I recently witnessed a decorator stack a wedding cake in a way that left me really concerned over it's stability. It was a 3 tier stacked cake...I think 12", 8" and 4" (or else 14, 10, 6). Either way, a pretty decent sized cake. She stacked the two cakes for the bottom tier, measured straws to height (prior to icing the cake), inserted straws, then iced the cake. she then placed the bottom layer of the second tier on, stacked it, inserted straws in that tier, then iced the cake. Then she did the same for the third tier. My concerns are these....she didn't have any boards in between the tiers to support the cake (you know, to keep the cakes from settling down into the straws), and the straws she cut were not as high as the iced cake, not that it matters because if the top two tiers settled into the bottom one they would sink right down into the straws because there was no board to stop them. She had to take this a couple hours away, in the trunk of the car, in 90 degree weather. Haven't heard how it arrived yet. Curious though.

Sounds to me like a Cake Disaster just waiting to happen.....

About a year ago when I first started making cakes, I had NO idea what I was doing. I had no clue I was suppossed to have boards between the layers until I read it in the Confetti Cakes books. My cakes always looked like they were sinking into each other, because they were! Thank goodness I finally figured that out!

I dito dawncr... please let us know if you hear anything. I can't imagine it could have gotten there the same way it left...

Doesn't sound good, unless maybe the bottom layers of the upper tiers were already sitting on a cake circle that you didn't happen to notice. I cut my circles a little bit smaller than the cake because I don't want them to show at all and I'm not piping borders on.

Also, putting the straws in and then frosting would make it harder to serve, I always put straws/dowels/whatever in after it's frosted so that it's obvious where they are to pull them out before cutting and serving.

well unless the boards were hidden..this doesn't seem like it will have a happy ending....was she supposed to be a professional???

I can't imagine that it WOULD arrive!! That's nuts! I've heard of using straws, but what good are they if you don't have the cakes on boards?? I mean that's the purpose of doweling right?? So that the cake itself isn't holding the weight but the straws or dowels or whatever. Wow, i'll betcha that decorator had a horrible surprise waiting for her in the back of her car!!!!

Uh oh! Sounds like a Cake Disaster about to happen to me!!

A few years ago I did a two tier wedding cake, my first ever tiered cake, AND my first cake for a complete stranger. It was a coworker of a friend of mine. Anyway, I *knew* how to stack the tiers, but in my sugar-induced-delirium I forgot to put dowels in the bottom tier!! The lady was picking up both tiers in boxes and was assembling them herself on site. She was getting married more than an hour away, and she swore to me she could assemble the cake herself, that her mom worked at a grocery store bakery and would help her. I packed her some extra frosting and disposable bags and told her to have her mom bring some tips if she wanted to put a border around the tier. Anyway (now my story is getting long, sorry) it wasn't until the NEXT DAY that I realized what I'd done!!! I have no idea what happened with that cake. I never heard back from the bride, nor from my friend. I honestly wonder if the cake was okay without the dowels?!?! I can't see how!??!

Anyway, I have nightmares about that sometimes. LOL

Well, apparently it wasn't good. I haven't gotten details yet, but she did tell me she had to do a lot of fixing when she got it to the site. I'll keep you posted. And yes, she is supposed to be a professional....has done cake decorating for a few years and is my boss!!