Help! To Pre-Assemble Or Assemble All Tiers On Site?

Decorating By mama5kiddos Updated 16 Aug 2012 , 6:22pm by mama5kiddos

mama5kiddos Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
mama5kiddos Posted 15 Aug 2012 , 5:27pm
post #1 of 6

I am making a 3 tiered, 14"-10"-6" fondant covered wedding cake. My first wedding delivery, any help is appreciated...I am going to be stacking (or not stacking) today or tomorrow. My plan was to put together the bottom 2 tiers, dowel them, and central dowel them together. Put top tier on site. But after making the bottom 14" fondant covered tier, it is SO heavy all by itself. I didnt expect that. And the wedding venue is on the 3rd floor. I am scared if I stack the 2nd tier on top, I wont be able to carry the sucker, since I will be solo. LOL.

Should I have the bottom tier by itself, and stack and central dowel the top 2 tiers together, then assemble the top on site? (How hard is that to do??) Or would you just take all 3 tiers individually and stack them all on site? The design is with fondant drapes, so I have to figure that out as well...do I attach each fondant drape to each tier beforehand, or is that something I am going to have to attach on site as well?

Any help is greatly appreciated! TIA~

5 replies
sillywabbitz Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
sillywabbitz Posted 15 Aug 2012 , 5:29pm
post #2 of 6

Don't stack what you can't carry. Can you easily lift the top two tiers stacked? If not think how hard it will be to gently place them on top of the bottom tier. I have no upper body strength so I stack on site if I dont' have help.

Good luck.

kristanashley Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
kristanashley Posted 15 Aug 2012 , 5:41pm
post #3 of 6

I would definitely not stack them with those restraints. Just get all of your stuff organized and make sure you have plenty of time to stack and assemble there. I would go ahead and roll your fondant drapes out beforehand and put them on a big baking sheet over dowels (or however you want them shaped) and wrap it airtight with saran wrap so that they don't dry out too much - you'll need them to be pliable. Good luck!

kakeladi Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
kakeladi Posted 15 Aug 2012 , 10:47pm
post #4 of 6

Agree with the other posters.
And the info on how to prepare the drapes is good too icon_smile.gif
Once you have the drapes on the tray & covered, place the whole thing in a big plastic bag for extra protection against them drying out.

kakeladi Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
kakeladi Posted 15 Aug 2012 , 10:49pm
post #5 of 6

Ooohhhhhhh forgot to mention:
forget about needing center doweling when stacking on site.

mama5kiddos Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
mama5kiddos Posted 16 Aug 2012 , 6:22pm
post #6 of 6

Thank you so much! I know there is no need to central dowel if assembling on site, but of course will inner dowel the bottom two. icon_wink.gif

So for the draping, it is best to just do that on site as well? I was hoping I could attach the draping to each tier beforehand...but in between each tier there is no "coverup" decoration for the seams of the drapes so I wasnt sure how that would look. Plus I am a little afraid the fondant may dry and the draping would break off if I did it that way.

To attach the draping, do I use toothpicks to hold up each piece on the end...or just "glue" it with water?

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%