Hello
I'm making a tiered cake, with 6" tiers, which I've never done before. I'm worried about the bottom layer crushing under the weight. Do I need to put a board above the 2nd layer and supports to prevent this? I guess the way to go would've been to bake 3" layers, but I've already baked 2". Didn't think quickly enough........

Thanks
Dave

Not quite sure what you are attempting, but will offer this suggestion.

Every VERTICAL 4" of cake (whether torted horizontally or not), should have a cardboard cake circle under it before placing on top of another 4" of cake.

Dowels should be placed under every VERTICAL 4" of cake IF another cake is going on top.

If you are making a tall cake (say 6" to 9" tall), and the circumference is 6" from top to bottom, then you will need a minimum of 1 cardboard cake circle and a minimum of 3 dowels in the bottom tier.

If your structure is really tall, you may also need to whack a LONG dowel through the entire structure. (Two long dowels are better because the cake won't shift.)

It is helpful if you can post a photo of your inspiration cake and/or a diagram of your finished design.

Thanks for the quick reply. That's kinda what I thought. The cake is 3 tiers, each tier is 6". I was going to do 3 2" layers with layers with filling, but then thought of the support issue.
I think what I'll do now is make each tier into (2) 3" sections, with a support board in the middle. Since I've already baked 2" cakes, I'll just tort them into 1" layers, and put an extra layer of filling in. So it'll end up 1" cake / filling / 1" cake / filling / 1" cake / support / 1" cake / filling / 1" cake / filling / 1" cake.

Most 6" cake layers are *very* light weight so you probably don't need to use any support in the middle.
Also, a 6"x6" is going to look like a huge tower The smaller the diameter of the cake the taller it looks.
When I make wedding cakes I usually use 6"x3" tier rather than a 6"x4". The taller one just seems to through off the whole look.

Dave, my apologies, I didn't look at your photos before making the reply. I assumed you were a newbie at cake decorating. I was thrown by the terminology.
LAYER: typically a single, 2" high cake
TIER: typically TWO 2" high layers

If your finished cake is only 6" tall (three 2" layers, torted with filling), that will probably stand on it's own, depending on the cake/filling/frosting. As Kakeladi said, the weight of a 6" cake tier is negligible. Even the Wilton serving chart indicates a serving is 3"-6" high.

Your cakes are gorgeous!