I'm making a cake for my nephew's bar mitzvah. I planned a 5-tier (10", 9", 8", 7", 6" rounds), carved into a mountain shape with a fondant figurine of my nephew snowboarding on it.
I have never done a 5-tier cake before. I went into the cake disasters forums and learned a lot about making dowels the exact same length to avoid any leaning.
The caker who supplies my fondant said she would have done a 3-tier cake (10", 9", 8") for 130-150 people given that the cake will be part of a large sweet table and not everyone eats the cake anyway.
What do you think? Can I get away with a smaller cake? I would feel much more relaxed about 3-tiers rather than 5 (especially after reading some of the disaster stories!)
I'm a hobbyist so this is a free cake. I honestly should have ordered the SPS system for peace of mind (live and learn!)
Any advice/encouragement is most appreciated! I'm sure everyone can relate to the jitters associated with the 'this is my biggest cake yet' feeling!
What about a 3-tier cake with cupcakes to match for the kids, some with just white frosting for snow, and a few with figurines?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakesandbakes/5249893796/in/photostream/
Such a tall, skinny configuration isn't as stable as a traditional, wider tiered cake. However, I believe you can still pull it off by using plates and hidden pillars.
The feet of the plates would be sunk into the icing so the plate is resting just on top of the icing. If you glue your pillars to the feet of the plates with royal icing (after measuring each tier, of course), you'll have the poor man's SPS. 
If you want to drive a center dowel through, you'll have to drill holes in the plates beforehand.
I think that at 20+ inches tall, it will make an AWESOME centerpiece for the sweet table!
As long as you have a tall enough vehicle and someone who can help carry it, I think it's doable!
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