Hi everyone

I'm going to be making my first wedding cake this summer. It is a 6/9/12 round cake for 100 people. All the details had been decided upon with the bride and groom but now they've decided that they want to add a dummy layer on the bottom to make the cake look bigger.

If I were to go in proportion of the other layers I should get a 15 inch cake dummy for the bottom but I've checked my local cake supply store and they don't come in odd sizes. Will it look strange if I have a 14 inch dummy on the bottom? Or should I make it 16 inch instead? Also the cake supply store only has 3 inch high cake dummies. I was hoping to make my cakes 4 inches high. Will it look strange if the top tiers are about 4 inches and the bottom tier is only 3?

Also, I was going to travel with the cake stacked. With the dummy on the bottom do I do anything different? Would I just stack as I normally would if it were a real cake?

Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks

do you have time to order one online?, the 15" 4" high would look so much better. im sure you could get away with a 16" but not at 3" thick. for travelling you can stack the real cake and then stack onto the dummy on site.

Just so you can visualize:

Here is a pic of a cake that is 6/9/12/14:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1310245.html

Here's a pic of one that is 6/9/12/15:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/2657385088_974db44679.jpg

Here's one that is 6/9/12/16:

I would either go with the 6/9/12/15 or the 6/9/12/16 and definitely make them 4" in height. There are several places on line that you can get these. Dallas Foam and Taylor Foam are just two places that come to mind right now.

HTH!

Thanks sweetcakes and xsticher for your help!

xsticher - I'm a very visual person so thanks for the links. It would look best with the 15 inch but unfortunately I'm not able to find one here. I live in Canada and most of the US websites don't ship to Canada or do ship for a high cost. I did find a 14 inch 4 inch height one on Golda's Kitchen so that is an option.

I'm thinking perhaps I could revise the tier dimensions to 8/10/12/14. They'll end up with 18 servings over but at least it will look even. Do you think that it will look ok with an 8 inch as the top tier?

Thanks

Here's a couple of pics that are 8/10/12/14

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.harpsfood.com/cakes/27.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.harpsfoods.com/cakedetail.php%3Ftheid%3D60&usg=__N4qOLZUTeYJivs5ungKwqzmvCUI=&h=500&w=385&sz=181&hl=en&start=43&um=1&tbnid=oSb3PgxcmrfB8M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcake%2Bpic%2B8%2B10%2B12%2B14%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26hs%3DwtH%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8Frds361a-E/SMknV7YJZiI/AAAAAAAAAig/trDet52P_vE/s400/Winery+-+sss.jpg

I know they look fine with an 8" top but personally I think the 6" looks better and I also like tiered cakes that have a 3-4" difference between each tier (again this is just my personal preference )

Here's one that is 6/8/10/12 (you could make the 8" dummy and end up with 106 servings)

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.eggshellcookery.co.uk/images/gallery/4tier.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.eggshellcookery.co.uk/4tier.html&usg=__rZUDrwiDaDAsssXvsf8msF2AT2M=&h=624&w=500&sz=65&hl=en&start=62&um=1&tbnid=sVeCFtYTcNuUiM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=109&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcake%2Bpic%2B6%2B8%2B10%2B12%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26sa%3DN%26start%3D54%26um%3D1

I don't know where in Canada you are exactly but I do know that Dallas Foam does ship there (I know s/h can be very expensive - I'm a Canadian myself, so I've had to bite the bullet more than once ).

Think about your overall design as well as the serving size. The 2" difference to me makes the cake look more like a tower and for some designs it looks great like this one:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1320745.html

but if you want to place flowers or something on top edges of some of the layers then the 1/2-3/4" ledge you will be left with after you ice or cover with fondant will not be enough space.

I found this site that also ships to Canada but it looks like there largest size is 12". If you decide to use the dummy for the 8" layer or even another one than here is the link:

http://www.plasteelcorp.com/foamshapes/category/cakes.html?gclid=CIfPoeP14ZkCFQNbxwodsyI64Q

I just found a couple more for you to look at that are 6/912/14. If you notice the 1st one top 3 tiers are 6" high and the bottom is 4". If you use the 3" dummy it won't have just a big difference. If the cake supply store has all these sizes you can stack them there to see if you like it. (stack a couple of pans to achieve the 4" for the top 3 tiers if they don't have 4" at all.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1310245.html

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1313913

I also just noticed that one of the places I mentioned was blocked it's Dallas then add foam at the end (no spaces).

Thanks so much xsticher! You are an angel! Thanks for all the links to the pictures and also for all the links to the various websites. I really really appreciate it.

I agree with you that the 6 inch cake on top looks better and also the three inch gap between tiers is probably better than two. The design of the cake is very simple with flowers on top and a few on the side of each tier. Each tier will have a ribbon along the base. I will probably need room to have the flowers resting on the side so I think that you are right - 3 inches would be better.

I will go to the cake supply store to stack the dummies together to see how they would look. I'm guessing the 16 inch will probably look better. And I think that you are right - with the bottom tier being 3 inches height should be ok. I am thinking that I could make the top tiers approx 3.5 inches so you don't notice the difference as much.

Thanks again for your help and keep your fingers crossed for me!

xsticher - wow, you are an angel and also a genius! What a great idea with building up the 3 inch base! I don't know why I didn't think of it?! Once again I really do appreciate your help and I will definitely keep you posted and post pictures. Thanks again!