I haven't really done alot of stacked cakes and probably because I'm confused about putting in dowels.

Am I reading right that you cut the dowels for the bottom layer so it is just below the heigth of the cake?? If that's right how does that stabalize the next cake your stacking on top? Or should the dowel that you put in the bottom cake be higher so that when you stack the next cake the dowel is going through the board and cake.
Then you put a dowel in the middle through ALL the cakes.

I'm probably making this harder than it really is.

I stick my dowel into the center of the cake to get the exact size I need... I then pull it out and cut it where the cake stopped at on the dowel... I use that one for my template .. Wilton says you put one dowel for each inch of your cake.. I put mine all around where the next plate or board of the cake is going to set. I good way to do your dowels is to not push them quite all the way down into your layer, then when you go to put your next tier on, you can set in on top of the dowels and get your fingers out of the way and not mess up your icing trying to pull your fingers out .. hope this helps and I haven't confused you more lol

Some of the dowels I have used have been more to stabilize layers of a cake, in which case they would go all the way through all the layers. On the small bear, a dowel helps to keep his head attached...on a tiered cake the dowels would be placed into one tier through the layers, to support a plate or cake board holding the second tier, and on up. Does that help? If not, probably somebody else will be able to explain it more thoroughly.

Janice

Ok, If there are dowels in the bottom cake already, how do you get the dowels into the next tiers cake board without destroying the cake on the board?

I'm not sure if I understand your question... but you put the dowels into your bottom tier.. then you put your next layer/tier on top of that one .. your cake would either be on a cake plate or very sturdy cardboard.. then if you have another tier to go onto the next to the bottom tier, you'd do the dowels again if you had another tier to add .. if you'd use cardboards for each of your cakes, you could then sharpen one end of your dowel and could push through the tiers of your cakes to keep all of them together... I hope I haven't confused you more

Thanks for the link, Lisa. I'm not too sure I'd want to stack tiers like that without at least putting cake boards in there, it seems like the dowels would poke through the upper layers. Janice

Okay gotta put my confused self in here. I'm doing my first stacked cake Sunday. It's more of a practice cake so I can learn stacking but I'm also using it as a bday cake for two girls in my bunco group.
I'm planning on using a 6" and either an 8 or 9". I will not be centering the top layer. I want it put to the back. I'll be using a cake board for the top layer. My question is this. Can I just put dowels through the bottom layer or do I HAVE to have dowls running through the top layers cake board? Would I only need them going through the cake board if it were three or more layers? Or am I simply making this harder than it should be
Also would it make a difference if the top and bottom cakes were single layers vs double layers?
Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the help I've received here.

If a 2 tiered cake Seester, I'd put the dowels in the bottom part of the cake where you're going to place your next tier at .. if you put another tier (make it 3 tier), you'd put dowels in the second tier to stop the top tier from sinking into the second one ... You could also put a dowel through the 3 tiers once stacked on top of each other to make sure it stays stacked on top of each other and doesn't slide off or lean .. you'd sharpen one end of your dowel stick (a long one) and lightly tap it through your cake boards until goes all the way to the bottom tier ...

look at the link Lisa post above and it will explain it all to you along with pictures to show how it's done

Thanks Lisa for the link. I think I now understand.

What I couldn't figure out was, why you had to put dowels into the first cake (bottom cake) when they were not going into the next cake.
Ssooo..... Its more for stability so the next tier wouldn't start sinking into the cake it was sitting on, and the dowel in the middle through ALL the tiers keeps ALL he cakes together so it doesn't shift - Gotcha!

I'm sure you'll do a great job on it momof3jotynjake.. remember to post a pic of it when it's done so we all can see!!