I recently did my first tiered cake and found that putting the cakes together was more difficult than I had thought it would be. My fingers were full of icing, the top of the bottom tier got messed up as did the bottom sides of the one I was putting on! AND my tiers didn't seem to straight!! any help with this would be great, sorry so long but I just got an order to do my first wedding cake,and I would like to feel more confident about this by then I will try to post the pic so you can see my first attempt.

sorry for the addition but any help with disassembling would be great too, as I felt like Iwas going to drop the cake trying to balance it to get it off.

I have found that stacking a cake is much easier when the layers are very cold, almost frozen. Other than that, it's a messy job sometimes! Maybe someone who does them routinely can offer some assistance.
(Have to say, the cake looks very nice).

Well from where I am sitting, you cake looks pretty! As far as stacking, I can give you a few tips I learned from here. One is to make sure to cut your dowels/straws the same length. Then to help keep from the icing getting on your fingers, don't push the dowels all the way down. Leave them up about an inch. Then line up your cake you are placing on top, and let go=) I know it sounds scary, but it works. The cake will push the dowels down. Then after stacked, add your borders. I hope that makes sense? If not let us know=) Jen

Thanks, that does sound very scary, but I will give it a try on my next practice cake

If I can add a question about stacked cakes, what is preferred to put between the layers of cake so when you disassemble them, they don't stick to the cake on top? I have tried coconut, which worked great, and although I love coconut, I know not everybody does.

I'm super new but I had read that powdered sugar was a good choice. I did a baby shower cake just today that was stacked and I used the powdered sugar under the cake circle. It worked great and no frosting stuck.

That's a great idea! I never thought about adding powdered sugar, does it make the the icing too sweet or white?

Thank you!!

The cake I did was buttercream so the sugar didn't effect the sweetness much (I didn't use a ton, just a light sprinkling). I haven't played with fondant yet but the parchment circle sounds like a good idea for that.

Will the parchment work with the buttercream too or will it stick? Would a wax paper circle stick less? Sorry! Don't mean to hi-jack the thread!

with the tiered cakes (i haven't stacked any before, but i plan to this weekend) & i'm a starving student (low on cash fundsss hahah) - i don't wanna go out & buy precut cake circles... could i just use a circle of parchment paper instead???

Okay, so I see two different methods. You can either dowel the cakes Or put the cakes on say cardboard, wrap them and then stack them, is that correct?

Am I right to assume that the cake cardboard supports are to be cut slightly smaller than the round cake, as not to see it?

Also, since I have never made a tiered cake myself, am I correct to think that I would decorate each individual layer first and then stack them together and lastly add borders?

Newbie here too!

Baseballmom--You need to place dowels in the layer that is going to have a cake stacked on it so that is doesn't collapse. You ALSO place to top layer on a cake board. So you use both dowels and cake boards. I use the same size cake board as cake, because with frosting and borders you don't see the board. And, yes, decorate each layer first, stack, then add borders. Some decorations could be added later, such as cascades of flowers, etc.

You would have to use dowels in a tiered cake regardless of what you have under each tier for stability (i.e., cake board, foam board) unless you're using push-in pillars. Tiered cakes always need support...think of the cake as a piece of architecture that would cave in without proper support.

I have used the method of not pushing the dowels all the way into the lower tier and as the the tier going on top sinks the dowels, you can control where it lands and it doesn't just plop down. Works like a charm.

Pre-mark the lower tier with a cake board the size of the upper tier so you know where it needs to land and this also helps in where to locate the dowels.

1. Each cake or tier gets it's own cardboard cake board, the same size as the cake itself.
2. Each tier that will have a tier resting on it will be dowelled to take the weight of the tier(s) above.
3. powdered sugar. coconut or parchment paper is placed on the top of a tier before the next tier is placed on it so that the frosting on the top of the bottom tier doesn't stick to the bottom of cardboard cake board of tier above it.

Try www.baking911.com/cakes/assemble_tiers.htm for more ideas on stacking.