Im really needing some help, Ive just started making 3d cakes and my problem is keeping them upright. Is there such a thing as a cake board with a fixed rod in the centre, so a cake can slide on and be stable for transporting? Its always the head that topples. Ive tried dowels to keep the weight of the body and a thicker rod to attach the head into the body, but it never last and before you know it, the weight of the head breaks the body. Im a newby and learning more everyday but this has flummoxed me, so any suggestions or solutions would be great.

Hi Samarci

I have had this one myself.

don't know if this will be of help specifically for a a 3d cakes but I use this method for all large, heavy cakes which may have separators smaller than the tiers.

I always make a sturdy base using at least 4 cake drums. If my bottom tier is 12" for example I would have two 14" cake drums which I stick together using double sided carpet tape and then cover on top with the appropriate colour sugarpaste.

I would then stick together a further three 16" boards and cover.

I would place the smaller drums centrally on the larger ones once everything has hardened (sugarpaste).

I would secure them together with royal icing mixed with a little edible tylo glue.

You now have a base of app 3" in thickness. You need to drill a central hole through the whole lot which is the same diameter as the vertical dowel which you will use all the way to the top of the cake.

I get wooden dowels from a DIY shop.

The reason for using this dowel is that along with dowels in every tier it creates a strong central column (if fitted tightly into the base) which will prevent tiers from leaning. Also if the holes you make in your tiers fit sung around this central dowel this reduces any chance of leaning even further.

You do have to create a channel which will protect your cake from the central dowel. I use hollow plastic tubing which I cut to the right length.

I also always dowel every tier (except dummies) with plenty of dowels.

If the cake has heavy tiers stacked I also use the hollow dowels as well as the thinner ones. Thisn is because the hollow dowels have a larger surface area than thinner dowels and are less likely to slip or lean under the weight of upper tiers.

Hope this makes sense and helps

Amanda

I would love to know this too. Any carving I do seems to make my cakes lean horribly.

The head might just be too heavy no matter how much doweling you use. Have you tried make the head out of RKT or styrofoam instead?

yes, Ive tried both, maybe Im using too much, but its the icing that weighs it down,