I was just watching the Food Network and was surprised to find Ina Garten making a 3 layer child's birthday cake - 9"-6"-3" - by just plopping each layer on top of the next!! Would this be too heavy? I'd hate to see someone do this and have a sinking cake!

I saw that one before and wondered the same thing. I also wondered how she was going to be able to get that apart to cut it. Maybe because it was smaller cakes on top and not really heavy? I wasn't sure. Maybe someone can clue us in.

Were they double or single layers? I could see doing single without much problem, but there's no way i would stack double layers like that! Too scary!

They were single - 3", but she torted them. When she cut it, she cut the bottom layer only so the slices were only about an inch and a half deep.

Oh, never mind. I checked. They are going to air it again this Tuesday, July 12 at 5:00pm, Eastern/Pacific time.

The show title is: Kids Picnic Party

Maybe she was saving time... She said to chill the cakes before stacking...But still... It is a mistake not to use any support....

The Barefoot Contessa episode that aired today was called: "Kids Picnic Party", Episode #IG1C17. This episode will air again Tuesday, July 12 at 4:00pm Central Time. I missed it too; I hope to be able to catch it on Tuesday.

All she says here is to chill the cakes before stacking
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cooking/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30946,00.html

I think she just stacked the cakes and served them up.

Maybe it wasn't going to sit long enough to sink? I'm going to try her icing recipe from this episode.

There used to be a Barefoot Contessa here, but they lost their lease. They made the best chocolate gateau covered in ganache!!

OK--slap my hand for this, BUT.....

The Care Bear cake I just make for my dd's 2nd birthday (it's in my photos), was a 12", 9" and 6", sinle layer--torted cake. I can't believe I'm actually going to admit this--but I stacked them withOUT any suipport whatsoever!

However--in my defense, I knew that I wasn't going to be traveling or anything with it and the 6" layer I boarded (single board, wrapped) so that I could cut it.

When I went to cut it--I just took off the 6" layer and then cut the middle layer first. Because I had let my icing set before stacking--it didn't stick to the bottom or anything. I was just careful when cutting to go through only that layer and not the 12" on the bottom. When the 9" layer was cut and served, I cut the 12" layer. (I saved the 6" layer for the neighbors.)

NOT that I would recommend this, but it worked for me. I would NEVER do this with a "paying gig" or any cake that I had to travel with.

Lisa`

I'm really surprised that any celebrity chef or cook would advocate doing this with layered cakes...Hmmm....I wouldn't do it!! I wonder how many emails there are going to receive from angry moms who try his and the cake collapses.....Please...don't anyone try this!!! your asking for trouble!!

Martha has done a few shows making cakes. She's even got her recipe in Julia Childs (my idol) Baking cookbook.

Ina, well, she probably just had too many martinis as usual and forgot about the dowels.

Honeslty though if it's a homemade pound cake I don't think it would collapse if you assembled it just prior to serving. Having the girls decorate it and the lemonaide "cosmos" are a wonderful idea!

I was able to watch today the portion of her show where she assembles and then takes the cake out to the little girls' BD party. There was one camera shot that showed the cake sinking...you have to be watching for it, but, IMO the cake appeared to be slowly collapsing...course, other than the lack of support, the heat outside and any studio lights probably didn't help.

I also was able to watch the show yesterday at 5:00pm EST, and I wasn't very impressed. Its cute but, she was kind of slopy about it... She did try to show a technique of smoothing the icing with water, but just a bit.

And she also iced the whole cake after she stacked it.... I guess for a cake of this size, its okay. But even for my small cakes, I ice them first and then stack.. No the other way around.

But, hey, everyone has their techniques so if it works for ya, more power to ya!