I just completed my very first 3 tiered cake and honestly I was not very happy with it and maybe that is because I am very critical of myself BUT still... not happy. I would really appreciate any help anyone can give me as far as stacking cakes and making it look good.
I was watching a cake show the other night and noticed that the tiers are all pretty much the same size, are you supposed to measure the tiers to all be that way or is it in the baking? the other problem I am having is as you can see, where the tiers sit on top of each other it is very sloppy.. any ideas to what I am doing wrong?

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be half as good as a lot of people here on CC and greatly appreciates any input I can get!

Also, I am using the MMF right now and thinking about switching because it does not lay as smooth as a lot of fondant cakes I have seen, is there any ideas to which recipe I should switch to or to why it is not laying like I want it?

TIA!!

You are too hard on yourself. You have done very well for your first triple tier cake.

No, your layers do not all have to be the same height. It depends what look you want and how you are decorating it. If you do want your layers to be the same height, then Wilton has a great tool for cutting even layers.

As far as fondant goes, I have only used MMF several times, so I don't feel qualified to answer that one.

Every cake is a learning experience. Some more than others. Just make sure that you enjoy the process.

The cake look nice. Very Hawaiian.

The height of each tier depends on the way you want it to look.

A couple more tips (you may already be doing this):

Using cake boards in between the layers helps to keep your cake more level. This also makes it easier to disassemble the cake to slice and serve.

Inserting a wooden dowel through the layers (you'll need a hole in the center of your cake boards) also helps to tie them together, giving strength and stability.

Would the board of the tier above stick to the icing below and come off on the underside of the board?

I like it!

Ivory28:

Yes the icing from the tier below sometimes does stick to the cake board. However, you don't disassemble until you are ready to cut & serve. I think it is still a better option than cutting a 10"tall slice of cake If you have multiple tiers, you may not be able to find plates big enough

Thank you so much for your replies!

As to Ivory28 question, I had that problem with this cake where the fondant came off of the bottom tier but I am not sure if there is a way to prevent this. I would sure like to know though because it was ugly once taken apart!

*** "As to Ivory28 question, I had that problem with this cake where the fondant came off of the bottom tier but I am not sure if there is a way to prevent this. I would sure like to know though because it was ugly once taken apart!"

Are you using dowels in your bottom layers? Excuse the rest of the post if you are already aware of how to use dowels:

Basically you can use wooden dowels or straws inserted vertically right into in the bottom layers of a tired cake to "take the weight" of the layers sitting on top. So basically the second layer of your cake is sitting on a cake board and that cake board is sitting on the tops of the dowels more so than sitting right on the icing on the layer underneath. The dowels should be just be slightly higher than the layer you have stuck them into -- so you see just the tops of them sticking out. Then the second layer is placed on top of those and can be lifted off to cut and serve and your icing on the bottom layer is in tact -- although you will most likely see the dowels.

There shouldn't be too much space in between the layers for stability in the type of construction you showed us. But just enough 'breathing room' created by the dowels between the two layers to save your fondant. If there is a bit of a gap between the layers - ice a border or make a fondant border of some kind to make the cake look seamless.

And as mentioned one long dowel that goes right through all three layers from the top down will add to the stability of the cake. There are lots of YouTube videos that show how to stack like this -- although there are other stacking methods too -- puruse YouTube and see what you can see.

Cheers!

I read in another thread that Leah sprinkles coarse sugar on top of the layers before she places the next cake on because she doesn't use a crusting butter cream to keep the icing from sticking to the board or separator plate. She was discussing the SPS system of support for cakes. I just scrap the icing off and spread as best I can when that happens because as someone said you are cutting the cake anyway so what does it matter, right. HTH!

I use the sps system, life saver, no more cutting dowels. works wonders. You may want to look into it. There is a sticky in the forums about it. So far the BC I use has not stuck to it but if you're worried about it place a parchment circle the size of the cake going on under the board. Hope you get it worked out, it looks great to me.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-603925.html
sps instructions

Hi KatesCakesBC.....

I was reading your reply to this post and had a question. I have never heard of leaving your straws/dowells a little exposed and then placing your upper tier on it. Leaving the straws/dowells exposed like that, would'nt the upper tier likely fall off because it was not sitting on the bottom tier directly?

I have heard of leaving the straws exposed a little and then sit the upper
tier down on the straws and then the cake will decend on the bottom tier. The way you describe sounds amazing, I am just curious. Have you ever had a cake fall off with this method??

=)

You can also sprinkle a generous layer of powdered sugar or even dessicated coconut on the layer prior to stacking. It will keep the layers from sticking.

Just a suggestion...try using commercial fondant (not Wilton ) like Satin Ice, Pettinice, Regalice, etc...until you get more comfortable using fondant. Then, you can try the MMF again. It is a bit more difficult to use.

I think you did an admirable job for your first stacked cake. A couple of pointers...always make sure your dowels are EXACTLY the same length and don't go way below the surface of the layer you are doweling. You don't want pressure on the cake itself...that can cause side bulging between the layers.

Katescakes, Thank you so much for that!

I do use the dowels but what I am NOT doing is making them a little taller so I will definitely try that on the cake I am doing tomorrow. I think I just get caught up on those cake shows, their cakes look so wonderful, they are all the same size for the most part and their fondant just lays over it so smoothly and beautifully.. I wanna know what they use or what they do! I tend to need a lot of powdered sugar when I roll my MMF out and then my color just looks powdered It's hard enough to get my color the way I want it and most of the time I cant so it really makes for a bad day. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks Kate and everyone for those fantastic replies. Will definitely give those a go!

Rachel