Dr Seuss- ABSOLUTE DISASTER

I just started doing stacked cakes. This would, actually, be my second. PLEASE help me figure out why this happened. This is my sister's 30th birthday cake...well, was. I stacked it and crumb coated last night, and chilled it overnight in the fridge. It held up beautifully. I took it out this morning and let it sit on the counter for about 5 or 6 hours, until the moisture had evaporated from it coming to room temp.

 

I applied the buttercream over the crumb coat, and thats where things started to slightly go south. It started to lean a bit. I figured maybe because of the height (10"), that because i was pushing too hard one one side during icing, i had caused it to slip a little. I admit, I am guilty of trying to "push" it back into place when it started looking lopsided.

 

This is my construction- stacked a filled 3" tall, 6" round, and a 2" tall, 6" round, then doweled with five regular drinking straws. Put one last 3" tall, 6" round filled tier with a cake board underneath on top of that, then crumb coated. This is a betty crocker french vanilla cake mix, with crisco buttercream filling and icing (my sister's fav...not mine!)

 

I feel so disheartened, and feel like I should just give up the layer cakes and try to stick with cookies and sheet cakes. This is my sister's cake, so i was using the opportunity to try something new. I sent my husband to the store for bubble tea straws, which I read on these forums are much better for stacking.

 

What do I do?

 

starting to really go!

 

After checking the freezer, and just HAVING to laugh at this awfulness...

 

I put the straws in the cake, and then cut them one by one. What is the correct method? I am about to try a do over with bubble/milkshake straws. They are HUGE! The bag actually says "extra strong".... Made me wonder if people who are buying straws really need them to be "extra strong". Haha...

Anyway, I decided that my another factor to consider was the density of my cake. I have read great things about the WASC cake extender recipe, and I just baked up the cakes and they seem much denser, which I like.

I don't have the ability tonight to dowel straight through the center, as my stores are closed! I'm hoping it will be okay. I am going to ice the cake up and down, instead of around and around, on my turntable. I think that will help to prevent things shifting.

OH! I left out the BIG mistake that I believe did me in completely... I decorated the entire cake on the turntable, and then moved the cake (it was sitting on a small cake circle). When I moved it onto the fondant covered cake board, the back was totally caved in, and the lean was immediately worse...

Okay, so my big question again is what is the correct way to cut the straws??

Jen,

 

Thanks so much for that how-to. I am about to stack this bad boy, and I will update you guys on my *HOPEFULLY* success in stacking. Off to the kitchen...
 

Alright, I can't thank everyone enough for their help tonight in troubleshooting my award winning catastrophe! Ha...

 

I rebaked the cakes, the bottom "tier" is french vanilla WASC cake, a 3" deep, and 2" deep six inch round. The top "tier" is a 3" inch deep chocolate WASC. The WASC recipe produced a cake that is MUCH more dense and sturdy than my previous go-to recipe. The previous recipe was super moist, but tempermental and fell apart a lot.

 

I used SIX bubble straws, just to be sure. I arranged them in a circle that was perfect for the cake round on top. I did the insert, mark, take out, cut, and use as a guideline method. I was very careful to make sure they were exactly the right height, all six of them.

 

I inserted them, and the cake board ended up sitting maybe a centimeter above the icing, after all was said and done. I used a level (iPhone app), and it was perfectly level. Praise GOD. haha. I filled in the gap between tiers, and covered in fondant! It's so sturdy!

 

Had a scary moment when I moved the cake board onto the larger drum, but nothing happened, no shifting at all. I did not center dowel the cake at all, because for the life of me, I couldn't find a THING in my house to stick in there, that would be remotely long enough. This cake stands about 12" tall, maybe 13"? It's about 2-3 inches higher than the disaster cake! And 100X as sturdy!!! YAY!!!

 

I couldn't be prouder of the cake. I've made the decision not to refrigerate the cake, due to the painting on the fondant. I don't want to play with fire. I'll experiment with that later.

 

It turns out, we are going out to dinner tomorrow for her party....!!!. Any tips for the drive to the restaurant? I'm so nervous.