I am making a 12,9,6 tiered cake. I only have 10 inch plates for the 9 inch cake. Has anyone ever used a separator plate with pillars and then the cake on a cake drum on top. Hope that makes since. I know the rule of thumb is a cake plate two inches larger than your cake but I can't find an 11 inch separator plate and don't have time to order one.
It will look fine. If your 9" cake was directly on the 10" plate, you'd have enough space for a small border after it's iced. Since you said you'll be placing the 9" cake on a drum first and then onto the 10" plate, you'll have more room for the border if the drum is larger than 10". What size drum were you planning to use? I wouldn't recommend using a drum larger than 11" because you don't want it to be larger than the 12" cake below.
I think the "two inches larger than the cake" might apply to the bottom tier only ..... I think 2" of plate sticking out in the middle of a wedding cake looks silly.
I use same size plates .... 8" cake on an 8" plate.
You don't say what kind of pillars you are using, but for example, if you are using the push in pillars ( http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/push-in-tiered-cake-construction.cfm ; http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E3119A1-475A-BAC0-52A78709CEE04DB1&fid=63EB9DF5-475A-BAC0-535D719540895CB3 ), I would be concerned that the pillar placement on an 11" cake plate would be way too close to the edge of the 12" cake and could possible push out the 12" cake and cause part of the cake to fall off. I had a close call on just this situation once.
I think the "two inches larger than the cake" might apply to the bottom tier only ..... I think 2" of plate sticking out in the middle of a wedding cake looks silly.
I use same size plates .... 8" cake on an 8" plate.
That would be less than 1" of plate all the way around the cake after it's iced unless you didn't get it centered!
When using double plate separators with pillars, if you made a 14" x 10" x 6" cake, you'd use 12" and 8" separator plates if you wanted the cake to rise gradually and appealing. If you made a 10" x 8" x 6" and separated them with the odd size plates (9" & 7"), it would look too tall and towering AND your borders would need to be applied more to the sides of the cakes rather than on the plate itself.
Debi, what keeps your border from falling off with no support under it if you put an 8" cake on an 8" plate that is separated with pillars?
You are so right on the 1" sticking out .... thanks for correcting that math for me! I still dont' like the look, though. A plate sticking out ANY amount at all just looks cheap and tacky to me. personal opinion only.
I've applied borders this way for years. I apply the borders to the sides of the cake. The icing doesn't fall off ..... just like adding icing decors (scrolls, dots, etc) on the side of the cake itself. I had a thread where I showed how to put borders on the bottom/sides of the cake ... .I'll see if I can find it.
Thank you everyone for your help. I put my 9 inch pan on top of the 10 inch plate and there wasn't much room. Looked like maybe 1/2 inch after I frost my cake so I bit the bullet and ran out and found two 11 inch plates. I know it will be close on the bottom but the wedding is small and I don't really want to make a 14 inch cake for the bottom. The tiers will have fresh flowers so I'm hoping they will hide a large portion of the plates. Thanks everyone.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%