Hi All smart people, I need some construction advice....

I have to make an hourglass shaped cake (something that looks like a woman's waist)  big at the top, small in the middle and big at the bottom.

I know how to do the carving down, but what I need to find out is, how do I make the waist noticable without it collapsing on the top bit which is being pulled down by gravity ?

I have 8 inch cakes and I was thinking of making the middle 7inches cos I am too scared it wont hold together with 6 inches in the middle.  Any advice is appreciated.

Oh, should I use plain buttercream or does this type of cake require ganache ?

Random thoughts:

You need to use dowel and cardboard or foam core boards for evey 4-5 inches of height.

If this is what you mean google 'cake construction' and go from there.

You can use buttercream or ganache.

You use cardboard circles the correct size.

If I were making such a cake I would bake cakes in different sizes to reduce the amount of carving so you can preserve most of the browned outside edges of the cakes because that holds that much better than just all carved off cake. But this is high degree of difficulty. You've really got to know  what you're doing.

A one inch (smaller) waist might not show up at all.

Could you do this laying down in a 2-D effect rather than a 3-D? Just bake two heart shaped cakes and cut off the points (the points of the heart shape) and join the cakes there to make the waist.

You might want to use foam for the waist if you stick to the 3-D.

It'll work with a 6" waist. Be sure to put cardboard boards every 2 layers of cake, for support, and make sure to dowel the tiers! Good luck!

Hi Shirley...

Thanks for your response.  Last night was a challenge but I got through it with the grace of God !

I narrowed it down to 6.5 inches but it started to become one big round bit at the bottom instead of that lovely defined hourglass shape.