Hi,

I am doing my first stack it is a 5" on top of an 8". Do I need to use dowels for support? Do I leave the cake circle under the 5"?

Is there a good tutorial anywhere?

Thanks!

Since its only 2 tiers you don't need much... Leave the cake board under and support it with something like a milkshake/ bubble tea straw. I put one in the middle and usually 5 or 6 around the edges of the board for a smaller cake.

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/stacked-tiered-cake-construction.cfm

The general rule of thumb is you need support for every 4 inches of cake. So if your bottom tier is two layers of cake, and you are putting another tier on that, then you will need dowels.

I would either do 3 or 4 dowels below a 5 in cake. Anything more and you are compromising the layer below it.

Thanks you guys!

3 straws for a 5" is quite sufficient.

Read Step one again.

OK got it. I can see now it in the little picture.