hi all.
I wanted to know if I can make a small 2 tiered cake without any dowels or cardboard seperator. Im gonna make a small square cake for the bottom and like an 8 in circle cake for the top, can this be done without any dowels at all and with no cardboard under the top tier? Also, I was just gonna use frosting and royal icing for the lil dots that go on the cake.
thank you so much...

Are the cakes going to be one layer or two layers?

One layer (like a sheet cake) - then it's fine.

Two layers w/a filling in the middle - then dowel and separator plate is needed or the top tier will sink down.

I pretty much dowel everything that's two tiers.It doesn't require that much effort and I always figure better safe than sorry. Knock on wood, I've yet to have a sinking or fallen cake.

my sons first bday cake had no support system. it was two tier both with 2 layers and filling. it didnt sink thank gosh, but i wouldnt risk it again. depends how much your willing to gamble! ha

Anything over one tier must be supported by an internal support structure, such as dowels and cake circles. Cake is not strong enough to hold up cake.

biffvsmcfly - first welcome to CC...... every cake, one, two or three layer should have a board under it if you are going to stack it.....and dowels.....YES...always use dowel or a support system... you don't want all your hard work to fail on you..... good luck and post pictures.....

i tried to put 2 6inch rounds ontop of two other six inch rounds while making a Dr.Suess cake and found the bottom cake really taking a beating....I suggest you put some dowels and cardboard between every two layers...(in your case between the top and bottom tier)

The general rule is, support for every 4" of vertical height.

thank you all very much....looks like dowels and seperators it is! lol

It doesn't have to be wooden dowels for a small cake. Strong plastic straws will work fine. I sometimes use paper cookie sticks.

I was going to ask this same question. I'm just starting out myself. I've made four cakes that were 2 tiers. The bottoms were all 8" rounds with 6" rounds for the top. Each round was 2 layers. I did not use dowels for any of these cakes. I did use cardboard separators between the tiers. I didn't have any issues with sinking with any of them. I didn't assemble them until a couple hours before each party.

Did I just get lucky??? Or was it because of the short amount of time? Because of my experience (albeit brief) I was operating under the assumption that I only needed the cardboard separators between the tiers for a cake with large tiers.

Does everyone ALWAYS use the dowels? Should I use them in the future regardless?

Thanks

I'd say you just got lucky. I would certainly use support in the future because you're taking a gamble by not using supports.

The only way I would even consider NOT using supports is if I was stacking a small angel food tier on top of a dense pound cake. Anything else gets bubble straws for support.

Not that I've ever had many stacked cakes but its bubble tea straws for me too.

Great information! I will have to check out the bubble tea straws! Thanks