So, I've been making stacked cakes for a while now, but I've never mastered how to stack with out messing some of the icing up on the bottom of the top tier. What am I doing wrong?
My tiers look great until I put it on top of the bottom one and I always have to try to fix the buttercream around the bottom of the top one. If it's a fondant cake, you can see where I pulled my fingers out from under. Is this a normal thing? I just see all these very clean, pretty stacked cakes that don't have borders around the bottoms and wonder why they do it. LOL
You could try using a large spatula to support one side of the cake, then put the edge down on the opposite side and lower the side with the spatula down.
Personally, I prefer the "dump it fast" method, and I usually end up fixing borders! 
It also helps if the cakes are cold when you stack them.
Like said above it helps if you chill your cakes for a bit before stacking...for buttercream. For fondant cakes I usually wait until the fondant has firmed up a bit before stacking.
cheatize. great trick.. Never would have thought of it.. Thank you...
I wrote this in a similar thread:
If you're using SPS, you can lower one side of the tier onto the plate, remove your hand, slide the tier into place across the plate with your spatula, lower the cake the rest of the way, and remove your spatula.
If you aren't using SPS, it helps with positioning if you're placing your tier onto another cake circle (just as you would with a single plate separator). So rather than trying to lower it on top of a buttercream surface (while denting the lower cake, trying to get your hand and spatula out without making a mess, and possibly disturbing the dowels), you're lowering it onto a corrugated cake circle instead that's already stuck in place on the surface of the lower tier. Doubling up on circles is easier than risking damage and causing internal support issues, and you'll still be able to hammer a center dowel through all tiers without a problem.
Here's the entire thread "Any tips for stacking? Finger/spatula in the way":
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=710889&highlight=spatula
Aside from the great tips already given, if it still happens make sure the area where you usually damage your cake is actually the rear of the cake (or at least the part which is less likely to be seen). So if when your are stacking your cake, say the part that is right in front of you is the damaged bit always, make that the back, so the clean "front" is facing away from you. If you muss up the left hand side, make the right hand side the front. So when you are picking up your individual cakes to stack, pick them up bearing this in mind and place accordingly.
Thank you everyone! costume, LOL, I've been trying to master the "dump it fast" method too. I'll have to try everthing. Cheatize, that is a great idea. I've never tried the SPS system before, but I've been thinking about it.
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