I am wanting to try stacking a tall tier cake. My plan is to do 8" round bottom tier (stacking 4 x 2" high cakes) with a regular round 6" top tier (just 4" high). I have stacked cakes before but not into one tier like this...to give you an idea of what im talking about...http://cakesdecor.com/cakes/9338 (these dont look like typical 4" tiers to me anyway). So my questions... should I put a board (and dowels) in the middle of the bottom tier before stacking the last 2 layers? Also I am wanting to make gold fondant..the more true the gold the better - I dont want it to look yellow or mustard. Does the americolor gold make a good color? Or any other suggestions (I dont have an airbrush or anything and I dont want streaky paint lines)?

TIA

oh i see what you meam

yes i dowel  the  middle of that double tier

it looks like one extra tall stately ver refined tier

but

it's really two tiers and you have all those servings too

double 8" servings

cut that inner board just smaller so it conceals within there without problem

i'm not sure what to advise about the color--i'd mix yellow with a bit of orange & brown

maybe some copper

and i mix into a small amount of fondant (like a seed amount) then add a bit of that seed amount into a small blob of white till i get what i want--then i'd make the big bunch of all of it

To creat those extra tall cake tiers one puts two 2"  layers together (usually w/filling between them) on a same sized cake board, then make up a 2nd one exactly the same and put it on top of the 1st one, then ice it as one cake/tier.  So now you have one 8" tall tier:)  If you don't want it 8" tall, then use 1 1/2" tall layers - which I would create by cutting down a 2"er OR bake it with less batter in the pan so it's not 2" tall to begin with.

Here's a really good picture tutorial on tall (double barrel) tiers:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deliciously_decadent/3798634785/in/photostream/

Seems like it'd be a waste of coloring to dye the fondant gold.  Just make it a yellowish tone maybe, then airbrush it with gold airbrush color.  Or if you don't have an airbrush and/or want a more texture effect, you can paint it with a mixture of gold dust and vodka/everclear, let it dry, then drybrush it with more gold dust using a big fluffy brush (like a powder brush for makeup though obviously don't use one you've used for makeup).  Hope that helps and it turns out well.  Here are 2 pretty good photo tutorials for the extended (extra tall) tier: http://partycakescanberra.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/tutorial-how-to-make-a-double-barrel-cake/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/deliciously_decadent/tags/doublebarrelcakesandtutes/.  Good luck!

Lol clearly great minds think a like.  I like the Party Cakes by Canberra tutorial a lot as well.

AThanks all!

Just a word of warning:

Check out the thread on the use of Disco Dust.  Matalic gold dust is in the same catagory - non-toxic but NOT meant to be eaten.  It's meant to be used on removable decorations and not consumed.  So completely covering a cake with it whether you paint it on or incorporate it in the icing is not something one should do.    http://cakecentral.com/t/752427/for-those-who-feed-others-disco-dust

Pure gold though is edible (shredded, dust or sheets) and won't hurt you in small quantities. It depends upon the ingredients contained in what you are using.