Hello everyone...below is the cake topper example. I guess I jumped too quickly to purchase this to use without even thinking of it being too heavy. (Darn deceiving pictures!!! )




After the fact, I read the reviews (CAN'T BELIEVE I didn't do this part first) and though people were happy with their purchase of this topper, there was a unanimus sentiment of it being too heavy to sit on the top of their cakes.
I do not know the exact weight (I'm waiting for it to arrive), only that others were not able to use it on their cakes. But I am hoping to acquire some tips so that I can prepare for this problem ahead of time, unlike the reviewers who didn't discover the problem until it was too late to do something about it.

Any tips on how to add some steady support? It's square all around so thankfully the bottom is flat. I wish to set it atop a two tier 20th Anniversary cake (8-6) AND not damage it so that it can be a keepsake and possibly be used for their 25th Anniversary cake. Thank you all kindly in advance.

I would personally put several dowels right under where the topper will set. Set them just under the icing so that the dowel tops can be lightly covered with your icing, whether buttercream or fondant. This should help eliminate the topper from sinking into the cake and will not be visible to anyone. HTH

Put a line of dowels right where you are going to set it, and obviously it is going to be placed LAST.

Depending on what kind of cake it is going on, I would possibly put a trim around it too, just to help it stay.

Thanks for the replies - I REALLY appreciate it.

If I place dowels just under the topper, do those dowels only go into the top tier? I mean, I wouldn't run a few long dowels under the topper and all the way down into the bottom tier cake board, would I? Dowels in the top tier alone will be enough?

Thanks again.

The dowels just need to be in the top tier - just to it's cake board.

Thank you all very much for the help.

Sorry I went to lunch! Yes, like the PP said, just the top tier.

I've used a topper just like this one before. I put dowel rods underneath it to support the weight and they were level. Unfortunately the weight wasn't the problem! I even put some icing under it and trimmed around it, but it would not stay up. After the topper fell and messed up the back of the cake which I promptly fixed, I let the bride's mother know that it would not stay upright for any amount of time and suggested they only put in on to take pictures and then remove it. She agreed.
Not trying to upset or worry you. Just to caution you and yes, my dowels were evenly cut. Good luck. It is a beautiful piece.

my daughters cake had a castle cake topper that didn't weigh much..until you put in the 2 C batteries to light the thing up! Then it weighed a ton. We simply put a cake place with columns into the top tier, covered the plate with buttercream and then placed the castle on top...nice and sturdy with the cake plate/columns actually holding it up and not the cake!

Hmmm....this is all very helpful.

So maybe I could put a cake board directly under the topper (with some buttercream to glue it, so to speak) and place that on the top tier (onto the dowels) and ice over that???

What about....icing the top tier as I normally would, then placing parchment paper on top of the set buttercream crust (to save some of the icing) and then the cake board and more icing and then the topper????

I am with Gale on this one. I had a similar topper and the weight wasn't the issue...it didn't want to stand up at all. Even just on a table, the slightest jiggle ...like if someone walked by it...it fell over. I ended up placing the topper and then inserted small white straws snugly against the topper into the cake. I left them a little bit long (like 1/2 inch) so it was giving a little more support to keep it from toppling. Finished it off with icing and flowers to hide the straws and it worked like a charm!

I would make a decorative gum paste plaque and glue that puppy down with sugar glue to it and then you would have more of a stable base and hopefully less tipping front to back. The plaque would also hide the dowels you want to use. You could glue it down with white chocolate and make decorative swirls right around it and some of the decorations that will be on the cake.
Or you could have a little rectangular or circle mirror you find at the craft store and glue the topper down to it with glass glue or clear caulk(since that part wouldn't touch the cake. And then pipe a nice boarder and put flowers near the edges.

Oh yeah and as with anything that is top heavy... do not put it up there until you set it up on site.

Our topper was similar, though it was a heart turned on its side instead of the square. It was light weight and, while I am not sure how they set it up on top, it held up quite nicely right up until the cake was disassembled for serving.

I bought a cake topper just like that - the heart on it's side - from the same company that I got this square one. It was a keepsake gift for my friend, who ended up using it as her cake topper for her wedding. I remember it sitting on the her cake nicely. I think that's why, even though the shapes are different, I didn't think twice about ordering this square one to put on this particular cake. Now, I'm wondering how they anchored it!

I'm REALLY a newbie and don't know the first thing about gum paste...I wish I did because the ideas sound great.

I purchased a small mirror and may try to attach it to the topper with glue dots - I will play around with it a bit before I choose an option to use to stick it into the cake. Again, you guys offered way more than I was coming up with and for those ideas, THANK YOU. I really appreciate it!!!

The other thing I need to consider is however I choose to use this topper, I won't be the one placing it on as this cake is being picked up and I won't have the luxury of setting it on there myself. So, I need to be sure the method works AND that I can give instructions on how to place it once the cake reaches its destination.

Juleebug...thank you so much for sharing that photo!!!

Thanks to everyone again for sharing your thoughts, tips and advice! I feel soooo much better now that I know this is "do-able".

Well, what I ended up doing was cutting a small trip of foam board and used glue dots to attached a piece of parchment paper underneath to preserve the icing on the top tier. I put 6 dowels directly under the foam board, then used 4 white lollipop sticks, on an angle to support each corner. I piped icing on top of the cardboard and was happily suprised to see that it held up fine. I put green & white roses on top and piped stars to hide the sticks. This was for a friend's 20th Anniversary (which is ON St. Patrick's Day) so they wanted green and white. This was my first attempt to do scroll work and I used a press kit to do it (I'm such a newbie). All BC & all wedding cake flavored. For only my 13th cake ever, I'm happy with it. Thank you everyone for your help & thanks Julee for the inspiration. I really appreciate it.



The only problem I had was that company made an error on the topper and put the year as 2010 instead of 1990. My friend was totally cool with it. The company refunded me and already shipped out a new one.