I needed a 20" cake drum for this weekend and they were out of stock, so I used 4 - 20" cardboard rounds, reversing the grain on each and hot gluing. Got all the tiers iced - they were level, i use a torpedo level to make sure and stacked using SPS. I finished at 1AM and it looked pretty good, a little off center b/c I put one of the plates in a 1/2" off-center (that will be the back )

This morning when I went to finish decorating, it appears to be more crooked than i remembered. DH agreed and said the drum was collapsing under the SPS legs. I had to drive it 1/2 hr, so this was a concern. Finally, he cut me a plywood base at noon (had to leave w/ cake at 2)- we covered it, beribboned it, then completely disassembled the wedding cake and reassembled on the plywood board, which was no small feat b/c the 14" bottom tier was not on a board, only sitting on the drum! When we reassembled, it was completley level!!

Don't make the same mistake I did! Cake drums cannot support 4 tier wedding cakes!!

I'm confused on how 4 cardboards can collapse? There's no air between the layers of cardboard to collapse into. Can you clarify what happened so I know what to watch for, as I use 3-cardboard bases all the time for 3 and 4 tier cakes.

Sorry for the confusion! Rae, you're right, there probably is a difference between commercial & homemade drums. It's good to know that commercial drums will hold that kind of weight. Since the cake supply was out of stock, I had to improvise, and I read on here that people make their own with cardboards. Perhaps the process of hot gluing the cardboards together played a role in it. Or perhaps it's Operator Error

When I dismantled the cake, the "drum" had four indents in the top of it from the legs of the SPS, and the perimeter of the "drum" had started to curl upwards. It was weird. The cake was a 14-12-9-6, each layer was torted & filled. It was a heavy cake. When I reassembled it on the plywood, it was fine & completely level.

I had some 3/16" (?) foamcore - I was going to cut three & glue, but at that point we didn't want to chance it, so DH got out the saw.
So, maybe it was the glue, since Debi's are fine and not glued? I'm just glad the cake arrived in one piece!!

Foam core or Wilton "drums"(YES-Wilton!) for smaller one to two tiers for me, and English style drums for all the rest.

I stack boards regularly to make a drum. I do not hot glue between them. Just stack, strips of tape at N,S,E,W and then in between those points. Then, cover.

I do prefer the pre-made drums though...they are so much neater...the covering is SO TIGHT AND SMOOOOOOOOTH!

But 4, 5, 6, 7 tiers high, no sinking issues...oh, yeah, and the larger the cake, the more circles I use for the drum. For a 14" base using a 20" board, because of the span, I would've used more than 4 boards.

Foam core rocks. Much studier.

Maybe it was because you're bottom layer wasn't on a cardboard? Based on what you said, I think a cardboard would have taken the abuse from the SPS and left the drum underneath intact, but because there was no cardboard, and the "drum" was all glued together it warped the whole thing. Just a thought. I use masonite for large cakes, and I think I'll use foamcore when my nice boards are all lost to my customers

I use foam core for my square cakes. Wilton 1/2" drums or English 1/2" drums for rounds. I always, always double the drums under the bottom tier. I glue them with Tacky Glue and then either wrap or cover with fondant depending on the need. Don't have a problem with it being redundant to glue and wrap...mainly it is for my piece of mind. I have not had a cake shift or crack from the drums bending yet. )