Hi everyone: please bare with me, I had to create a new account because I couldn't remember password of the previous one.

We have a request for a cake that will portray a child's dedication, wedding anniversary and 40th (male) birthday. Any one has any idea or is willing to share on their own concept of how they did theirs.

Looking forward to some ideas.
thanks for your help

how about doing 3 different tiers, each tier portraying each theme

all 3 designs on one cake? oh boy... different tiers?

I gotta also go with 3 different tiers, maybe graduating colors as you change theme...

Well I am thinking for changing the theme! I would like to go with 3 different tiers and I think that it is a good idea!! It will give better look. You know my friend made a cake like this and decorated with different themes on it. It was looking so yummy and delicious; I just uploaded it's pic on LiveLike.it and shared with all my friends They appreciated it a lot.

I have a similar delima....My hubby is youngest of 10 children. Each year one of the children hosts the family reunion...it's our turn this year. I wanted to do a family tree cake (Mom is 85 and in bad health...I knew it would thrill her) but it's also my grandaughter's birthday the same day. Yesterday my neice called and wanted a cake for her daughter's birthday the same day (to have at the reunion). OMG! I'm thinking I'll do a 3 tier topsy turvy (been wanting to do one) and dedicate a tier to each person...doing the "tree" on the tall side of bottom tier. Hope it will work!

I did a cake last December for triplets (2 girls and a boy) and they all wanted something different so I split the cake into 3 with fondant ribbons so they could each have their picture take with what looked like their own cake by simply turning it. They loved it!

my life that is such an awesome idea to turn the cake around. Where Im from we dont have dowels readily available any idea on sustitutes and what would be the general rule for width and height. Might all ideas. Three cake different theme, topsy curvy and it is separated by fondant so it can be turned for all members of the family.

Any thought on homemade dowels. Wondering if bamboo chopsticks would work?

In the past when I've been faced w/similur situations (usually two very different events) I've made 2 single layers and placedd them side-by-side on a large board. Here's a couple examples:

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1369702
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1349755
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1197295

As for what to use for support/dowels: plastic drink straws They are readily available most everywhere around the world and soooooo easy to cut to the right heigth. Use an odd # per tier. If your bottom cake is say a 12" round, use 5-7 straws around a circle about 1" smaller than the size of the next cake (for a 10" cake that would be a 8 or 9" circle - space the 5 straws around that).

straws really?...thats very interesting. We definetly have alot of straws here and thanks for the measurements.

Have you tried them and have they proven to work? Just thought to ask since we cant do much trial and error here, cant afford to, cakes are expensive.