I am planning a stacked fondant-covered birthday cake, 12" round topped by 8" round. I have to drive the thing for 2 hours to granddaughter's party, so it must be well-stabilized.

I plan to cover 12" round on multiple cardboard rounds, then stick that base layer to a large wooden round with royal icing, or would BC work better? Then I will dowel the 12" tier for supporting the 8" tier.

My primary concern is: Should I add the 8" tier uncovered on top of the 12", dowel through both tiers, then cover the top tier with fondant? Or should I cover the top tier with fondant, add it, then dowel through all? Will I be able to patch the hold in the fondant? I'm not sure my top decorations will be exactly centered to cover the hole.

TIA!

Do the fondant first, then drive the dowel all the way through. I personally woldn't even do a center dowel, I'd just make sure that the cake was well-chilled (yes, you can refrigerate fondant) before moving it, and that the top tier was glued to the bottom tier with royal icing when you stack them. Put the whole thing in a box to transport it and it should be fine.

You could also take the tiers separately and stack them when you got there, that would eliminate the worry of any shifting. Whether you could do that would depend on what you were planning to do for the border on the 8" tier.

As far as the bottom tier goes, I'd stick it to the larger cake board with some loops of duct tape or packimg tape. That will keep it from moving WAY better than icing on the board will.

I cover with fondant before I stack and put the center support in, it is so much easier. If you are worried about covering the hole on top, I have put the center support in the bottom layer making it long enough to almost meet the top of the top layer and then put a hole in the top layer cake board before I put the cake on it. Then once the top layer is all together, I just put the top layer over the dowel sticking up and let it slide down on top of the bottom layer. If you measured correctly, the dowel should not come thru the top layer. HTH.

I just made a two layer cake for my grandaughter's first birthday last weekend (I still have not posted the picture). It was a 10 inch and a 6 inch and drove two hours to their house.

Both layers were torted and covererd with fondant. I duct taped the cardboard with the 10" inch layer to my cake board and then I always use bubble straw to support my other layer. I put BC between the cardboard circle of the 6 inch and the fondant of the 10 inch. And I did dowel the whole cake with a single long wooden dowel as there was a top piece on the 6 inch. I was not taking any chances of shifting and I certainly was not going to stack or put any cake together when I got there.

I sharpen the end of the wooden dowel (I make my dowel a little shorter than the height of the covered cake) and hammer it through all of the layers and then when I get to where I can't hammer it any more I take another piece of dowel and put that on top of the dowel in the cake and hammer until I hear it hit the bottom wooden cake board.

The hole is covered with decorations. I have not dowled a cake where the top did not have decorations. I am not sure how I would do that and would have to ask the CC'ers what I needed to do.

The cake arrived in perfect condition, never moved!! The little extra time that it takes to put in the bubble straws to support the other layer and put in the center dowel is nothing compared to having something happen during transport.

I just made a two layer cake for my grandaughter's first birthday last weekend (I still have not posted the picture). It was a 10 inch and a 6 inch and drove two hours to their house.

Both layers were torted and covererd with fondant. I duct taped the cardboard with the 10" inch layer to my cake board and then I always use bubble straw to support my other layer. I put BC between the cardboard circle of the 6 inch and the fondant of the 10 inch. And I did dowel the whole cake with a single long wooden dowel as there was a top piece on the 6 inch. I was not taking any chances of shifting and I certainly was not going to stack or put any cake together when I got there.

I sharpen the end of the wooden dowel (I make my dowel a little shorter than the height of the covered cake) and hammer it through all of the layers and then when I get to where I can't hammer it any more I take another piece of dowel and put that on top of the dowel in the cake and hammer until I hear it hit the bottom wooden cake board.

The hole is covered with decorations. I have not dowled a cake where the top did not have decorations. I am not sure how I would do that and would have to ask the CC'ers what I needed to do.

The cake arrived in perfect condition, never moved!! The little extra time that it takes to put in the bubble straws to support the other layer and put in the center dowel is nothing compared to having something happen during transport.

I just made a two layer cake for my grandaughter's first birthday last weekend (I still have not posted the picture). It was a 10 inch and a 6 inch and drove two hours to their house.

Both layers were torted and covererd with fondant. I duct taped the cardboard with the 10" inch layer to my cake board and then I always use bubble straw to support my other layer. I put BC between the cardboard circle of the 6 inch and the fondant of the 10 inch. And I did dowel the whole cake with a single long wooden dowel as there was a top piece on the 6 inch. I was not taking any chances of shifting and I certainly was not going to stack or put any cake together when I got there.

I sharpen the end of the wooden dowel (I make my dowel a little shorter than the height of the covered cake) and hammer it through all of the layers and then when I get to where I can't hammer it any more I take another piece of dowel and put that on top of the dowel in the cake and hammer until I hear it hit the bottom wooden cake board.

The hole is covered with decorations. I have not dowled a cake where the top did not have decorations. I am not sure how I would do that and would have to ask the CC'ers what I needed to do.

The cake arrived in perfect condition, never moved!! The little extra time that it takes to put in the bubble straws to support the other layer and put in the center dowel is nothing compared to having something happen during transport.

Sorry - this site is still doing mutiple posts.

Thanks for the good ideas, all. I never thought of duct taping the cake circle to the wooden cakeboard. Will it stick well to the foil covering on the wooden board?

Pattycakesnj, now why on earth did I not think of doweling from below?? That is the perfect solution since my top decorations won't be centered!

I've been decorating off and on for years, but I've learned so much from you guys. Thanks a bunch.