I am doing a 5 tier (buttercream) wedding cake: It will be 3 cakes and 2 dummies in these sizes: 6/6/10/10/14. The 6 and 10 inch dummies will be covered in flowers, which I plan on attaching with wires (any advice here will be appreciated as well).

What would be the best way to stack these tiers??? Thanks, I'm so nervous!

Well, since you don't want to use SPS, I really can't help. It's all I would even consider using.

I agree with Leah.

me too.

SPS sucks, no offense to those who love it Anyone else? Thanks.

If you don't like SPS, I'd think you'd have some prior experience with an alternative that you do like.

Well I can suggest is to assemble it at the venue. I have never used SPS, so I don't have an opinion either way. Both of my wedding cakes were assembled at the wedding place. I had doweling in each tier to keep the above tiers from crushing it.

Maybe you can add one central Dowel.

Sorry I really can't be of much help

Mug-a-bug, not to start a massive argument but I'm just curious about your bad experience with SPS? I've used it consistently with and without dummies. If you have trouble with the height of the layers, I can see that as an issue. If you want a more traditional method I recommend sugar shacks Succesful Stacking DVD. It was very helpful to me if I use sps or not. It's available at www.sugaredproductions.com

Good luck with your cake.

I guess I should have been more specific with my question. I have Sharon's successful stacking DVD. I don't like SPS because of the height issue and because of the inability to use a center dowel.

I guess my question is really about stacking a buttercream cake on top of a dummy. I plan on using 2 plastic cake rounds under each tier (the flimsy ones wilton makes). Should I just stack that right on top of each dummy? Or maybe I should consider using an SPS plate on top of the dummy? I really wanted to be able to use a center dowel though because the cake needs to travel about 30 minutes. Thoughts are much appreciated. Thanks.

When I work with dummies, which isn't often, I 'doweled' the cake under the dummy, attach a cake board to the bottom of the dummy 'glue' that to the top of the previous tier with icing. Apply next tier to dummy with packing tape. Repeat for each tier. This method should work. I don't center dowel(sps) so I am not sure the best cake boards for you to use. But the method should be the same. Dowels and plates go into real cake and rest on dummies. Dummies are supported by the tier below. I hope that helps.

Thank you sillywabbitz, that does help. I've never used dummies so I wasn't sure of the correct 'procedures'. Thanks.