On cakes that we sculp I cut the bottom board out of 1/4 plywood. Use a 3/4" dowel cut a couple of inches shorter that the cake will be, and use a wood screw to attach the dowel to the plywood. Prevents any shifting. We mark and cut holes in the cake boards that seperate the layers of cake to fit over the dowel. We also dowel each level to prevent a collapse.
when i do stacked cakes the dowels only go down TO the cake board. i suppose if it is a very vertical cake without much base support, putting it in the boards might just be brilliant!
I'm trying to picture how you're doing the stand-up tombstone. If I'm reading it right, you're cutting and stacking a 9x13 into three parts, with half of a 9" round on top? So it'll be approx. 10" high or more? If so, you'll definitely need to dowel & board, otherwise it'll be too much weight on the bottom layer. At the very least, drive a sharpened central dowel through to the bottom cake board for stability. Cigarherb's recommendation would be the way to go - the base of the cake is the same dimension as the top, there's not alot of support. You don't want it to fall over like a domino.
all of my stacked cakes I use the rods through the bosrd. otherwise they are not very stable I just do the hole in the boards first. Then go through the cake then board.
I put my dowels into the cake board sometimes, depending on the cake. Obviously you can't do it with plywood, but foamcore or regular cake boards you can. You have to sharpen the dowel and then use a hammer to drive it down through into the bottom board. This makes it really sturdy!
Courtney
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