Hi all, Ive never made a wedding cake before and I'm actually having nightmares about this. Not because Im worried about stacking but because I have visions of the bride and groom cutting the cake and the whole thing collapsing (I will be at the wedding and everyone knows I will be making it so Im sure not too many people would turn to stare at me if this does happen )

The 3 tiers will be stacked directly on top of each other, and I get how to insert dowel rods, but do I stack the middle and top tier on cake boards or do they jgo straight onto the cake itself with no cake board underneath. Also are wedding cakes quite sturdy? How do I know it wont collapse?

Please help?!

Here is a great tutorial from tonedna! HTH!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tonedna1?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/2/NvaCSW78ybc

Also, the sturdiness of the cake really depends on the recipe. I usually use WASC recipes (search for WASC in the recipe section), and variations thereof, and I have never had any issues with the stacked cakes falling apart.

Here is how I do it:
Bottom tier on cake board or cake stand (or both!)
Cut dowel rods or bubble tea straws (like you get in fancy iced coffee) the same height as tier and push through tier (I use 4)
Place next tier on top (this IS on a cake board that I usually wrap in press n seal so it doesn't absorb grease)
Next, repeat the dowel step
Place top tier, this doesn't need to get doweled because nothing will go on top.
Then I sharpen a long dowel and hammer it right down the center of the cake. If you don't want a hole on top (usually I have a decoration that covers it), you can dowel the cake through the bottom 2 tiers and then place the top tier down on top of the dowel sticking out.

I hope this makes sense, there are many tutorials out there. Also, a lot of people recommend the sps system, but I've never used it, so can't comment. Good luck!

I just looked at your pictures, and you have a very lovely stacked cake in there. How did you stack that one? Don't let the word "wedding" in front of cake scare you! Cake is cake, and it's treated the same way no matter the event!

Buy the Stacking DVD from Sugarshack at sugaredproductions.com. She's the best! She has a bunch of tutorial DVD's.

Question for those of you that hammer a dowel down the center of the cake at the end - do you have a hole already cut in the cake board between each layer? How do you get the dowel to go through the cake and the cake boards? sorry if this is a stupid question.

You might also read the SPS sticky at the top of this Forum. It's a sturdy, easy to use and very inexpensive support system.

Since this is your first stacked cake I'll go with Leah's advice about the SPS. Not a big fan of bubble straws.

Make a practice wedding cake or two before you make the real wedding cake. This will help your confidence with stacking. Good luck!

If you do decide to use SPS, make sure your tiers are exactly 4" tall. I have trouble with getting them the exact right height.