I was trying to figure out height vs. support in this cake. The cake is 9 layers tall, starting at 9" bottom and 4" top. Used foam core every three layers and drove dowel down through center. Traveled perfectly with no slipping/bulging (whew!). I was a little disappointed in the look though, had a different design in my head. I wanted it to look like shiny sequins. I guess that I didn't use the right kind of dust .... oh well!