I'm planning on making a stacked cake for my mom's wedding, this will be my first stacked cake. This won't be the only dessert (at the wedding) but I thought it would be fun. I have a good structure worked out and practiced stacking. It worked well but icing is an issue...

I found a recipe for rolled buttercream on Wilton's forum and it had lots of great reviews...I followed the recipe and it looked like it would crack easily and it did. Immediately once I tried to pick it up it tore completely. I want to drape it with something because I think it will look smoother.

It's time to try something else. Suggestions for recipes on fondant or rolled buttercream?

Also, is buttercream with shortening better for heat?

AI've tried Rhonda's MMF. Just search in the recipe section. It's fabulous- so nice to roll, not too sticky and great for placing on a cake- no tearing, cracking, or elephant skin. I did use liquid glucose instead of corn syrup as I had some in the cupboard. Glucose is just like corn syrup, just much thicker. The MMF was pretty stiff (maybe because of the liquid glucose) but warming it up in the microwave makes it easy to knead. Tastes great too.

I realized my questions didn't have to do with stacked cakes. Here is a picture of what I did last night :-)  (Man my counter looks messy! The Eucerin was not harmed in the cake making...)

The "buttercream" ( I agree it is neither butter nor cream :-D) is a salmon color. I'm not sure why but I thought it should've been iced before stacked. Silly me :-) It was messy! This is my first attempt at carving! (It's supposed to be a champagne bottle.) There is a 1/2" PVC pipe coming out the center of the cake. I'm going to get it cut to a bit shorter than the cake and then my husband is going to fill it with silicone so the cake doesn't get all up in the PVC.

The base of the cake is probably 6" or so. I thought I was going to need dowel rods, but it seemed fine due to the small width.

I was TRYING to cover it...but the rolled buttercream was a COMPLETE failure!

I'm not set on cake flavors and fillings yet. This has alternating layers of champagne cake and lemon cake. It has homemade raspberry jam and lemon curd. I think both fillings need to be firmer.

I'm leaning towards alternating layers of a sweet white champagne (technically sparkling wine...) and a sweet red champagne. Maybe a strawberry jam? Any suggestions on recipes or products for a "sturdy" strawberry filling??

I'm also looking for suggestions on color of bottle. I got a wilton burgundy gel, but realized I will need A LOT OF IT to make it dark. Was wondering if I added a bit of Wilton pre-colored fondant to a homemade fondant whether that would help darken?

Oh! And anyone ever do a cork looking fondant? I found that a shot glass I have gets the right size, i just need to figure out how to cover it. Was going to place it on the base.