i am making a cinderella with the wondermold pan. i want to use a 12" heart cake for the base. would i need to use dowels? if so do they need to be thick dowels or could i use skewers? that's all i have onhand.

edited to say o.t. : am i the only one who feels like the cake i am working on currently has the potential to be my crowning achievement? then they never work out right!

I have used an additional cake under the wonder pan cake when the Barbie doll had such long legs!!! I just filled it with BC as though it was a 2 layer cake. I didn't have any problems. The bottom cake (a round) was just one layer about 2 inches.

Yes, you have to dowel it. I have personally never been brave enough to just use skewers, so I can't help you there. But it must be doweled. The doll cake would be too heavy to put on without it, but even if it was light enough, how would you cut the darn thing? You'd have some ginormous pieces of cake!

Good luck and have fun with it!

Edited to add: After reading the previous post, I guess it would depend on what your heart cake would be like. I just assumed you'd do it the way I would--double layer and torted and filled, so the bottom layer would be over 4" tall. I guess if it's a single layer with no torting or filling it would be a different story.

thanks for the tip, i have also heard that you can use drinking straws. is that only for smaller cakes? my recipe is pretty firm, so i know it will be heavy.

I have used straws in a pinch. But they were pretty durable straws, used on 8" or smaller rounds, and it wasn't a cake that was going anywhere--it was a cake I made for my immediate family, so I didn't have to transport it at all. I also used more than necessary, just to be on the safe side. But it worked fine. I don't know what size the circumfrence is of the doll pan, but I would be hesitant to try it on anything much bigger than 8" around--but I have heard of people who use straws all the time! I'm too paranoid to try it out myself.

I have put a doll cake on top of a 10" layer (2" high). I didnot use support dowels under the cake but there was a cake board between the two layers. They were different flavors, so when it was time to cut I could remove the doll cake with no problem. But if you are uncertain, it is better to be safe than sorry!

I also use straws quite frequently. Like the ones you get from McDonald's. I've used them on stacked cakes that were 3 cakes high. I have never had any problems with it. Use as many straws as you would dowels. But then again, if your still unsure....

But, like I said, it's all worked for me....

I have used straws and skewers. My thoughts are=---when in doubt--USE DOWELS! better safe than sorry!! lol you could use skewers on this. Just use a few more than if they were regular dowels.

As a matter of fact, in my pics, the Over The Hill cake with the woman on the side and Tink sitting on the hill both have an extra layer under the wonder mold with no other support than the cake board. The Topsy Turvy Cake, the wedding cake with pink roses, and the all white baptismal cake all are using straws for support. Now for the wedding and baptismal cake I did use a long dowel down the center since those had to be transported. But none of the cakes fell because of the straws support.

I no longer use anything but dowels in my cakes. I had been using the thick sucker sticks and had several buckle from the weight of the top layers. Fortunately, "I" was the only one who noticed it (when we went to cut the cakes) but I just don't want to take any chances in that area anymore. I can totally understand if that's teh only thing you have on hand though. I'd think scewers would be relatively stable depending on the thickness, maybe use a few more than you would dowels.