When you use a fake tier (the white styrofoam dummies) in with tiers of real cake, does the fake tier have to be on the top? Can it be used as the second tier of a four tier cake or will the two cakes on top of it be too heavy? I'm asking because I have a wedding cake to do and one of the tiers can be fake - I'd like the fake tier to be the one with all the gum paste flowers on it so I can just do it ahead of time and stick all the flowers in. Anyone ever done this? Thanks!

you can put your fake tier in any place, it does not cause any problem.

in this cake the first three cakes are fake.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1471434

in this cake , the cakes with the red.fondant lace are cakes the rest are fake
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1295597

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Great! Thanks so much! So obviously you wouldn't need dowels in the styrofoam layer, but you would need dowels in the layer below right? And you wouldn't be able to put a wooden dowel through the entire cake unless the fake tier was the top tier then?

i have put wooden dowels through fake tiers on the bottom. just make sure it is nice and sharp.

You can also pre-drill the dummy to make it easier to put the rowel through.