HI all! Im new to the site and I wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questons. My name is Jeannie, I live in Kansas and I'm still fairly new to cake decorating (a few months). But I know that I will be doing it forever because I enjoy both decorating them and seeing the faces of friends etc... when they see them
Anyway, Im so excited because I finally recieved my pan set I have been waiting for! (I didnt have a nice graduated sized set) and they are 3 inches deep and the sizes are 6, 10 and 14.
So my questions are : Is this set a good standard pan set?
Do I need to use a heating core to cook the cakes in them?(or a flower nail)
For a nice stacked cake would I bake 2 of each size for each cake tier, or do most of you just stick with one?
And lastly, I have never done a stacked cake before(Im so excited!) and I was wondering what the best method of construction is? Do i use dowels or the plastic wilton cores? Do i need cake circles? and If you have a link to HOW to properly consruct a stacked cake I would greatly appreciate it.
Im so sorry if this is alot of questions but I would really like to do this right! And thank you in advance, I love CC and all the tips and inspirations I get on here!!

Hi Jeannie and welcome! Sounds like a good pan set....you might want to throw in a set of 8" as well. I assume they are round...are you wanting to do square or oval too? The same measurements are a good idea as well.

I use a flower nail to put in the center...heating cores tend to be a pain!!!

I use 2 of each tier when doing a stacked cake....especially wedding cakes.

And lastly, , I think a lot of the pros on here use the SPS system...Leahs can help you out with that one. I use the Wilton plastic hollow dowels for large stacked cakes with cake circles... and then bubble tea straws for smaller stacked cakes with cake circles. I can't afford the SPS system (I'm not a large baker) and so it isn't cost efficient for me.

Good luck...hopefully others can give you some more useful advice!

What are large bubble tea straws?

I like the 3 inch deep pans...but lately have been doing most of my cakes with 2 2 inch deep pans put together to make a 4 inch high cake.

I would probably just bake 1 tier of the 3 inch high...otherwise you will have very tall tiers at 6 inches high.

I fill my pans 2/3 full of batter and use a greased flower nail in the center as these pans will take a lot longer to cook.

I like to put each tier on a separate cardboard and then dowel with wooden or plastic dowel rods and stack. I like to use a lot of dowels to make sure I support well. You can kind of judge where they need to be place depending on the size on the cake that will be going on top.

Welcome! Congrats on your new pans! it is always fun to get new stuff!

I like to use the 3" pans too...i only have a 8" one though. when I do mine I can add a little more batter into the pan to get a nice high layer..and i also use the inverted flower nail. I like to have both my layers on my cakes to be at least 1 1/2" high. so that way i get a nice tall 4" cake with the filling in between.

you would want to use a cake board underneath each cake...your bottom board for the bottom layer you may want to glue a couple together and then cover them.
If it's a small cake you can use just regular straws...you would want one for the center of the cake...and then press a circle into your cake of the size cake that's for the top onto the bottom cake...then put a straw every 2" inside the circle. i hope that makes sense if you are transporting assembled you will want to sharpen a wooden dowel and then lightly hammer it through both cakes.

well, this is for a wedding cake but this lady does a nice job of showing how to stack a cake with wooden dowels.

Oh my gosh, thank you all for your answers!!! Im amazed at how helpful and welcoming everyone is ...Please keep the tips coming, Im wanting to learn anything and everything! Oh im sooo excited!!!

I use 2 layers for each tier. you need some kind of board under each tier. I use fomecore and bubble tea straws to stack. i use 6,9,12 more than any other pans, but you need and 8 and 10 too.. LOL


Have fun and welcome!