Super Nervous After Disaster

Decorating By LizzieAMG Updated 28 Jul 2014 , 7:32pm by cai0311

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LizzieAMG Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 6:53am
post #1 of 14

AHello fellow cakesters,

I have my very first 4 tier cake this coming weekend and I'm super nervous because my last cake fell apart before cutting. This is my schedule and items, if anybody thinks it will not work please please let me know, and any suggestions on how to improve it would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday bake all cakes, cool, and wrap overnight. I will be making a 14" red velvet with cream cheese filling, 10" chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling, 8" & 5" vanilla with whipped vanilla filling.

Thursday fill, crumb coat and refrigerate over night

Friday cover with fondant, stack first two tiers, refrigerate over night.

Saturday morning finish stacking and refrigerate until delivery (4:00)

I was planning on using 8 boba straws on first layer, 6 for 2nd layer, and 4 for last layer with one wooden dowel down the center for entirety of the cake.

I'm loosing sleep over this cake please HELP put me at ease!

13 replies
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nannycook Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:05am
post #2 of 14

AHi lizzieAMG,I've only made a 3 tier wedding cake, but I baked the Wed, filled and crumb coated straight away, they say not to fridge as it dries out but guessing as its cream cheese probably best too.

I haven't used straws, only plastic dowels, I don't put one down the center as would have to go thro the cake cakes, but some do.

I always secure down with royal icing.

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nannycook Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:07am
post #3 of 14

A*cake cards*

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nannycook Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:08am
post #4 of 14

AOh sorry thought this popped up on the UK thread.

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Snowflakebunny23 Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 9:22am
post #5 of 14

Hi there :-)  I'm not entirely sure what a boba straw is?  I always use dowel tubes for my tiered cakes and (touch wood) have never had a problem.  That's a big cake to I'd always err on the side of caution.  I can't see anything wrong with your schedule although I never use perishable ingredients so never chill cakes but I know it's very popular in the US.  My only other thought would be to ask how you insert the centre dowel?  Again, I've never done it but if you are hammering in from the top after the cake is stacked (something I've seen done before on a lot of videos), could it be that the movement is dislodging the dowels you had, therefor making them less stable?

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morganchampagne Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 2:41pm
post #6 of 14

AI would recommend using a plate and pillar locking system. Such as the sps by Bakery Crafts. You can look on YouTube to find out more about it. It's really easy to use, and in my opinion reduces the stress involved with stacking a cake. There are other brands if you can't get that in time.

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cai0311 Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 3:49pm
post #7 of 14

A

Quote:
Originally Posted by LizzieAMG 

Hello fellow cakesters,

I have my very first 4 tier cake this coming weekend and I'm super nervous because my last cake fell apart before cutting. This is my schedule and items, if anybody thinks it will not work please please let me know, and any suggestions on how to improve it would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday bake all cakes, cool, and wrap overnight. I will be making a 14" red velvet with cream cheese filling, 10" chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling, 8" & 5" vanilla with whipped vanilla filling.

Thursday fill, crumb coat and refrigerate over night

Friday cover with fondant, stack first two tiers, refrigerate over night.

Saturday morning finish stacking and refrigerate until delivery (4:00)

I was planning on using 8 boba straws on first layer, 6 for 2nd layer, and 4 for last layer with one wooden dowel down the center for entirety of the cake.

I'm loosing sleep over this cake please HELP put me at ease!

 

I would do the exact same thing as you except I would stack everything Friday night. I like having my cakes finished the night before so if anything happens I have to time to fix/make new.

I use bubble tea straws which I think is the same as the boba straws mentioned in your post. I also use the same number of straws as you per tier.

For my cakes, instead of 1 wooden dowel, I hammer 2 offset dowels through the cake. Make sure the dowels are long enough to go through the entire cake into the cake drum.

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cai0311 Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 3:51pm
post #8 of 14

AJust wondering if you figured out what happened that made your last cake callapse.

Were the straws all the exact same length? Was the cake moved once set up at the venue?

Knowing what went wrong last time will help you prevent the same from happening this time.

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LizzieAMG Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:15pm
post #9 of 14

ASnowflakebunny23, boba straws are the wide straws. The Woden dowel I just push through the cake, never had to hammer it down, I agree I think that would compromise the stability of the cake.

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LizzieAMG Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:16pm
post #10 of 14

AMorganchampagne I've heard great things about the sps system so I might give in and try it since this is a pretty big cake. Thank you.

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LizzieAMG Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:19pm
post #11 of 14

ACai0311 ok so you do the same structure wise, that gives me a little more comfort. How many tiers would you say is ok for that type of structure? I will definitely add the second dowel if I don't go with the sps.

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LizzieAMG Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:22pm
post #12 of 14

A

Original message sent by cai0311

Just wondering if you figured out what happened that made your last cake callapse.

Were the straws all the exact same length? Was the cake moved once set up at the venue?

Knowing what went wrong last time will help you prevent the same from happening this time.

I don't know foe sure, it could've been the heat since the filling could've gotten soft and made the cake slide. Or I used wooden dowels and maybe not enough. Luckily it was only a 2 tier birthday cake.

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kblickster Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:25pm
post #13 of 14

I use bubble tea straws for 2 tiered cakes.  3 and up SPS.  I just like the added security and it makes it easy to stack on site.  It doesn't add that much to the cost of the cake and I just add it into the cost of the cake.

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cai0311 Posted 28 Jul 2014 , 7:32pm
post #14 of 14

A

Quote:
Originally Posted by LizzieAMG 

Cai0311 ok so you do the same structure wise, that gives me a little more comfort. How many tiers would you say is ok for that type of structure? I will definitely add the second dowel if I don't go with the sps.

 

I use this support system for all my tiered cakes. The smallest I have done is a 2 tiered cake and the largest is a 9 tiered cake.

I literally hammer the wooden dowels all the way through the cake and the cake drum. The one end is sharpened with a pencil sharpener, the other is flat and the flat side is the one I hammer. I cut the dowel to be ther entire height of the cake + .5" for the cake drum - 1.5". That way I know the dowels won't stick out the top of the cake.

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