Hi all,

I'm a hobby baker, and I really appreciate all the bakers who take time to answer questions here!

I'm making a friend's wedding cake, and I want to make the bottom tier double height to enhance the design - but I don't need that much cake. Has anyone made a double height tier that's half dummy? I.E., a four-inch dummy with 4 inches of cake on top, all covered in one piece of fondant? 

It seems like it would be possible, but I'm wondering if it will be impossible to hide the joint since the tier and the cake will be the same size. I've done double-height cake tiers, but I cut the middle board a little smaller than the cakes. Should I try to shave the dummy diameter down a little to have more space for buttercream? But that would still leave a cardboard round in the middle. Or should I put the shaved-down dummy on top of the cake? So doweled cake, dummy, next tier?

Thank you!

In case anyone else has this question, it does work. In this cake, the top tier is half dummy. The dummy actually has a 2-in hold drilled in it to accommodate a Cakesafe rod. I think the key is to frost the cake larger than the dummy size. In this case, a 6in dummy is part of a 6.5 in tier (using acrylic discs for icing). So the bottom tier is cake with bubble tea straws, then there's a dummy, then a board and cake on top. The dummy is coated with buttercream just like the cake. Hope this helps someone else some time!

http://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/3340312/marsala-poppies-cake