Crack In Bottom Tier! Help!

Decorating By SarahL4683 Updated 31 May 2011 , 1:31am by SarahL4683

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SarahL4683 Posted 28 May 2011 , 8:28pm
post #1 of 8

I'm making my first topsy turvyish cake. It's 3 tiers, bottom tier is not tapered, but slanted. Top 2 tiers are slightly tapered and both on a slant on top. Stacked, filled, carved and crumbcoated the cakes last night and left them in the fridge overnight. This morning I frosted and put a layer of mmf on the top tier. Put them back in the fridge to set up for 2 hours. Took the bottom layer out, put 5 plastic dowels (the hollow wilton ones). It's only 10" but better safe than sorry. Took the middle tier out, doweled it (this time with 4 dowels on an 8") and settled it on the bottom tier, which was not as easy as I hoped, but I managed. Then I get out my top 6"tier (covered with MMF) and place it on the top. This one was much easier as it was chilled solid and I didn't have to worry about messing up the buttercream. I'm not sure if maybe I pushed a little too hard on the top tier, but after it was all assembled, I notice a small-ish crack in the frosting (maybe an inch or 2 at most) at the highest part of the bottom tier. I quickly disassembled the cake, luckily I hadn't put in my center dowel yet so it only took a few seconds. And repaired the crack in icing. But now I'm really nervous to put it all back together because I'm afraid it will happen again! What did I do wrong and how do I fix it before tomorrow? HELP! icon_confused.gif

I've been extremely nervous about this cake because every tutorial I read had the cakes covered in fondant, but the birthday girl only wanted fondant on her top tier. UGH!

7 replies
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sillywabbitz Posted 28 May 2011 , 8:53pm
post #2 of 8

Have you checked to make sure your dowels are dead level? Put a cake board on them and place s leveler on top. If the dowels aren't level then the top tiers may actually be resting on cake instead of dowels. In the future look into SPS, the single plate system by bakery craft. It takes away all the guess work.

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CWR41 Posted 28 May 2011 , 10:25pm
post #3 of 8

You didn't mention if you used any boards... just wondering.

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kakeladi Posted 28 May 2011 , 10:56pm
post #4 of 8

Make very sure your base/bottom board is big & strong enough enough.
Most of the time when a cake cracks it's because the bottom support/board wasn't strong enough.

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SarahL4683 Posted 28 May 2011 , 11:55pm
post #5 of 8

the top 2 tiers are on double cardboards, the bottom tier is on a double cardboard affixed to masonite board. I think after this cake, I will def be looking in to sps. My dowels are level. I re-stacked, it's been sitting for an hour while I decorate and is still doing ok. I guess I just have to keep the faith. Luckily, it will only be a 5 minute drive to the venue. I will be devastated if anything happens to my baby! Any other ideas about what I did?

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Sangriacupcake Posted 29 May 2011 , 12:07am
post #6 of 8

Are your dowels a little short on the bottom tier? Even a little too short could be a problem...happened to me once!

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Tita9499 Posted 29 May 2011 , 12:13am
post #7 of 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by sillywabbitz

Have you checked to make sure your dowels are dead level? Put a cake board on them and place s leveler on top. If the dowels aren't level then the top tiers may actually be resting on cake instead of dowels. In the future look into SPS, the single plate system by bakery craft. It takes away all the guess work.




SPS are the way to go, ALL THE TIME. I had this same problem when I did my first topsy-turvy. Turns out one of the dowels was just a fraction of a hair shorter than the rest, which caused the cake to be unlevel. This set off a whole chain-reaction when I stacked it. The cake slipped and pushed into the bottom tier at angle and slowly the bottom tier "exploded" for lack of a better word.

I'm hoping that you're spared this pain, cause it's a bummer, and I hope it works out for you. It was this exact situation that made me decide on SPS for all of my stacked cakes.

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SarahL4683 Posted 31 May 2011 , 1:31am
post #8 of 8

The cake survived! Thanks for all your input! I just uploaded pics, take a peek icon_smile.gif

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