Hello,

I am making my first wedding cake for a friend.

It is a four tier stacked (no pillars) fruit cake (25,20,15,10cm). There will be a total of 18 plastic dowels in the cakes. The recipe requires each cake to be placed on a thick cake board and then placed on an thick iced base board.

I would like to stack the cake two to three weeks in advance whilst I decorate it. Is this OK or will it damage/collapse?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Emma

The actual cake will be fine since it is rich fruit cake. The problem I think you may have is that the icing you use on the outside, be it royal icing or sugarpaste, will be rock hard after 3 weeks. Also, piercing the cake with the dowels allows an entry for bacteria or other nasties, unless you have an absolutely airtight seal between the tiers. Is there any way you can decorate the tiers separately? Or does your design mean you have to decorate the iced tiers when they are stacked. Also, the cake will be extremely heavy to be moving around for 3 weeks. Separate tiers would be easier, and they can be boxed easily when you are not working on them. 

Hi, I just like to prepare in advance but I could probably cut it down to one week beforehand although I would prefer two. It is marzipan and sugarpaste. It is a bow that flows across all four tiers and I fear may be tricky to be leave until the last minute. I wouldnt move the cake once fully stacked until it is time to take to the venue. It will be in a cool dry place as well. Thanks for your speedy response. Emma

I have never made fruit cake but I did this one and set it up the night before the wedding.  http://cakecentral.com/g/a/35/purple/