I'm making a stand-up/3D R2D2 cake for my sons birthday party on Saturday. I've gone over & over in my head how to stabilize this little guy. Here's a link to the cake that's my inspiration... http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/star-war-theme.html He said that he used four 6" rounds...then further down he says that he stacked the cakes with a cardboard round between the second & third layers (halfway up) and then used dowels.
Here's my question: Should I not fill the cakes? Would I be almost guaranteed 'the bulge' ? I would love to use the cookies & cream filling, the cakes are chocolate mud. And should I just use one long sharpened dowel to go all the way through all of the cakes...the rounded top layer & the carboard round in the middle & all??? Or would it be better to get the bottom 2 layers filled and in place, then put 2 dowels evenly spaced in it...then the carboard round...then the next 2 layers filled and in place & then 2 dowels in it & finally the half-ball cake on top of it?
And about his 'legs'...I'm thinking styrofoam! lol 
This guy used a 1/4 sheet cake that he carved into the shape and then attached somehow. He didn't say how he attached them & I'm just not coming up with any ideas that seem like they would hold the legs in place and keep them from crumbling, since they're vertical pieces of cake!
I thought I had it all figured out...but the more I think about it, the more nervous I get...my little 5 yr old DS is sooooo excited about this cake & I couldn't bear it if R2D2 started falling apart right in front of his eyes!! lol 
TIA for any help!
I'm making a stand-up/3D R2D2 cake for my sons birthday party on Saturday. I've gone over & over in my head how to stabilize this little guy. Here's a link to the cake that's my inspiration... http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/star-war-theme.html He said that he used four 6" rounds...then further down he says that he stacked the cakes with a cardboard round between the second & third layers (halfway up) and then used dowels.
Here's my question: Should I not fill the cakes? Would I be almost guaranteed 'the bulge' ? I would love to use the cookies & cream filling, the cakes are chocolate mud. And should I just use one long sharpened dowel to go all the way through all of the cakes...the rounded top layer & the carboard round in the middle & all??? Or would it be better to get the bottom 2 layers filled and in place, then put 2 dowels evenly spaced in it...then the carboard round...then the next 2 layers filled and in place & then 2 dowels in it & finally the half-ball cake on top of it?
And about his 'legs'...I'm thinking styrofoam! lol
This guy used a 1/4 sheet cake that he carved into the shape and then attached somehow. He didn't say how he attached them & I'm just not coming up with any ideas that seem like they would hold the legs in place and keep them from crumbling, since they're vertical pieces of cake! I thought I had it all figured out...but the more I think about it, the more nervous I get...my little 5 yr old DS is sooooo excited about this cake & I couldn't bear it if R2D2 started falling apart right in front of his eyes!! lol
TIA for any help!
Ok, so you can fill these cakes, just be careful to use a really stable filling and a stiff buttercream icing dam before you fill and make sure your filling is below the height of the dam. Then replace top layer and press down. Sorry, not sure which cookies and cream icing you are making, if it is buttercream with just the cookies broken up and added fine. Personally wouldn't go for the version using whipping cream because of stability issues.
Using the cardboard rounds with dowels will give you the stability and ease of serving you want.
Sorry, I should have printed out what he was saying but you can get away with 6 inches of height before dowelling and boarding the next 6 inches of filled cake. Plus, you won't want to serve a piece of cake deeper than 6 inches. And I would give that ball cake its own dowelling and boards.
And then, once stacked, yes, use a centre dowel that goes through all fo the cake layers, sharpen it on one end, cut it to the length of the cakes, or even better, here is what I would do. I would cut it just slightly shorter than the whole height of the cakes and boards. I would stack all the way up to the ball head part. Insert the dowel, then before I boarded that ball head part, I would mark a hole the size of the dowel diameter, into the bottom of the board the ball head sits on. Then I would thread that ball head through, looking underneath the board to line up the dowel to that hole and thread it through. That way you will not have a hole in the top of the head.
The only part of this cake where you may have issues is with the arms because they are thin in depth and standing vertically. If anything can give you trouble, it is something of that depth and height. So I would dowel it horizontally in two places in the arms but also dowel the arms vertically, right into the cake board supporting the arms.
