I am making a wedding cake in November that will involve the following stacking sequence :

Bottom tier: 12"dummy- sides  covered in gum paste roses

2nd tier: 12" cake

3rd tier: 10" cake

4th tier: 8" dummy- sides covered in gum paste ruffles

5th tier: 8" cake

56th tier: 6" cake

I have stacked tall cakes using both sps and dowels before, but my concern is how to secure the dummies. I am not so concerned about the bottom one because I will dowel the 12" cake to it, but I am not sure of the best way to secure the 4th tier so it doesn't all slide once assembled. Do I dowel all the way through from the 4th down to the 1st ?

I hope this makes sense, any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

i think i would deliver that in four pieces because of the dbl barrellness and because of the weight so i'd take the two 12s, the 10, the 8s and then the 6 -- and just stack on site  -- will be super heavy otherwise --

but to answer your specific question if it was all stacked for delivery, i would probably do a couple skewers through from dummy to dummy -- oh my aching back though -- that's really gonna need some muscle

idk-- i'd be tempted to place the 10 onto the 12s and the 6 onto the 8s -- just depends on the icing & decor -- so i might do a skewer or two though to the dummy tiers from the 10 and the 8 down -- for delivery purposes though

Oops ,sorry about the 56th tier

Thanks K8. I will definitely be stacking it mostly on site, I am planning on being at the venue 2 hours early. I am thinking about making a support structure out of pvc secured to the cake board for the center support. Do you think that would work? or am I better to use something like SPS?

i think sps would be great--and come to think of it -- duh on me -- dummies are nearly weightless compared to cake so you're gonna do fine-- if you are stacking on site there's no worries about center dowelling and if you use sps it's not possible unless you drill a hole and that is not necessary -- not in any of the 56 tiers 

Thanks K8- I thought that would work but even though I have been doing this for quite awhile, sometimes you just need someone else's insight

Abest to you

ruffles? i can't get the picture any bigger i don't see any ruffles

middle tier

the cake you are proposing in post 1 will be a completely different silhouette than this picture yes?

Actually the #2 picture is the one the bride sent me today. I see what you mean about the dummies being smaller. I think I will be fine. Thank you so much for your help, you always seem to know the answers.