this is the cake at 10am on saturday

 this is saturday evening at the venue after customer transported it, it was collected at 1.30pm and was in the same condition as my 10am photo on leaving my house.

Can anyone please give me an idea of what has happened to it, it was well stacked, dowelled and stuck with royal icing, it was covered and stacked wednesday to firm up and decorated friday

All suggestions welcome, I have offered a partial refund/good will gesture but really want to know if i have done something wrong or they have damaged it.

tia

Oh no! It's hard to say exactly, it could have been as the cake thawed, the dowels shifted during the second transport or it could have had a rough stop. Do you know if the cake was refrigerated when the client got the cake home before the second transport? It was so cute! :(

i don't think it was refrigerated, i don't refrigerate here at all and told them not to, they were taking straight to the venue, if the dowels had failed wouldn't it collapse in the middle and bulge out, i am thinking they dropped it and the force made the sides come away, the middle where it is dowelled looks intact to me. also the table cloth is ripped like there has been some trauma not some slow sink/collapse 

any more ideas

I haven't used dowels in a long while (I use straws or sps for larger cakes) so I'm not an expert on them! It just looks like the whole thing shifted backwards, maybe from a sudden or hard stop during the second transport. They didn't fail, but whatever happened to your poor cake shifted it backwards. And broke your little guy's leg too. I re-read your original post, if it survived the first transport, it had to have something happen during that second car ride or like you suggested, maybe a drop on the table. :( I don't think it was any fault of yours, especially since it traveled well the first time.

Can't the people that transported it tell you?  Are they complaining?  Obviously something happened that appears to be more traumatic than slippage from dowels.  All the mushrooms on that side are gone, one of the hatchets is gone and his leg is broke!

yes they are complaining, they say it just started to crumble and collapse, but it was perfect at 1.30pm that day when they collected it and had been that way for 24hours

i have offered £50 refund 

i am just upset by it all as they said it ruined their party(although they said the cake tasted lovely)

I do not want this kind of thing to happen again and if it does how to do i handle it

I agree with leannrr, they should be able to tell you. If this had been a dowelling issue or the cake setting then the  hatchets, leaves and mushrooms would still be there. This, to me, looks like something happened during transportation.

i use the straw type dowels too so as not to displace any cake, they were straight

It was beautiful and it looks like something happened that was beyond your control, the only thing you could have possibly done was to transport it yourself and that's not always possible in every circumstance. I think your refund was a good gesture and more than enough in this case. I don't think they are being honest with you as to what happened. Maybe a transportation release clients sign when they transport cakes themselves.

thank you, you have put my mind at rest a bit that i couldn't have done any more, other than transport my self, i think in future i will include delivery in the quote for three tier cakes and just transport to the venue myself.

I do have a clause in my terms and conditions saying once cake has left me it is their responsibility, also advice about how to transport and how to store and cut but find it hard to stick to the t&c's incase it was my fault or they say bad things about me, this business is all word of mouth and do not want bad reviews

AOr dropped on it's edge onto the table. And shoved.

thinking of adding a clause that customers cannot add those tacky number candles to my cakes, man that annoys me, lol

It could have been dropped on the edge like AZ suggested but It also looks like the person transporting it slammed the on the brakes.  The cake is shifted hard  - not only are the mushrooms missing but little car and man (now with a broken leg) are not in the same place as when you took the photo.  To me, It looks like it went flying and they did their best to put " Humpty Dumpty" together again.   I'm sorry you're getting complaints but you have no control once it leaves your hands.

Customer transported it…it may have been too heavy to lift and it fell, and the buttercream may have bounced and fallen.  It's a beautiful cake.  Experienced bakers who know how to transport cakes and dowel can only do so much when the customer also does some transport.   You should not feel badly for anything except that the original beauty was ruined by carelessness on someone else's part.

You know those candles (which I also HATE) take a lot of pressure to dig into the cake - I think somebody pressed too hard, hand slipped and the rest is obvious.....

ACar in same place, just match the angles of the photos up. I think it was probably fine until put on the table. Hands dropped the closest edge down on table too hard, soft cake...compacted into itself on that edge.

That started out lovely. If you've been doing this a while and have never had a problem when delivering similarly stacked cakes, I'd say this was not your fault. personally, I'd not be inclined to give them anything back.

To avoid these kinds of problems, this is how I handle terms and conditions for pick ups of all cakes up to 3 tiers. I give them lengthy written instructions on how to drive and how to the cake must ride level and then I go over it again with them verbally when they pick it up. I also have in writing that since my cakes are stacked to travel well and that I've never had a problem one single time, that I cannot guarantee anything once it's out of my hands.

I think it really helps that I'm saying to them in advance that I know that if this cake is handled with proper care, it will be fine.  Occasionally after that they will opt for delivery, hahaha.

I also show them how to carry the cake, as in where to put their hands. And I know by now, you're thinking I have put off the customer. I probably have, but I don't really car if the customers like me. I want the cake to get there fine and I want to keep my money.

I don't know how you'll ever know what really happened unless they tell you. It could have been two drunkards brawling and one of them;s head landed on the bottom of the cake when he was punched out.

if it was picked up at 1:30 and the event was 'in the evening' --maybe they left it in the car and it softened in the heat--even when it's chilly out--cars heat up a lot inside--then it would only get worse from there...moving it and such...i mean a lot can go wrong in those hours in between--what if they took it straight to the restaurant (just speculating here) and they kept it in a hot kitchen--maybe someone set it in the sun--even if they left it on an enclosed porch it could soften it up--

adorable cake

I like the hot kitchen theory. They could have had pots of stuff boiling in there. Then when they saw it was looking bad, they may have thought it was a good idea to put it in the swamp cooler. Then more condensation when they took it out. Then one of them smacked it with his butt when he was getting past it to reach the paprika.

If you've ever spent any time in restaurant kitchen, you would be terrified to put a cake in there. That's where they always want to put it, too.

well she has changed the story now, instead of it spontaneously crumbling away, the top started to slide off while they were driving!

 it was stuck fast with royal icing so would not have moved under normal driving conditions, i have driven enough of them to know that, they must have slammed the brakes or sped round corners, they then did try to put it back together, apparently the pics are the remade version, they have no pics of the original damage,

so first off they tried to say it was a dowel failure and now a stacking failure, i am bit cross again now, just wish they were honest,

i do have a clause saying i take no responsibility for damage in transit if they transport and also give them info on how to transport, i also show them how to carry.

the trouble is it only takes a couple of things like this to loose your confidence, most of my customers are more than happy but you always worry about the odd one who complains. 

i know--it's "here let me put that in the kitchen for you" oh heck no--it's safer in the alley by the smelly dumpster--

i always deliver last minute to a restaurant affair--less than 30 mins before guests arrive when i am sure that someone (responsible and in their party) will be there continuously and i make a big deal about it in advance to the client so they are fully aware to not stress when the cake is not there 

that paprika/butt connection will get yah every time--you just pray it ain't the garlic salt

oh and she only said about the sliding top when i challenged her about it being dropped/banged 

Beautiful cake. So obvious you did nothing wrong, they did, and they should not try to hold you responsible. If you offered to deliver the cake, and they chose to not have you do that, then you owe them nothing.