Hi! Has anyone used Wilton columns with a heavy cake? I'm making a 3-tier cake with a fountain underneath, and it will be held up with columns. The cake will be 14", 10", 6" stacked, and I'm worried it will be too heavy for the columns to support it. Any ideas?
thanks!
Those column sets for the fountain are *made* for this.
Seriously, though you found a bride who wanted that setup? I haven't done one of those in years.
When we got married we decided to do pies instead of cake for our wedding in the barn. My uncle's girlfriend used to do wedding cakes and decided that they would do ours for us because she thought we could not afford a cake (we just really liked pies!)
Anyway, I ended up with a butter cream cake complete with an underlit fountain with orange water, plastic staircases with plastic angels, two layers above the fountain, and plastic fake flowers.
It was SO sweet! And such a loving gesture, but did look like a cake straight from the 80s...
In anycase, we set it up the night before (and covered it with a huge box, since it was in the barn) but it held, no problem.
back in those "olden days", cake on fountains with pillars were all that were ever made, so yes .... it will hold just fine. 
Check out some of the "older" books .... all of those cakes held up. Heck, I didn't start getting orders for stacked cakes until a handful of years ago. (like less than 5 years ago!)
Before closing the shop, I did a couple of fountain cakes a year (yes, in this decade!) 
If you're using the Wilton Roman Column and Plate Set that includes six pillars
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E31273E-475A-BAC0-53816B16CCB35E37&killnav=1
it will support your 3-tier cake.
Don't be surprised if it sways (if you wiggle it), because it does, but will still support the weight.
Don't lift the plate by the edges when the cake is loaded on top because the plate can crack... make sure you have one hand under the plate supporting the weight if you need to move it. If you're assembling the plate set first, and then sliding the cake (on its own board or drum) onto the top fountain plate, be careful to keep the columns steady/upright because they can topple/collapse before they have the downward weight to keep them aligned. HTH.
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