How To Stack A Cake With Dowel Rods

Decorating By pankake Updated 23 May 2010 , 11:40pm by pankake

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pankake Posted 20 May 2010 , 6:24am
post #1 of 16

Hi there,

I have had 2 friends ask for 2 separate cakes for this weekend and both of them are 2 tiers.

I have never stacked cakes before and I live in rural Australia so the only supplies I have access to at such short notices is dowling rods.

I need to stack an 8" cake on a 10". Would 4 rods be enough?

And how many do I need to stack a 10" cake on a 12"?

Any tips or hints for a beginner?

Sorry for the very simple question, but I really want to get this right as it would look horrible if they started falling over at the parties.

Thanks so much for your help.

15 replies
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icer101 Posted 20 May 2010 , 6:49am
post #2 of 16

hi, i would use at least 6 dowels for the 10" cake. Then i would use at least 8 dowels on the 12" cake .hth

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carmijok Posted 20 May 2010 , 7:01am
post #3 of 16

this is the best video I've seen on the subject.




I believe she is one of the CC'ers too.

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mamawrobin Posted 20 May 2010 , 12:09pm
post #4 of 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by carmijok

this is the best video I've seen on the subject.




I believe she is one of the CC'ers too.




Yes, Edna is a cc'er. thumbs_up.gif
This is a great video as well. She also has many more great tutorials on youtube.

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pankake Posted 21 May 2010 , 2:54am
post #5 of 16

Thank you so much for your replies.

If I use 6 dowels to stack the 8" on top of the 10" how to I position the dowel sticks?

Thanks again for all your help

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tiggy2 Posted 21 May 2010 , 3:03am
post #6 of 16

If you look in the article section on this site it shows how to place the dowels and stack.

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pankake Posted 21 May 2010 , 4:15am
post #7 of 16

Lovely.

Thank you all so much for your help.

Also one other quick question. When stacking a cake with 3 tiers and they say to put one large rod through all 3 cakes I was just wondering how that rod goes pentrating the cardboard that is under each cake as the cardboard I use I can't see that being able to be pierced by a sharpened rod.

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bmoser24 Posted 21 May 2010 , 4:27am
post #8 of 16

I just used a sharpened rod to go through my tiers for the frist time...and it went very easy...easier than i expected!i just inserted centered, slowly, turning, all the way down to my cake board. To remove and cut, i just twisted back out, then reinserted into premade hole. i gave an extra push to go into my coreboard a little to really help sabilize for transport.
My issuse is with woodem dowels shifting during or after adding tier! it happened and there's a slight slant on one corner of my cake! I think i notice more than others, but still...grrrrr. Think i'll use plastic more often.

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pankake Posted 21 May 2010 , 4:46am
post #9 of 16

Thank you for your reply. How this is the cardboard that your cakes are on?

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Bunsen Posted 21 May 2010 , 5:37am
post #10 of 16

Pankake, are you using the mdf covered boards like these? http://www.cakedecoratingcentral.com.au./index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=21&Itemid=4
If so they are too thick to push the centre dowel through - you need to drill them in advance and screw the dowel to your base board, that way you thread the cakes onto the sharpened dowel rather than push it down when the cakes are stacked.

Not sure about the cardboard boards we get here (which are not the same as the corrugated cardboard ones) as I don't use them for stacked cakes, but I would try before you have the cake all assembled!

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pankake Posted 21 May 2010 , 5:54am
post #11 of 16
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Bunsen Posted 21 May 2010 , 6:00am
post #12 of 16

Mmm, I don't use those for stacked cakes so not sure if the dowel would go through - I would have thought they were too thick tho... What kind of cake? Something sturdy like mud or fruit cake or a softer sponge?

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pankake Posted 21 May 2010 , 6:16am
post #13 of 16

yes they are mud cakes.

Do you use any type of board under your stacked cakes?

I am fairly new to all of this (especially stacking cakes) so any advice I really appreciate

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Bunsen Posted 21 May 2010 , 7:06am
post #14 of 16

I use the mdf covered boards - usually for mud cake too. As I mentioned before I drill a hole in the boards first then thread the cakes on after - I use dowels for the support (4 in each tier), nothing will shift them once you have done that! Sorry I can't help with the type of boards you have - just don't know if a dowel would be strong enough to go through, maybe the cake would offer enough resistance?

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bmoser24 Posted 22 May 2010 , 5:42pm
post #15 of 16

Those boards seem to be a bit expensive for me, nice though. I use plain wilton 5-10 pk cake boards. Sell for about $4. I've been told you can double if need to. I do not cover, don't see a need. Never have had a prob with board getting soft or anything. They are made for cakes. I covered my latest cake with ganashe instead of BC, so I did one board in ganashe as well. Both boards when the cake was cut was fine. Dowel went thru nice, came out nice, and traveled like a dream!

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pankake Posted 23 May 2010 , 11:40pm
post #16 of 16

Thank you all so much for you advice. I think I may need to look into a better cake board for my top tiers as the ones I have you can't get a dowling rod through and I don't have access to a a drill to drill one in either.

Thanks again

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