I want to do a cake with a petal tier and a circle tier on top. What is a good size difference between the two? Like, is a 3 inch difference enough or a 4 inch difference?

Thanks!

depends on how deep the petals are--off top of my head the round cake should be maybe 2" smaller than the inside circumference  of the petal pan--like if you mentally cut off the petals then subtracted 2" from that number--but that's just in general--maybe even go right up to the start of the petals--

depends on how big the cake is overall--there are a lot of factors to consider--

are these the bottom tiers, top tiers, the only tiers? what is the decor?

I did this one with a 15" petal pan by wilton. If you imagine the roses make the "tier" above it about 12" diameter, you can see the space that is left over around the edge of the petal tier - not much. The tier above, with the lace on, was a 10". I think the 3" difference is a bit too small. I would go for 4 or 5" difference.

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/3094605/a/3398937/6-8-10-cakes-9-separator-15-petal-shaped-cake-as-the-bottom-tier/

Ok, thank you SO much for the visual! Basically, the petal tier will be the bottom tier of my cake and the round tier that will be on top of it needs to be 16", so I am just wondering what is the best size for the petal tier so that the petals can be completely exposed.

Thanks!