Just looking for a bit of prior experience/knowledge! 

I'm going to be making a 5 tier round cake and want to know if a porcelain cake stand will hold the weight.

It's this stand (the 12") http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-525154/Sur-La-Table-White-Porcelain-Cake-Stands 

The cake will be 12/10/8/6/4 and will be on a 14 or 16" board (haven't decided yet)

Thanks in advance for your advice!

I would not do that. I'd get a larger stand because my cake tiers are 5"tall and heavy.

If you are making regular sized tiers I'd vote no to that also.

Slicing and serving that cake would make me nervous.

But if you are making short lightweight tiers it would work.

One of my pet peeves is cake too big for the plateau. It's like scraping fingernails on a chalkboard to me. But in this case it would work for short lightweight cakes because you'd have the larger correct sized board.

And if you do use this, you'll need to fill in the recessed area with one or two cardboard circles so your cake doesn't have any reason to consider drooping down in the middle there.

Marina Sousa on craftsy.com in her Jewelled Wedding cake segment has a lesson on making the pedestal cake stand, covered with fondant and strong and sturdy. The class is well worth(at times 50% off for only $20).

You can see the stand  by checking out her QUICK LOOK on the lesson.

The cake is for somebody at work so I can't afford to buy one which runs in the hundreds of dollars + shipping to the UK + 15% import tax, worked it out to be about £175... And I really doubt they will buy one themselves. 

The stand in my original post held a 25kg (55lbs) tub of paint, would a 5 tier cake be heavier than that? My cakes are all 4" tall. 

Would this one work? http://www.therange.co.uk/dema-simplicity-31cm-footed-cake-stand//the-range/fcp-product/57294

It doesn't have the lip on it. 

If need be I could have the 12" tier as a dummy cake and have a cutting cake in the back. 

I've never seen a cake stand in the UK larger than 12" diameter :(

20 inches of cake hovering over a beady little six inch base???

C'mon!

It's not the 6" stand its the 12" stand 

Probably not a good idea to have the bottom tier of a cake this size be a dummy. Dummies are light in weight and one at the bottom of a 5-tier cake would make the cake topheavy.

AOh, I understand what you mean now!

In this thread starting in post #5 is an idea on how to make a footed stand adequate to your needs.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/68445-demo-making-a-wedding-cake-at-home/

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, I've given the couple a few different options (ie smaller cake and cakes in the kitchen, make a wooden stand like K8's etc) and I'll let them choose what to do.

AHmmm this one is on a porcelain stand http://vintageandcake.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/5-tier-wedding-cake.html and in the description she says its all cake. Still in 2 minds :S

These are not four inch tall tiers. The second one looks like it's half as tall as the bottom tier and the bottom tier is maybe 3.5 inches with the sculpted edge. It might not sound like a lot but it is a lot of weight removed.

You can definitely do it. But if your tiers are 4 inches tall (after praying for mercy through the whole reception) I would remove it from the stand to serve.

And advise the client of the potential for avalanche.

But I would not build such a cake. And definitely not a fondanted one.

Good Luck!!!!

If the priority is the look of a 5 tier cake on a stand, and their budget or appreciation of what is realistic for that amount of cake is not feasible, then have you considered a 100% dummy cake? You could make that and stack it 20 deep (LOL) and keep the real cake in the kitchen.

Personally, I'd never try it.  Something tall and heavy on a tiny little point of contact?  Nope. 

If anybody touched the table, or even bumped it "just a little"......oops.    If you bump the table, even a little, while removing the top two tiers for cutting......oops.   Assembling the cake tiers on-site would be s...c...a...r...y.

Even a tiny bump.....ooops.   If the table at the venue is not dead level.....ooops.  

The cake stand could probably "hold" a five-tier cake just fine.  Whether or not you can touch it while it's on the stand is another story.