I'm making a cake with an extra tall tier (8" tall) and I'm having a hard time finding much information.

My plan is to stack and dowel the way I normally would with any other tiered cake, using a separator plate between the two 4" tall cakes. My concern is that if there is any shifting at all there will be a line between the cakes and because the cake is covered in buttercream, I'm very concerned about it showing. Should I just use cardboard circles (instead of plastic plates) and put a long dowel down the center of the whole thing?

If anyone knows of a thread with extensive information on this topic, that'd be awesome. Thanks!

I use foam core board between the sections, cut slightly smaller than the diameter of the cake so it won't show, so that I can dowel all the way through. I have lost one cake to cardboard rounds - the cardboard absorbed moisture and allowed the cake to flex and split (not on a tall cake - a regular stacked one). And, in this case, once is enough LOL!

I wrap my cardboard seperators in wax paper to prevent it from soaking up any moisture.

When I stacked 6-2 inch cakes I drilled a 3/4 dowel to the bottom of my plywood cake board and then dropped the cakes with holes in the middle over the dowel. I used seperators between each 4 inch section and used bubble tea straws for the first 4 inch section/tier and would have used more for the 2nd section had I not forgot, but luckily it held up.

Given that my cakes center of gravity was higher up I elected to affix my dowel the to board and would do it the exact same way again (except I wouldn't forget the bubble tea straws in the second section/tier

I would use foamcore or a white plastic board as the separator, and have it be a 7". Dowel the bottom tier for support, stack the top and then fill in the gap with BC and smooth it for a finished look. Since it is bc and fondant covered, I would put a dowel through the whole cake for added support.

I did one in fondant, and made the mistake (well 2...) of not having the board smaller than my top cake, and of not having it be a white board. Even after filling the gap and smoothing it, you could still see the dark edge of my cardboard cake board. Luckily, I was putting a colored ribbon around the cake so it wasn't (really) noticeable.

Thanks for the information. I hadn't even thought of using foam core. You've all been extremely helpful!

Hi!
I was asking for advice on the same topic last month.
Coral3 very kindly provided me with this link to a tutorial
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d.....798619197/

hope it helps!

ooops that didnt work. hopefully this will http://www.flickr.com/photos/deliciously_decadent/sets/72157621850372685/with/3798619197/

Thank you for adding this link, eve81!!