Hi,

I'm new to this board, but have been making cakes for some time. I have always done wedding cakes with pillars or with a fixed stand.

This time around, I will be making a golden wedding cake. The lady wants an ivory stacked five tier cake. But ... to made with a rich dark fruit cake, with a marzipan layer, covered with fondant(which I make myself)

My concern is that the cake will turn out very heavy, and may tilt, even with dowels and thin ply boards for the bases.

My husband feels we could make the bottom board 1/2 inch thick, and then somehow fix a rod through the center, so that all the cakes could be carefully slotted one over another. Of course, I will still use wooden dowels, and ply boards.

Any suggestions, on making it more stable? and on transporting it safely?
Thanks in advance,
Karen

I wouldn't tier it until I got to my delivery destination... I wouldn't try to transport a cake with that many tiers assembled... I use the Wilton plastic dowels and I really love them .. they support great!

Thanks Cheryl... by the way I love your username!
I too, thought I'd transport them separately. But my macho husband thinks I should assemble it and then transport the whole cake. The cakes themselves, are going to weigh about 45 pounds!
Karen

I'm not sure how many cakes you make, but I would recommend the stress free cake supports. You can read about them here: http://www.earlenescakes.com/newringsupportset.htm I love my supports!! The largest cake I've done was four tiered cake covered with fondant. I delivered the cake assembled with no problems... I always chill my cakes overnight before attempting to transport them.

Hi TamiAZ,

Thanks for the info. I did look at the support set, and it is amazing. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to import it. Anyway, it gives me a few ideas.

I should have mentioned, I live in India, so I usually shop for decorating items in Singapore once a year. Light stuff like dowels, separator plates, boards etc... are all easily available there.

I did do a lot of tiered wedding cakes earlier, before my children were born. Since then, they have been few and far between. I do many themed birthday cakes now, which I thoroughly enjoy!
Thanks again,
Karen

If you decide you want to transport the cake already assembled...I would definitely leave it in the icebox overnight. The biggest stacked cake I did was four tiers. I used a masonite board for the base and used lots of plastic dowel rods. I also used a sharpened dowel rod through the center for extra support. I left it in the icebox overnight and delivered it the next day...and it made it just fine to downtown Houston! Good luck!
traci

Thanks Traci.
This cake is to be made in December, but I have started planning early. Thanks to the help from this site, I think I have got a feel of how to manage this.
I plan to do a trial in November.
I will post pictures once the cake is done.
Karen