I had a wedding cake to do this weekend, and I was building a 5 tier cake. 6,8,10, 12, and 16. So the 12 inch cake did not make it, because after stacking it started to lean dramatically. It threw off the whole appearance of the cake. Some of my other tiers were also leaning, like one side was starting to buckle, making the cake look awfully lupsided (spelling on lupsided?). Help!! why could this have happened? Could it be that my cake was too moist? Not filled correctly? or filled crooked? Dam crooked? I'm not sure....anyway, I ended up taking out that 12 inch layer altogether, making it a 4 tier cake, and it ended up lookin a lot better. Not perfect...but considerably better!! any help and comments would be greatly appreciated!!
i would look to your support system. If you have a problem cutting dowels, i would suggest the sps system that Leahs totes. Its inexpensive and effective. Can't ask for more then that. Also, invest in a small level that you use for only your cakes, and check each tier, because if you start with a small lean by the time you build up all those tiers its more pronounced.
Yup, id go with everything peg says, you must must must ensure you have a good support system, if you havent, you might as well not bother doing big cakes.
The type of cake does not matter - you could literally stack a cake made of jello if you have a good support system.
What kind of dowels did you use? What kind of boards were under each cake layer?
It is VITAL that all dowels are cut the same length - check out the SPS system or you can use bubble tea staws too - both are much better than usuing those stick dowels.
thank you for your advice!! As far as the support system that I used, I went with the Wilton plastic dowels in the bottom 16 in. tier. Then I used the thin wooden wilton dowels in the 12, 10, 8, and 6. I anchored it with a pretty thick wooden dowel all the way through all tiers down the middle. It could be that the dowels were not cut evenly, as I remember some of them sinking deeper than others into that 12 inch cake. So this could be the problem? I was thinking that maybe it was the type of cake I was using, that maybe it was too moist or something.
Its good to know that I can make a cake with Jello and as long as my support is good then it should be okay. (metaphorically speaking)
Thanks everyone for your advice, again!! I am learning so much here and I appreciate all of you!!
i would look to your support system. If you have a problem cutting dowels, i would suggest the sps system that Leahs totes. Its inexpensive and effective. Can't ask for more then that. Also, invest in a small level that you use for only your cakes, and check each tier, because if you start with a small lean by the time you build up all those tiers its more pronounced.
what is the sps system that leahs tote..? what does that mean?
Here are Leahs instructions:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-603925.html
You can buy them at Global Sugar Art
http://www.globalsugarart.com/cat.php?cid=887
HTH
It could be that the dowels were not cut evenly, as I remember some of them sinking deeper than others into that 12 inch cake.
How do you measure/cut your dowels? The best way, in my opinion, is to insert one dowel, mark it, remove it and cut ALL dowels for that cake against the marked one. Do not insert/mark/measure each dowel individually. If you cake has some high/low spots, then doing each dowel separately will result in uneven dowels.
If some dowels went in deeper, it sounds like your cake wasn't level or had some low spots. I prefer to cut my dowels to the highest point in the cake, rather than the lowest (ideally, the cake won't have high/low spots).
Here's a thread I wrote in 2007, with pics, showing dowels that LOOK uneven, but are PERFECTLY level: http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-434013-dowels.html
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