I had my first cake disaster yesterday. I am so disheartend to the point I am thinking about giving up cake decorating. I made my nieces wedding cake for her wedding gift. It turned out really great and I was so pleased with it. It was hot, near 90 yesterday. I started the car and turned on the a/c to cool it down. Waited about 20 min, put the cake in the car and off I went. It was about a 10 mile drive on some not so great roads. Up a long hill, winding around cures, some rough pavement. About a block from the venue I heard a thud in the back. When I arrived at the venue and opened the back door, the bottom tier of the cake had collapsed on one side and the two tiers above it had fallen against the back door. I had doweled everything as I usually do. DH thinks it was mostly the heat and bad roads. I was just so upset. There was no way to save this mess. Thankfully, my niece was so understanding. When it was time for cake, we just cut it up and served what was salvageable. Fortunately, I had the cake on a big baking sheet so the cake mostly ended up in it. If she had been a paying customer I would have been even more mortified!

Sorry, I tried attaching a picture, but it didn't work.

I live on a mountain and always hate driving wedding cakes.. its scary, i always so SUPER SUPER slow

This happened to me with a birthday cake about a week ago...SO upsetting!! Don't let it discourage you though...things happen sometimes. I had a cake to deliver yesterday...my first since my disaster...I was SO scared, but all went well. I'm so glad the bride was so understanding for you.

Happenings like this are all the more reason to assemble on site.


To post a picture upload it in the gallery, then post a like to it. Or post it somewhere on the 'net and give us the link.

its ok dear ,, we all have disaster mm be optimistic and happy baking

This is why I always like my customers to drive their cakes instead of me lol

The picture of the finished cake is in my photos, it the one with the orange and yellow lilies. Thanks everyone for listening, I appreciate your helpful comments.

Oh sweetie, I'm so very sorry this happened to your beautiful cake. I can only imagine how sick inside you must have felt when you heard that thud.

The cake really was beautiful! Don't let one mishap keep you from making more beautiful cakes.

I'm so sorry to hear that I know the pitfall feeling when you realize that your beautiful work of art is destroyed! But don't be discouraged, this happens to everyone and only serves as a learning experience for next time!

((((HUG))))) it was just a bad cake day...i promise! you will get through this...pick yourself up and brush it off, lesson learned. I could never deliver more than a two tier cake assembled so sorry this happened to you.

assembling on site is a good thing actually, takes a little more steps for the finished product but the end result of it being there in one piece is worth it. chin up

I'm so sorry this happened - your cake looked beautiful! Hope your niece got to see a pic of the "before" cake so she could see all your hard work!

In my disaster i was told to put memory foam beneath my cake , hope this helps

I'm so sorry this happened to you. You should submit your story to the cake safe people. They do contests every so often and if your story wins, you win a free cake safe. Maybe something good could come out of your disaster.

You're cake was really beautiful!
You can see all the hard work you put into it.
I'm so sorry this happened to you.

I had the exact same thing happen to me at the start of the summer, so I know how you feel. I was mortified! I'm so sorry you're going through this.

But if you're like me, you'll learn what NOT to do, so you can prevent the situation from happening again. I now use the SPS system, and I assemble on site. You just need to make another cake right away to get your confidence back.

Not sure how many tiers it was, but you did not deliver it all stacked up right ? you placed each and every tier in individual boxes or containers right ?

sorry to hear your desaster..

chin up your cake is beautiful and Im sure she can use your image to include in her wedding album. I like what cakification shared...make another one right away to get that confidence back. Ill remember that if it should happen to us...

Been there...did that a few weeks ago! Photo is in my gallery...of the wrecked cake because I did not take a picture of it before we left!
At least we can see how pretty yours was. And it was beautiful! So sorry it happened. It sounds EXACTLY like what happened to me. I normally deliver cold cakes, but the heat was so bad and I HAD to deliver it stacked because it was buttercream and there was no way to stack a soft topsy turvey layer on site.
Crap happens and I'm so sorry it happened to you. But we live and we learn and go on. Many virtual hugs go out to you!

The cake was smoothly iced, looked beautiful and what is the most important, you could see the love you put into the decorating.

Show your niece the picture, you cannot help the bumpy road and the temperature. In summer, that is the reason why I only offer fondant on the outside, even though I do not deliver myself (customer picks pup, cause I have no car and noone wants their cake in a Shanghai Taxi, believe me, even IF they could drive safely (noone here ever does, road signs are for decoration only and laws??? Heck, if even the police don't abide by them, why should the ordinary people??)

The only cake I ever delivered was my sister's 40th in the States and SHE drove and got an earfull everytime she tried to speed up. Chin up, next time, do fondant in summer, buttercream and frosting can always go underneath

I am so sorry that happened to you. Those bumpy dirt roads are the worst for cake deliveries! Chin up, keep caking, your work is lovely

I had my first cake disaster this weekend. I worked on this 3 tier baby shower cake for days, making the shoes, the bows, etc. It turned out beautiful. Took lots of pictures of it. It is hot here in AZ as well. I put the cake in the box and met the girls sister to give the cake to her. She text me about an hour or two later and asked if it needed to be put in the refrigerator as they weren't serving until 3. I told her if they had one large enough go ahead so it will firm back up a little. Well two days later I here through a friend that the cake was falling over and she was upset. I told my friend why didn't someone call and tell me that it was leaning I would have probably been able to disassemble it and make it right. I am a little upset as it makes me look bad that it didn't look pretty as it did when I left it with her sister as she commented how pretty it was and what a good job I do. That was my vent...

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I never ever deliver a pre-stacked cake because of horror stories like yours. It's not that hard to take them as separate tiers and stack them at the venue and do your finish work there. I'm not trying to sound like "I told you so", but when these things happen, it's always a learning experience. Believe me, I've been there, done that over the years and my stress level has gone done tremendously by not pre-stacking a cake.

I looked at your pic and the cake was gorgeous.

If you use SPS you definitely CAN deliver a pre-stacked cake. Even in the heat of summer.