I will be making a 5 tiered cake...but I am scrathing my head over this one. Should I insert an entire dowel through the cake..and if I do would the cake start caving in with the pressure of the dowel?? Or should I just take off earlier and build the cake over at the location?? What do you guys do that is much easier for you?? Thanks alot guys for your read and your input!!!!

Could you just get it all ready with the dowels in each layer and then build over there
it wouldn't take as much time to just stack it if it was already doweled and ready to go..
jmo
good luck

last time I did a tall tier, I did home made version of this: http://logicpic.com/SupportExample.htm

(scroll to midpage to see how the base has a dowel extending up through cake)

mine was a 3/4in plywood base w/ a 1/4inch dowel glued and screwed into it.

then I took standard Wilton plastic separator plates and drilled 1/4in hole dead center in each.

then I doweled each cake according to standard practice for a tiered cake.

put bottom tier on plywood and delivered it unassembled to venue (a park pavilion) -- I had a Dodge Ram truck at that time and the roads were substandard...so didn't want to take any chances

once at venue, dropped other tiers on and then finished detailing w/ fondant pearls.

very sturdy...no problems, even w/ kids and a strong wind (tho the topper didn't survive)

(oh...and just to show how bad wilton fondant was -- this was BEFORE I knew of MMF, etc. -- even the flies wouldn't land on the cake!)

Doug, that is so weird, the flies not even liking the Wilton fondant. Maybe we should all remember that when making cakes to be displayed and served outside.

If I were making a five tier cake, (probably not in this lifetime) my thought would be I'd never get it safely to the location if it were stacked ahead of time, something undoubtedly would happen to it. That being the case, I would opt for assembling on location. Doug's plan sounds really good, I'm saving that for future reference.

Good luck monnitas0808, we will look forward to photos when you finish. Janice

thanxs so much!! so doug then do u rent ur stand???

I cut holes in the middle of my boards for the dowel to go through. I center dowel all my tiered cakes.

I, too, center dowel all of my tiered cakes, but I just sharpen the end of the dowel and a very light tap with a hammer drives it through each cardboard cake circle.

I center dowel my tier cakes before transporting, I was scared the first time, I thought the same thing your worried about, however, as long as you sharpen the end it will just go right through with a little help from a hammer! Very Gently of course!

I was just getting ready to post about this topic and wonder if my question could be answered, too. I've never done any cake larger than a 3 tier, and the standard Wilton dowel rods are long enough for that. Well, this summer, I have two weddings with 4-tier cakes, and wondered, if my dowel rod isn't long enough, do you use two of them then, and make sure they meet in the center of a tier, or do you buy a long one (and if so, is it food safe?) from a hardware store or somewhere else? Thanks for any help!

There's not some special manufacturer of food safe dowels. Hardware store dowels are just fine. Just make sure it's clean. Two dowels that meet in the middle is not a good idea, IMHO.

Thanks, Crimsicle...I felt that way, too, but wasn't sure what everyone else did. I remember my cake-decorating teacher saying to be sure that your dowels are food-safe and don't have pesticides on them, but I wasn't sure how to go about finding food-safe ones. I appreciate your help.

if you are stacking all 5 tiers at home, just be sure the darn thing will fit in whatever you are using to transport it.