Hi,

Last month I made a yelllow cake (1 tier) and filled it with chocolate frosting. My chocolate frosting is pretty mousse-y. I "dam-ed" it with the chocolate and filled with it. It didn't even cross my mind to dam it with a buttercream.

I delivered the cake to my dad's house about 20-30 miles away and when I got there, the top half had shifted and was off to one side.

I'm guessing this is from the filling being too soft and/or the dam was too soft? Do you use a buttercream dam regardless of filling? (I have used raspberry filling before and dam-ed with buttercream.

If you have any tips, tricks or suggestions, please let me know! Thanks

Depends on the filling. For something loose I always use a dam, just for that slide factor you experienced.

I use IMBC a lot and I will pipe my dam, put it in the fridge to harden, then fill. Everything stays put. What you might want to do next time is make sure you put your cake in the fridge to get good and firm. Riding in a car will agitate the cake, especially if the weather is warm or if your filling or BC is loose.

Annie

You can also make a thicker dam from cake crumbs mixed with buttercream (like the cake spackle in Toba Garrett's books) for slippery fillings.

Worst case scenario, stick a dowel in the cake to hold the layers together for the drive, and pull the dowel out and cover the spot with a decoration when you get there.

Will chilling the frosted cake dry it out? I used SMBC on that cake.

As long as it's only in there for a few hours you're good. I chill most of my cakes and they don't dry out. Once they're iced that gives it a good barrier.

Annie