I can hit some of the things that I need to change, then feel free to add what I'm missing.

or I'll never learn.  (Talent you can't give me, unfortunately)

I meant this to be a rosette cake on top of a wood look cake (like a slice of a tree with the bark still on it.)

• 6" small cake got HUGE after I started putting rosettes on it.
• 8" bottom cake got really small in comparison, should have made it 10" at least.  Should have darkened the icing on the bottom cake to make it look more like real stained wood.
• Used the bubble tea straws to hold up the top cake.  This is the first time that I've braved out a stacked cake.  Argggggg  I really man-handled the top cake & had to re-ice in two big spots.
• Sooooo I had to put a bottom border on the cake, and that makes it look goofy.
• because there was no room on the bottom I couldn't put any pine cones or twigs.
• That is the saddest looking Owl ever, I'd like to take some lipstick and paint a smile on it's stupid face. 

How in heavens name do you ever stack a buttercream cake without butchering it????? I can hear Leah_s right now......"SPS....SPS.....SPS" 

really that owl is creeping me out, I'm taking it off before it pecks my untalented anti-artist eyes out.

on the bright side, it's the buttermilk-banana cake recipe and super delicious Swiss Meringue Buttercream, so it will be delicious when I cut into it.    LOL

AI like it! I think you did a good job and, for your first stacked cake it's great, nice and straight. Everything you mentioned is easily remedied...bigger base tier, get your top cake really cold to avoid damaging on stacking it, paint the top surface of the bottom tier, etc. You recognised all your "flaws", which lots of people cannot/will not do or see, but the cake is perfectly acceptable as is. And I think your owl is very cute. If I were nearer I would pop round for a slice!

AI don't often do buttercream cakes, but I chill them really well before I move them and that seems to protect them a little from the handling. I would probably be inclined to pipe the rosettes when the tier was in place on the bottom tier, but I'm sure someone with more experience will have better advice!

AAnd your owl is a bit like me - vertically challenged and slightly wide - but at least I can tell it's an owl! He's pretty cute really, only slightly creepy...,,

It looks great.

Well done!

You are your own worst critic!

The only thing I would change is the rosettes, would probably of done them finer, but love your trunk, and I dont think the owl is scary at all.

I think the buttercream is only difficult if your layer is too thick. Mine kind of sets so it's not so soft, and I treat it much the same as ganache.

Perhaps you just have to jump in with both feet and give it a go......  You can watch video clips until the cows come home, but nothing replaces hands-on practical experience.  Kudos to the Super Stacking decorators out there, you've grown exponentially in my eyes today!

AMultiplied congratulations you did great for a first tier cake -- dang you taught yourself so much --

one way to stack tiers is to pull your dowel up out of the cake several inches then hover the cake over and center it over the dowel and release -- the weight of the tier sinks the dowel back down* -- and if you have a long skewer or dowel stuck into the top tier to act as a bit of a handle to help keep things steady -- them remove and patch the hole --

*however 6" cakes are not necessarily heavy enough to sink down automatically like the bigger tiers so do I recommend the 'handle' esp for 6" cakes --

and it is important to push the dowel down then pull up so you have a pathway -- probably need tweezers or hemistats to pull up bubble tea straws --

however maybe you already do that - just thought I'd toss that out if it might come in handy--

great job!

AYou did a great job! On my 6 inch rosette cakes ( I make a lot of them) I like the Wilton 2D tip. It gives a tighter rose and sits closer to the cake. Most folks use the 1M, and I will too on larger tiers, but switching to the 2D helps to create a slight definition.

AYay, well done MB, it's lovely. :-)

The only thing that really jumped out at me was the piping around the bottom of the rosette tier. And that's only because I had to do that to my own rosette cake to hide the gaps and I didn't like it when it was done. I don't know how other people do rosettes from bottom to top with no gaps and a nice neat edge tho. I like the owl, he looks like an owl, not creepy at all. I think you've done really, really well, much better than I did on my first tiered cake. :-)

Thanks for the "tip" Vidutoit, I used a 1M but I'll try a 2D next time.

AI like those 3/4" plastic tube dowel because you can just stick your finger in to wind them back up & out of the cake -- they can be popped to size with those short curvy bladed twig snapping little trimmers I donw know the official name of :) --

and you cut them all the same length to each other -- not cut individually to the top of the cake-- and you placed them under the bulk of the weight of the six inch cake -- not around the outer perimeter but around in a 4" diameter give or take --

you did awesome for your first!

Whenever I do rosette cakes I always stack them before I pipe the rosettes on.  It is much easier and you won't damage it when trying to move it.

Ok I'm having a big laugh at myself now.  It's done and over with, Whew.  I've put off trying to stack cakes for decades.

The cakes were level, and the straws held up like champions, and they were level.  Thank you for the honest, straight feedback, everyone. On to the next exciting adventure...........

Cheers,

mb

Hi!

Just wanted to say that the cake looks fine to me.....and personally I think the owl is cute!! And as importantly.....it sounds absolutely yummy!!!

Your cake is gorgeous and I love the little owl, and importantly sounds like it tasted great too.

Well done you Ms Alaska.

Incidentally...and its really of no importance you understand........is it true that the ladies of your fair state are outnumbered 4 to 1 by brutish lumberjacks, trawlermen and bio marine environmentalists?

I have a pin, a map and hope in my heart so thought i'd ask.....its for a friend? xx

Hmmmm well to be honest......be careful what you ask for.  sometimes quality is more important than quantity.  lol

However, it's often the case that women come up here with their husbands, who are searching for their Great Wilderness Adventure Frontier Style, and after one long dark cold 8 month winter the wives go home - with or without their dear hubbies. 

And the often heard......."Alaska, where the men are men, and the women are too."     Go for it, there's plenty of room for everyone.