 inches tall?

Ok, now I know where I have gone wrong, I should have supported it with a layer off board and dowells.

25 degrees is 77 F

What I've done so far it managed to rebuild the cake (no supports - oh no Im now worried) I reworked the buttercream by adding some meringue powder through it and I had chilled the ganache in thr fridge and it was a thick gooey consistency.

I assembled as below

cake layer then buttercream damn filled in with ganache
cake layer then butter cream damn filled in with ganache
cake layer then butter cream damn filled in with ganache
cake layer then half of it filled with buttercream and ganache
cake layer
Covered the whole the thing in buttercream and wrapped in Cling film and stuck it in the fridge overnight.

Can i now continue with the cake as it is with covering with fondant and will it be ok on a table for 24 hours if I keep the house cooled to 22 degrees 71 degrees
thanks x

I thought you'd all like to see the finished creation that got me sooo stressed out last week.

Thanks once again for all your advice.

nicky

This thread read like a good suspense novel. Will you be posting a picture? I'm anxious to see if it turned out.

Christy