AMy son has asked me to make him a cake that is cantilevered with 3 tiers and then the words "2 THE MAX" coming vertically up from the top tier into the sky essentially. Does anyone have suggestions as to how I should 1) support the words and 2) what medium to make the letters and number out of? Rice Krispie treats? Any help would be appreciated...

ADo you have a photo or a sketch we could reference? Sounds way cool!

AIf you look up pile o hearts cake a Purple Hearts cake comes up. Instead of hearts going up, he wants the letters "2 the max"..... I tried to up load an awful sketch of what I want but I couldn't do it! Thanks so much of responding!!

AOh wow! I would say rice crispie treats might work, wrapped up. One long skinny dowel rod to support it.

AThanks so much. Anyone else have any suggestions???

AAre you going to be transporting this cake?

AI plan on assembling the letters off of the cake and placing them in the cake once I get to facility.

APersonally, I would do the letters out of gumpaste, making a hole through their centers the size of an extra long dowel. Once dry, string them down the dowel and set them using a little colored RI. The gumpaste will be sturdier than rkt. You could even wait ro string them on until you get to the venue for easier transport.

AWon't the gumpaste be very heavy to have all of those letters stacked on top of each other? Also, how do you think I can put a long dowel without it being seen ; do I put it through the "legs" of each letter all lined up? Am I making any sense? Thanks so much!!!!

AIt depends on how thick, tall and style of "font" you're using for the letters. How big are your 3 tiers going to be & how tall are the letters coming off the top going to be?You'll need to support the letters like your lower tiers.

AI'd like to use the cake stackers system and do a 3 round cantilevered cakes with the letters coming up from the top tier. Really wanted to do 4 tiers. I figured the font would need to be pretty boxy letters so that they have space for the dowels to go through them. If you google pile o hearts a purple cake comes up that is the one my son saw and said do this mom but with "2the max" instead of hearts!"

AAny thoughts? I'd love advice!

I googled the cake, the hearts are very large, are you wanting the letters to be that large also? You would need to plan for supporting the letters on top of the top tier like you would for an additional tier of cake. Balance would be the only difference, you would need to make sure the letters were weight centered so they wouldn't be pulling the dowel to one side. You may consider using non-edible material for the letters -- perhaps cutting them out of cardboard or styrofoam to make the 3d shape of the letters and covering them with fondant or gumpaste. I know we all like for everything to be edible, but really, you wouldn't eat them if they were gumpaste anyway!! A lighter material would definitely solve the centering issue, you could line them up however you want and they would be so much lighter. I don't know your skill level, so it's a little difficult to know what you can and cannot create skill wise!  I've not used the cake stacker system, however, I think it would be fine. For your support under the letters, you might consider using a plastic separator plate so you can drill through the center a little bigger than the thickness of the dowel and run the dowel all the way down the top tier of cake to support the letters and help keep the dowel straight. The other thing you can do is to find the creator of the "piles of hearts" cake and ask them what material they used to make the hearts and how they stacked/supported it.

Sorry I don't have more advice for you -- good luck! :)

AThanks for your suggestions! I have thought about using foam core or styrofoam I just didn't know if I could cut the letters out of foam core neatly or if styrofoam would crumble...also can you stick a dowel thriugh foam core easily? So you think I need support plates under the letters? Wouldn't they show? Again, thanks soooo Much for your help!!!

AI also wasn't sure how large the letters should be bc I wasn't sure what size the cantilevered cakes would be. I looked up foamcore letters and I found 6", 8" and 12" ones. The letters would need to go from bigger to smaller going upwards making the 2 the smallest of all the letters. Does that make sense? My biggest problem in making cakes is size!!! All of your help is wonderful...

If you use the foamcoare letters, I would pre-drill the hole for the dowel before you cover/paint/decorate the letters. Then just pop through that layer before it dries, it would making string them on so much easier! As for support under the letters, I'm a better safe than sorry gal, based on the pics, the largest letter will be sitting on the support, so it probably won't be showing very much. And you can do what they did with the hearts and decorate around the base with some fondant/gumpaste decorations to hide it. My major concern would be keeping that dowel straight so the letters don't start to lean one way and end up taking part of the cake with them. The foamcore won't be very heavy, but if you cover them with fondant, they will have weight to them. If you decide to spray paint, it would keep them much lighter and you might not need the support underneath, and they wouldn't be touching the cake bc they would be resting on the plastic separator plate. I'm going to paste the pic here so if anyone has other suggestions for you, they can see the look you're going for.

Post pics when you're done, it's an awesome idea! :)

AYou are so helpful thank you so much. Yes, I think it needs to be as straight as possible too; would hate to see it lean so much and end up on the floor with the cake!!! I am definitely going to cover with fondant; my son is already asking why I wouldn't have it all edible but I agree; rkt would be too heavy I think. That hearts cake is made by Highland Bakery in Georgia. It's awesome; let's hope I can make something 1/2 as fabulous! The party isn't until May so I have lots of time to worry about it!!!!