I posted this under the how do I board, but I'm thinking I might get more responses by posting it here. Anyways, I havent had time to do a trial cake before making my sons first bday cake like I hoped I would and Im a bit nervous about successfully making a tiered cake. Im planning on making two double tiers, a 9inch and a 6inch (or possibly a 10 inch and a 6inch). After trying a few different buttercream recipes from the recipe section, Ive decided on the Buttercream Dream recipe. Can the cake sit out at room temp with this buttercream? If so, how longovernight?

I have the wooden rods, cardboard cake boards, and a cake base. Any helpful hints for a someone making their first tiered cake? I watched few of Ednas youtube videos and I think I have the basic idea down for stacking. Is there anything else I need? How many wooden rods should go into the bottom tier (either 9inch or 10inch). Do I need just one cardboard cake board to go under the 6in tier?

My sons party is on Sunday Aug 22nd. My timeline is belowdoes this look like it should work? Any comments/advice appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Sunday Aug 15th (or Wednesday Aug 18th depending on time) bake cakes, cut them for torting, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze

Friday Aug 20th AM take cakes out of freezer, thaw (how long?), tort cakes and fill with buttercream. Wrap in plastic wrap and put ceramic tile on to help cake settle, leave for 3ish hours (I cant remember who posted this tip, but thanks!!). Should I let the cake settle at room temp or in the fridge? Is 3 hours enough time?

Friday Aug 20th PM - remove from fridge, frost cakes with a crumb coat, frost, let crust and smooth with viva paper towel, stack, refrigerate.

Sat Aug 21st remove from fridge, apply fondant decorations to cake, apply gum paste decorations to cake, leave cake at room temp in cakebox overnight.

Sun Aug 22nd Party!

Sounds like you've got it under control!!!!
If your a newbie at this - I say go with your plan - you've done your research amazingly! Everything sounds right..

If your buttercream icing doesn't have any dairy products or perishable fillings - you can leave it out over night.. for a couple days if you wanted!

For the amount of dowels - use 5 in the bottom tier.
If your travelling with it .. put one large dowel through the centre of both tiers... otherwise it should be fine!

You should have a large board under your 9-10inch, and a 6inch board under your 6inch cake!

Post a pic when you are done!! Good luck!

Thanks! My buttercream does have milk in it. I'm just using the buttercream for the filling, as well. The buttercream I'm using (buttercream dream from the recipes section) has butter, crisco, milk, sugar and extract. This should be okay left out overnight, right?

I have all my gumpaste figures done, and I thought that would be the difficult part...but man, so many things to consider and think about with stacking a cake....I'm begining to think this is the hard part! lol I will definitely post pics, hopefully my end product is great!

Oh, anyone know how many people a cake this size will serve (a double 10 in layer or a double 9in layer - i'm undecided, and a double 6in layer).

one last thing (and I learned from experience, a bad experience) GLUE your cake to bottom board and secure the board when/if transporting. use a smash of buttercream to secure

I'm not transporting it all. The bottom board i'm using is a large cake board that is several inches larger than my bottom tier. I don't need an additional cardboard round under the bottom tier of the cake, do I? I can just adhere the bottom tier to my decorative cake board with a smash of buttercream? Thanks!

You can adhere directly to your base board. That's how I do all of mine.

I wouldn't leave your cake out overnight if it has milk in it...
Some might.. but I would keep it in the fridge