Good day.

I have been asked to do this design for a June wedding. I will be using fruit cakes. Bottom tier 12 inch, 2nd 10 inch.Then the two topsy turvey ones 10 inch. The one between the topsy ones will be 6 inch. On top of the topsy will be two 7 inch.

I have so far stacked 3 tier regular shaped fruit cakes with no support as I am of the opinion that the dry marzipan offers support. I am no longer confident in that because I noticed a small crack for my last wedding cake when I delivered it. I wonder what sort of support system do those who do fruit cakes use? I also need help regarding this particular design. What sort of support system will be required from bottom to top  according to tier detail above? TIA!

Wow that's an amazing cake....I would always use dowels in all my cakes no matter whether they are fruit or sponge, it just gives that extra support.  I really like Poly-Dowels' as they give a rally strong support.

Thank you. Am thinking of how to insert the dowels neatly especially on those tilted pillows?

Expensive cake ... Fruitcake plus intricate piping plus 378 servings  [1"x1" fingers]

Considering the individual weight of fruitcake, it is near impossible to balance fruitcake at any angle without breaking it. Due to the structure of fruitcake [mostly fruit, held together with a small amount of cake batter], dowelling at an angle will weaken the fruitcake rather than support it. Dowels support the layer above, not the cake that it is passing through.

Is the original cake made of fruitcake?

AAm not sure what the original cake is.

AAm not sure what the original cake is.

bump

I always dowel fruit cake even though, as you say the cake is strong enough to support the weight, the marzipan and icing may be prone to cracking with the weight on top.

If it was me, the two tilted cakes would be dummies or rice krispie cake - something lightweight that will stand there.  I wouldn't dowel these - rather have some sort of central support (separator perhaps) between the horizontal cakes, that the tilted ones could rest against, if that makes sense?
 

I agree with the pp, I always dowel, even fruit cakes!

also agree with pp it will be much studier if you can do the two tilted cakes in Styrofoam, and do two separate cakes to make up for the servings.

Thanx yáll. Hope I will be able to convince the couple to allow me to use RKTs.

May I suggest that you use fake cakes carved from styrofoam for the sideways-tilted pillows?  Because they will want to slip off their plates otherwise.

And if you look very closely, there seems to be a small "cake" between those angled cakes to camouflage the supporting pillars. 

There can always be extra cake in the kitchen to make up the servings. I would even consider making all tiers above the angle to be dummies.

And I would use plastic rods as dowels in the real cakes.  Plus thin plastic cake plates between (not cardboard). There is no real way that marzipan can support this much weight.

AThank u so much.

With fruitcake, I'd suggest that supports should probably be made out of either prestressed concrete, welded steel, or both.

I would say, someone who wants a cake like that is very concerned about the looks of it.

You are the expert, let them know how it's done. Bottom layers, real cake, and the rest dummies, in the kitchen they will have the rest of the real cakes.

It will look great for the picture and you will not have so many worries about potential accidents.

Find what works for you, it will surely work for them too.

Hope you post a picture of the final cake ;)

Good luck!!

There is my version of the cake. All fruit cake. I used thick bamboo skewers as dowels. On the slanted pillows, I put long vertical ones that went right thru to the bottom tier. The cake survived the wedding. The couple has kept most of it since July 13. They have told me the two bottom have started cracking. I have advised them to dismantle the cake and keep each tier separate. Not sure about the ride home from the venue since I was not there. The two top tiers were placed at the venue. I will definitely charge PITA fee if anyone else wants me to do this.

AYour cake turned out very well!

I'm working on a cake design that has a similar support dilemma as your slanted cakes. Did you have any portion of a cake board under the slanted cakes to keep them from sliding? Were any of your dowels slanted?