This may seem like a silly question, but I'm going to make a stacked cake for my daughter's birthday. The bottom layer will be 12" and the top layer 8". I plan to frost the cake with butter cream icing. I have read up on stacking cakes and understand how to do the dowl supports, but I'm wondering how the heck do I serve this cake when the time comes?

If I frost the bottom cake and then set the second layer on it's cardboard on top aren't I going to have a big mess when I try to take the top layer off and serve the cake? Do you pull off the top layer and take all the frosting off the bottom layer with it? I'm just picturing a mess pulling out sticks and frosting everywhere. Any tips? Thank you!

What I've done in the past is to start serving the top cake first. Then when all of the top cake is cut and served, I start on the second layer.

pipedreams
This forum link is similar to what you are asking. Indydebi's website link is in it too. Along with advice from her. Hope it helps.
Tammy

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-608852.html

That is how I do it also. I actually take the tier off though. I think it's much harder to cut if it is still stacked onto the bottom tier. Just cut and serve top to bottom.

Well, typically, if you have the dowel rods in the bottom tier and your buttercream icing is crusted over/dried, then it shouldn't stick *too* much when taking off the cardboard from the top tier.

I would cut directly from the top cake and then remove the cardboard (there is less weight on the top holding the cardboard down on the bottom tier) and then cut the bottom cake.

To be honest, I have never had to cut & serve one of my stacked cakes that had dowel rods/cardboard bases. I've cut & served 2 cakes that each had tiers that were stacked directly on top of each other without dowels/cardboard, but that was before I knew better

And, now that I think about it, i've never told a client how to disassemble/cut/serve a cake...i've just assumed that they will accept a cake the way it is and it's up to them to decide how they want to destroy it.

cut a sheet of waxed paper the same size as your top cake's board and put that on the bottom tier then poke the dowels through it and put on the top layer.......then when the time comes to separate you just lift off the top cake, peel back the waxed paper and remove your dowels....I use the sps system now instead of wooden dowels because I had an "accident" but the waxed paper idea works if you're brave enough to use wooden dowels!

i'm a devote fan of dowel rods. Dare I ask what this "accident" was that made you switch to sps?

Fabulous suggestions. I am doing a 3 tier stacked cake this Saturday & was just wondering the same thing. I have never had to cut one of my own either. I'll try the wax paper thing too.

I have always cut my round cakes the way Indydebi shows on her site, even before I knew what I was doing. I just always thought the circle in a circle was just plain stupid. IMO

I'd love to have Indydebi's site that tells you how to cut a cake.

m1m

Here is the link for indydebi's website:

http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page10.html