In fact kiddo, I would use a cake drum cut to fit the shape or circular and actually dowel those arms right into the cake board. You could even use a wooden shiskabob skewer for this vertical dowel into the board.
Does this make sense?
Hugs Squirrelly
Thanks sooooo much, SC!! It really does make sense to me after reading it through a couple of times just to get it right in my head...lol. This is one of those things I wish I could watch someone do and then I'd have no problem! But what you've described has helped me out a ton...I really appreciate it. 
I've printed it out and will have it beside me while I'm putting him together tonight. I might even get my engineer FIL to help me out with it...lol.
Haha, I would let the engineer do the whole thing, haha! The body itself should go quite fine, it is really the arms that I would have my concerns about, haha, I would likely make them out of chocolate bars covered in fondant, or wafer cookies covered in fondant or icing, just because of the length and thinness of the design.
I learned that vertical things make out of cake don't work quite as easily as some other things, but if the cake is really dense and practically glued to the sides with icing and supported well underneath, it should do fine. Can't wait to see it!
Hugs Squirrelly
Ok...I didn't get to put the cake together at the in-laws, like I'd planned...doing it at home & that means I don't have the help of my FIL engineer 
I'm starting to stack and fill...but when I put my icing dam on my first layer, I noticed that the height of it would not allow for very much filling, since my filling should be below the height of my dam. I'm wondering if I can do a 'double-decker' dam?? lol 
Does that make any sense? The cake is chocolate mud cake with WBH cookies & cream filling...and I'm not torting the cakes...just leveling each 6" round, then icing dam & filling, then another 6" round on top of it. So, since the cakes are a good 2 1/4" - 2 1/2" thick, I don't want to end up with a puny layer of filling, but I don't want it all oozing out the sides either.
I'm hoping that someone can please advise if a 'double-decker' icing dam is doable and won't come smooshing out....lol. ???
Ok...I didn't get to put the cake together at the in-laws, like I'd planned...doing it at home & that means I don't have the help of my FIL engineer
I'm starting to stack and fill...but when I put my icing dam on my first layer, I noticed that the height of it would not allow for very much filling, since my filling should be below the height of my dam. I'm wondering if I can do a 'double-decker' dam?? lol
Does that make any sense? The cake is chocolate mud cake with WBH cookies & cream filling...and I'm not torting the cakes...just leveling each 6" round, then icing dam & filling, then another 6" round on top of it. So, since the cakes are a good 2 1/4" - 2 1/2" thick, I don't want to end up with a puny layer of filling, but I don't want it all oozing out the sides either. I'm hoping that someone can please advise if a 'double-decker' icing dam is doable and won't come smooshing out....lol. ???
Hi kiddo, I use just the coupler inside the icing bag to make the dam, this makes a dam about 3/4 inch high, which should be plenty for filling. Not sure what is in your cookies and cream filling, but if it is whipping cream, no, don't go high. Not sure how high you want your icing, but I wouldn't go with more than 1/2 inch filling, just makes the cake a little hard to cut and less stable, in my opinion. The weight of the stacked cakes is also another issue for squishing out icing.
Normally people will do two dams, but one outside the other, not one piled on top of the other, as extra insurance. I think if you are going too high with filling, you might have problems.
HUgs SQuirrelly
*sigh* That's what I was afraid of...lol. Oh welll...I just might go ahead and torte & fill anyway...can't let all that filling go to waste!
Thanks so much...again...SC!!!! lol
Well, it could always go to "waist" instead!
Hugs Squirrelly
SC - just wanted to let you know R2D2 is all put together & has a nice crumb coat. He seems to be holding together pretty steadily, thanks to your very helpful & detailed advice! 
Now...if I can just make it out my driveway, to the stop sign, then to the next street over and down the road a bit to my in-laws....then I can relax! The party is over there tomorrow & that's where I'll be tonight doing all of the decorations. I did just like you said and made the center dowel long enough to go through the cake drum and stick up a little on the top so it would go through the half-ball I used for the head. Dear Lord...please let him make the ride to Grandma's house!!! lol
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