I have been asked to do my first wedding cake, while I am pretty confident in my abilities, I still have never done a wedding cake or a tier cake.

I have the Wilton Tall Tier lacy stand and the gadget to cut out the hole in the cakes for the center pole to go through. My questions are how to do the top tier? I noticed that the top nut will need to be inside of the cake but on the bottom of it. Do I just cut a hole through the board of the top tier and dig out enough for the nut to sit in it? You would also think that this will pose a problem with assembly without messing up the top tier.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Here is a picture of the stand so you can see what I am talking about.

Thank you,
Fishercakes

What i do is build up the cardboard on the top tier to accomadate the nut, then i place the top tier on a solid board and decorate on that, I cover the board in white so it matches the stand then just finish the cake. If you don't want the board to show, just put your borders on when you get the thing all together.

When i use this stand i cut each cake board with a hole in the center for the center stand, then place the cake on the cake board ice the cake and core it. Then i place the cake on the plate, place the plate on a cake pan that is one size smaller then the plate so that the plate will sit level, this way i can have all my boarders done except for that that goes around the center column. I hate doing any thing more at the reception site then necessary.

I also transport my cakes sitting with the plate in the cake pan, a little no skid matt will keep them in place during transit.

Will placing it over the nut mess up the decorations on the side of the cake or should I wait till I am at the reception hall before icing the top tier?

If you do the top tier on a seperate board the only thing you should have to do at the reception is place the bottom boarder. IF the boarder is elabrate then do a bigger board under it and get it all done (that is if you don't mind your board showing) Personally most of the time on that stand it doesn't matter to me if that board shows (I just use white contact paper to cover it and it blends right in.

When I made a cake with this stand I did nto want fillin to be oozing down the center portion, so I baked my cakes. Put my holes in my cake boards, and then using the cake corer I cut the center out on each baked cake layer before decorating, then I put a nice stiff dam around the center hole. It worked out great!
For the top layer, cut the hole out of the cake board, and cut a hole in the bottom layer only of your cake, that way you still have a thin enough cake board, but you have enough space to cover over the nut with cake. Just don't be like me, I was tired and not paying attention and put a hole in the top layer of the top tier as well, but I covered it up by putting flowers in the center hole.