Hi

Just about to stack a 3 tier wedding cake 

Using bubble straws and centre dowel.

Im using 6 bubble straws in my 12" cake and 4 in my 8 " cake

my cake boards between layers seem thicker than normal.They are normally around 2mm but these seem a lot sturdier. 

I am going to sharpen my wooden centre dowel to a sharp point and hammer it through the boards.

However I am frightened it won't go through them.

Am I best to drill holes in the boards first before stacking ?

Do I put the bubble straws in the centre of each tier and hammer the centre dowel an inch or so of the centre?

My cake needs to travel a long way and I need it to be stacked really well

I ganache each cake to the board, bubble straw, waxed paper , royal icing then next cake board etc.

Thanks

Are you in Australia? I believe our boards are quite a bit thicker than the ones in the US where people hammer the dowel through. I'll let people who do the centre dowel thing advise better, but I think if you have thick boards, then yes, you'll have to drill holes first.

I tend drill the center of my boards in advance - I always use the same size dowel and i have my own hole cutter that fits into a drill.  I started doing this when a guest at a wedding found cardboard in his piece of cake. Pre-drilling also ensures less damage when inserting the dowel.

AJust curious, when you predrill your hole, how do you know you are going to aim properly and not miss it? If you have to make a second (or third) attempt them you have messed up the top of your cake. I am a pound it through the cardboard girl kind of girl so just wondering about the technique and how to perfect it.

ALol now how do I explain this. I always stack on my dinning table. I remove a picture I have hanging there and in its place I hang a steel yard long ruler -this is my vertical guide. I cut a paper template to mark the centre of the cake. then line the cake up with the ruler . My pre- drilled holes are dead centre on each tier so when the cake is positioned to line up with my vertical guide i just keep the dowel vertical. Then push the dowel through the cake. Because the boards are pre-drilled there is little or no resistance to make the dowel go askew.

When I stack a fruit cake I also lower the top tier onto the dowel. So far I have not missed the centre hole -so I guess it is all in the prep

I perfected this method after my OH wrecked a top tier using the "pound it through" method.

To be honest considering cakes have always been stacked I have never understood why boards do not come with a hole in the centre. It seems to be a no brainer.

 To be sure I drilled the centre of each board, the dowel went through perfectly so am grateful I did.

To line up each centre hole I cut a piece of parchment the circumference of the cake and folded it into a triangle type shape with a rounded top (as you do when cutting a circle ). This gave me the centre point for each board and cake ensuring the drill holes matched up once the cake was stacked. Was well worth the effort of drilling the holes.

A

In my view this is the best way to stack a cake ! So glad it worked for you too

AActually this makes sense! I will have to try it on my next stacked cake. Thanks for the information.