I am making a huge wedding cake that has 7 8" satellite cakes. I want them all to fit on a 24" board, how do I go about doing this? I have never made a cake with satellites before, do you put styrofoam in the middle to hold the bottom tier up so the weight isn't on the satellites, and how tall should it be.

The bottom tier is 16", then I need a styrofal tier to put flowers around the next tier, then 14", 12", seperator plate then 10" and 8". Any suggestions?


Thanks,

It won't fit. You need at least a 28" board, but I'd recommend 4" extra so 32" would be best. You'll have room for an 11" styrofoam dummy in the middle, but I'd go with a 10" to make sure it fits after your cakes are iced/fondanted. (it should be as tall as the satellites are.)

Since your 16" will be beyond the 10-11" dummy, you could put one dowel into each of the 8" satellites for extra support only where the 16" hangs over on the top of them. HTH.

If you overlap a bit, you can get them on a smaller base, like this one, but I agree with CWR41. You need at least a 32" board.


http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_852213.html

Also... I thought I'd mention that it isn't necessary to put your satellite cakes on a board at all. For delivery/transport convenience, it's easier to carry the 8" cakes separately, arrange on the display table around the center dummy (ensuring that the table will be at least 32" diameter first), and stack/assemble the rest of the cake above the satellites on-site. Good luck!

Please explain... how do you overlap cake?

(those look like six 6" cakes--they would use a smaller board than seven 8" cakes.)

[quote="Ruth0209]They overlap with the cake on top of them[/quote]

I see... you mean the cake on top hangs over into the satellite cake space.

There's a diagram of the same set-up concept on pages 30-32 in "A Treasury of Wilton Wedding Cakes" that shows the positioning of dowels towards the center/main cake in the base satellite cakes.

Where would you get a 32" board? So what I am understanding is don't put the satellites on the base board, have them outside the base board with the 16" overlaping slightly. If I show you guys the cake can you help me? The bride wants this exact setup. I did ask the owner several times with no reply, she is probably busy like the rest of us. We need this cake to feed about 320 people. I swear all I do is walk around with a paper, pen, and calculator trying to figure this out. I also need to figure the styrofoam for the layer with the flowers. How big of a base board would I need if we don't put the satellites on it?

I appreciate all the help

Here is the link to the picture

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1401411

I PM'd CWR1 with more questions, and she kindly replied to me with the following. She thought it would be a good idea for me to share our conversation so that others could learn from it, and I totally agree, so here it is! I also want to thank her so much for taking the time to figure this out for me, she has been more than kind,

Marilyn

deetmar wrote:
Right now the guest count is around 340, bt she doesn't have the final count yet.

If she's inviting around 340, 60% usually attend, so 200 servings would be enough. If she's getting about 340 RSVPs, then I understand what "final count" means.

deetmar wrote:
It's hard to see from the picture on what sizes she used.

I've got it figured out! You're right, the bottom is an 18", then 16 x 12 x 10 x 8 x 6 = 368/380 + 120 (for ten 6" rounds) = 488/500 (488 served/500 includes the 1st anniversary tier).deetmar wrote:
I assume is styrofoam covered in black fondant
Looks like it's a 6", 4", and 3" combination of styro covered in black satin ribbon.

deetmar wrote:
then styrofoam for the flowers probably in a15"

I'd use a 12" dummy here under the 16" cake... you'll want at least 2" to fill the space with flowers all the way around. (a 14" would work if you're sticking wires into the dummy, but if it's not completely covered with the fullness of flowers the foam may show).

deetmar wrote: I want the bottom tier up just enough to slide the edge of the satellites under it, but want the cake to be stable, so if I do a 12" styrofoam, would that work?

No, not the best option because now all of the cake sizes have changed back to the exact replica, so I'll come back to address this in a sec.

deetmar wrote:
I could do some of the satellites in styrofoam to cake the count down.

This is an excellent idea... if you notice in the photo, the 6" satellite cakes aren't all exactly the same height. It would b a little difficult to get them all exactly the same with real cake, therefore using all dummies for the ten 6" satellites would eliminate the worry to get them all level to one another.

The ten 6" satellite cakes would take up a very minimum of 27", so if you're using a plywood base board--it should be at least 28" in diameter or up to 32" if you'd like room for decorations, wiggle room, or easier handling.

Going back to the previous question, a 14" dummy fits into the space in the middle of the 6" satellites, which is more underneath support than the 12" and a better choice to support the 18".
Also, the main cake won't be slightly taller sitting on the 14" dummy than the rest of the dummies that are also 4" tall yet also covered in BC and fondant. You won't be able to slide the satellite cakes under the 18" cake, so remember to bring along several 14" cake circles to stack on or under the 14" dummy until you get enough of that little lift to slide them in (if that's what you plan to do)!

Now that these dummies won't be included in the serving count, your goal to feed 330 is solved:
The entire thing serves 368/380 so if you make the 10" cake a styrofoam dummy and subtract 38 servings--you get 330/342.

I hope this helps!

P.S. If you'd like to copy and paste your question into the thread, I think others may also benefit by reading this if they had the same questions that you had.

this is a great info. thanks