Hi,

I'm working on an 8" extended tier (2 8" rounds stacked on top of each other with SPS as supports & iced to look like one tier) that will have a 6" round go on top.  I will be using SPS under the 6" round also.  Both tiers are all buttercream with no border at the base.  Do I need to recess the SPS in to the buttercream top of the 8"?  I plan to pipe a small bit around the base of the 6" once in place, but I am concerned about the plastic plate of the SPS showing.  Suggestions?

Thanks!

AYes. For a double height tier, you use one size smaller plate in between the tiers.

Thanks for commenting, Leah.  I will have a smaller SPS plate & supports in the extended tier.  It's the support under the 6" on top that I am concerned about showing.  If I have it flush with the top of the cake.  Could I put the support in and buttercream around it so its sort of in the buttercream, or is that making too much of a nightmare of removing the SPS?

In any support system, you NEVER want the plate down into the buttercream of the "receiving" tier.  That puts pressure onto that bottom tier.  A wee bit into the bc, maybe OK, but it's a slippery slope . . .

The plate really shouldn't be showing.  The cake and bc goes to the edge of the cardboard and the cardboard is the same size as the plate.  It's not all that difficult to run a bead of bc at the plate and use a pallette knife blend it in.  You just don't want to have to do that on more than perhaps one tier if you're assembling onsite for the time factor.