My daughter's fist birthday is this weekend and I plan to make her cake. I was thinking of doing a stacked cake....so I have a few questions. I need the cake to feed 20 people, so what size pans would you recommend? Also I will not be transporting the cake, so do I need to dowel the cake? I have never made a stacked cake before and I am very nervous. Any tips or advice would be a huge help. Thanks!

I'm not sure about the servings. I recently did my first stacked cake and it wasn't as hard as I thought. You really should dowel it though especially if you plan to fill the bottom tier. The dowels will hold the weight of the top tier and prevent your bottom tier from yielding under the weight or the filling from sqeezing out.

I would do a 6inch stacked on an 8 inch. That will give you about 22 nice sized servings. Yes put at least 3 dowels in it. I would probably do 4. I make this size cake a lot. Good luck

I would suggest that you dowel the cake its better to safe than sorry.
Also for 20 people you can do a 6 and 8. if you want a little bigger piece then do a 6 and 10 that will give more than enough cake. The wilton yearbooks have great guides in them if you dont have one you should think about getting one.
Good Luck!

http://cakecentral.com/article14-Cake-Baking-Cutting--Serving-Guide---2-in-Deep-Pans.html

Here is a serving guide for 2" cakes. Under the Articles section there is an additional one for 3" cakes.

Thanks! I think I am going to go with the 6 and 10. I have a few more questions. I was also planning to do mmf. Could you tell me about how many batches I will need? Also I was going to make the mmf on my stovetop but I do not have a double boiler, is there something else I could use? Last question, the recipe I was looking at said to let it rest over night and then soften it up in the microwave. I don't have a microwave, can I just use it right after I make it? Thanks again and I am sorry about all the questions but this is the first time I have made a cake for a large group of people and I am very nervous.

do you put the dowels all the way through all the cakes? Or under the cake boards?

You should dowel your cakes individually, like at 12, 3. 6, 9 degrees, etc. according to their size....then you need one sharpened central dowel to go through the center of stacked cakes and through the cake board(s).

On the MMF....I melt my marshmallows in the microwave and it works fine. Have never done the stovetop method. Very important to sift your powdered sugar~

Good luck with your project! You'll do fine.

You can get away without using the centre dowel if the cake won't be moved, even up to three tiers stacked as long as they are level and stable. If each tier is extremely high, the centre dowel would act as additional insurance. You need to board each tier and make sure that the whole cake rests on something substantial enough to support all of the cakes. A single cardboard won't do the trick.
Hugs Squirrelly

Instead of a double boiler, just use a pyrex bowl that fits on a saucepan without going to the bottom of the pan. Put water in the pan and bring to boil, set the pyrex bowl on top and that will work, just make sure the bowl doesn;t touch the water